The Development Office was pleased to hear that Benjamin Mellors, OH 2001-08 was recently promoted as an Associate in the Gas & Hydrogen team at WSP in the UK.  WSP is a global professional services firm and is ranked #1 in Engineering News-Record (ENR) Magazine’s 2022 List of Top 225 International Design Firms for the Second Consecutive Year.

At WSP, he is an Associate Mechanical Engineer, IEng MIGEM, and has spent the past nine years specialising in gas transmission and distribution. Working across all pressure tiers, ranging from Low Pressure to High Pressure, he has worked on numerous national infrastructure projects and more recently he has been working on Hydrogen projects and how this can be utilised to help the UK achieve their net-zero targets.

When he was at Hymers, Benjamin's favourite subject was product design and this led to him applying to universities to study an Industrial Design course. He went straight to University but at the end of the year, he switched to Mechanical Engineering at Hull University. He now has a BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering degree and is an Incorporated Engineer, IEng. 

I realised that Industrial Design wasn't the right course for me, it wasn't diving into the detail enough. I therefore decided to switch and do a mechanical engineering degree.  I wasn't the most academic student so it might be a shock to some of the teachers to see that I am a Mechanical Engineer.

Benjamin remembers that his favourite teachers at Hymers College were Mr Thompson (Physics) and Mr Young (Product Design).

Mr Thompson was a teacher that knew how to command respect without ever raising his voice. He was relaxed and approachable but not to be trifled with.  I found him to be a great teacher in the way he cared for his students and tailored his teaching style to the individual.

Mr Young taught my favourite subject and he had some great ideas for projects that we did for our A Levels. His classes were very enjoyable.

While at Hymers College, Benjamin played rugby all the way through Senior School and achieved half-rugby colours.

Unfortunately I did not achieve full colours; perhaps because I missed a 1st XV game for weekend holiday and then upon my return, found myself playing for the 4th XV for a single game before making my way back into the 1st XV. 

During his final year at Hymers, he enjoyed his first skiing holiday on a school ski trip:

This was a great experience! I had never been skiing before so myself and a few friends decided to visit the dry ski slope in Sheffield, so I could spend a few hours learning to Ski. When the trip came around, in order to be able to ski with my friends, I told the instructors this was my 3rd or 4th week skiing so I would be put in the intermediate group! On my second ever day skiing on a mountain I was skiing down the black runs.

Since leaving Hymers College, he has kept in touch with a few friends; two were groomsmen at his wedding.

Congratulations, Benjamin. Good luck in your new role.