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This month, we are delighted to celebrate Bernard Travers as he marks 10 years of dedicated service with Hawkins. A Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Bernard joined Hawkins in 2016, bringing specialist civil engineering expertise to the business and helping to strengthen our Built Environment offering. Since then, he has investigated more than 250 cases involving civil, structural and building-related failures, developing particular expertise in basement water ingress, building collapses, glazing failures, cladding defects, storm and vibration damage, solar panel installations and roofing issues. He also advises on Building Regulations and design standards, combining engineering analysis, testing and practical investigation to help clients understand complex failures.
Bernard graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2010 with a degree in Engineering, specialising in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering. During his studies, he was sponsored by Skanska UK, gaining hands-on experience on highways and rail projects. Alongside his technical expertise, Bernard has a passion for making engineering accessible and engaging. In 2017, he won the Institution of Civil Engineers’ Pitch 180 competition by explaining subsidence in just 180 seconds using confectionery.
As Bernard reaches a decade with Hawkins, we caught up with him to reflect on his journey so far:
What brought you to Hawkins?
I first tried investigating building defects in my previous role and enjoyed the challenge of approaching problems in a different way to typical design. Instead of asking, ‘What is the right way to stop these kinds of problems?’, I was asking, ‘How exactly did this building go wrong?’
I wasn’t aware of forensic firms like Hawkins, so when I found out what a job at Hawkins would involve, I jumped at the chance!
How has your role evolved over the last 10 years?
I started alongside two other new civil engineers, bringing the Built Environment team to a total of six investigators. Since then, many more people from a wide range of disciplines have joined the team – I think we total over 40 built environment investigators now, not to mention the Quantity Surveyors from ALA and M+BP that joined the Hawkins Group last year.
As a result, I now spend more time answering questions and supporting others than I did when I first joined. I still seem to have just as much to learn from others, but now it’s more of a two-way street.
What’s one of the biggest lessons you’ve learned?
Knowledge and training are useful, but nothing can replace getting to site and collecting physical and witness evidence first-hand.
When I started, my first instinct was to go from the initial papers straight to my calculator, pen and paper, and formulae. Now, I always prefer to start with a site visit and witness interviews.
What do you enjoy most about your current role?
Finding a clear answer to a case that starts with apparent puzzles and contradictions.
Looking back, what’s your favourite team memory?
The London Office Christmas parties in the first few years after I started. The team was smaller then and many people brought their partners. It was a real joy to see people from all different walks of life bonding over having slightly obsessive, nerdy engineering types for partners – and the familiarity of the blue four-colour Hawkins pen!
Who has inspired or mentored you during your time at Hawkins?
Too many people to mention!
Ian Major took me on some of my first site visits, including a particularly memorable first site visit to a scene where there had sadly been multiple fatalities. He helped me tame my writing style to be more focused.
Helen Rosser took me on a few fire investigations when I started. The discipline was so alien to me, but seeing the way that Helen worked opened my eyes to the value of site investigations and witness interviews, especially in the midst of what seemed to me chaotic and unintuitive scenes, where the key witnesses were quite often (and quite understandably) very shaken by recent events. Seeing the work that she and the other fire investigators did brought home why quick, clear investigation and reporting was so important: it lets people get on with their lives after a big incident.
Peter Reupke has always been on hand to help with experience and guidance. When I feel I have ‘got lost in the woods for the trees’ on a particularly knotty technical matter, or that I am going round in circles on a client’s question, he always seems to have either a similar experience or to know the right questions to help cut to the crucial point.
What advice would you give to someone just starting at Hawkins?
Don’t let what you know get in the way of discovering and explaining what matters.
What keeps you motivated after 10 years?
Every case has some new aspect that requires really deep thinking. It’s a pleasure to do that alongside so many engineers and scientists that I truly respect.
Over the past decade, Bernard has made a significant contribution to Hawkins, not only through his technical expertise and the hundreds of investigations he has undertaken, but also through his willingness to support colleagues, share knowledge and help develop the next generation of investigators. His curiosity, analytical mindset and commitment to uncovering the facts behind complex failures continue to embody the values that make Hawkins successful.
Congratulations, Bernard, on reaching your 10-year anniversary, and thank you for everything you have contributed to Hawkins. We look forward to seeing what the next decade brings.
