The IOM3 Ground Engineering Group brings together professionals applying ground engineering across civil infrastructure, construction, natural resources, underground space, mining geotechnics and tailings. Drawing on IOM3’s breadth across materials, minerals and mining, the Group connects geotechnical engineers, engineering geologists, geo-environmental specialists and other practitioners to share knowledge, support professional development and strengthen collaboration across sectors.
Meet the Ground Engineering Group Leadership team
Chair, GES
David Waring BSc MSc DIC CEng FIMMM FGS (Registered Ground Engineering Adviser)
David is a Principal Engineering Geologist and ground engineering leader at BGC Engineering, with more than 29 years of experience spanning site investigation, contracting, consultancy and the energy industry. He holds an MSc and DIC in Engineering Geology from Imperial College London and is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3), and Fellow of the Geological Society.
David’s career includes roles with STATS Geotechnical and LBH Wembley, four years with Fugro in Hong Kong, and over eight years with Atkins. He joined bp in 2012, spending 13 years providing geotechnical and geohazard leadership for major projects and operating assets. Since joining BGC in September 2025, he has supported pipeline geohazard management programmes across Canada and the United States, alongside business development and the delivery of services in the UK and Europe.
His expertise includes engineering terrain evaluation, ground characterisation, geohazard assessment and mitigation, and geotechnical risk management. His project experience spans pipelines, renewable energy, carbon capture and storage, mining, water and urban regeneration, from early feasibility through design, construction and operation.
David actively supports professional development, mentoring and registration. He has served as a scrutineer and interviewer for IOM3 since 2010 and is a member of the Register of Ground Engineering Professionals (RoGEP) Panel. His wider contributions include committee roles with the British Geotechnical Association and the Engineering Group of the Geological Society, including serving as Secretary of the latter.
As Chair of the Ground Engineering Group, a Technical Community within IOM3, David is committed to connecting professionals across civil infrastructure, underground construction and mining geotechnics. His priorities include sharing knowledge, supporting professional development and registration, strengthening collaboration with other professional bodies, and raising the profile of ground engineering within IOM3 and the wider industry.
Alan Auld BSc PhD CEng FIMMM FICE
Alan is an Engineering Consultant for Golder (UK) Ltd Shafts and Tunnels based in the Doncaster office in the UK. He has over 40 years of experience in the design of shaft and tunnel linings, underground structures, underground support and consolidation systems, underground plugs, dams and water control systems, temporary works using artificial ground freezing (AGF) and concrete works, particularly long-distance pumping, working all over the world.
Alan is the author of more than 50 papers and articles published in books, technical journals and conference proceedings, the majority related to the design and construction of underground structures. He was a co-founder of the original consultancy company, I W Farmer & Partners Ltd, incorporated in 1989 which became Alan Auld Associates Ltd in 1998 and then part of the Alan Auld Group of companies in 2010. The Alan Auld Group was bought out by Golders in 2017 and Golders have now been bought out by WSP in 2021.
Tim Leung FIMMM FICE FHKIE CEng CSci NEC Pro
Tim Leung is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Scientist with over 30 years of experience in infrastructure delivery and the construction industry. He is a Fellow of IOM3, ICE, and HKIE, and holds the Certified NEC4 Professional designation, having been recognised as NEC Business Leader of the Year 2024.
He has been actively involved with the IOM3 Hong Kong Branch for over a decade, serving as President of IOM3 HK from 2020 to 2022. In 2018, he received the IOM3 International Medal for his outstanding contribution to the Institute.
As a member of the IOM3 Ground Engineering Subgroup (GES), Tim serves as the Hong Kong liaison on the GES Committee. He is passionate about strengthening collaboration between IOM3 HK and the IOM3 UK, promoting technical exchange through international events.
Tim’s technical expertise includes tunnelling and underground works, infrastructure, and collaborative contracting. He has held senior leadership roles in the industry including Executive Director at Paul Y. Engineering Group, Director of Business Development at China State Construction Engineering, and founded Apex Tech Solutions Ltd, an independent advisory practice focused on contract governance and infrastructure strategy. He is currently Head of Strategic Growth at Arup HK. He also is an HKIAC Panel Adjudicator.
Jim Shields BSc Hons MSc CEng CSci FIMMM CGeol FGS FICE FIQ (Registered Ground Engineering Adviser)
Jim’s career began with Fugro Scotland Ltd in 1985, as a junior geologist on various ground investigations throughout the UK. He joined BAM Ground Engineering (then Ritchies Equipment Ltd) in 1986 initially as a Contracts Engineer on ground engineering and ground investigation projects.
Jim has also undertaken numerous field visits overseas to advise on rock sources for armour and aggregates primarily for BAM Group companies. Jim is now Operations Manager with responsibility for all Drill and Blast, Laboratory Testing and Engineering departments as well as providing support and direction for the training and development of all BAM Ground Engineering employees towards professional qualifications. He is a chartered engineer, chartered scientist, chartered geologist and a Registered Ground Engineering Adviser. He is currently Chair of the IOM3 Membership Committee and is Chair of the Register of Ground Engineering Professionals (RoGEP) Panel. Jim was instrumental in RoGEP expanding to allow Engineering Technicians and Incorporated Engineers to join the register. Jim also represents the IOM3 as a Trustee and Board Member of the Engineering Council.
Emily Wood MSc CEng CSci FIMMM (Registered Ground Engineering Specialist)
Emily is an Engineering Manager with BAM Ritchies, a division of BAM Nuttall, and a subsidiary of the Dutch Royal BAM Group. Emily has worked on various projects from railways, highways, nuclear, tunnelling and mine remediation projects involving geotechnical works. Emily initially went to mining school and gained a masters in geotechnical engineering. As part of her masters year she studied in 5 separate universities across Europe and then went to Hong Kong to work on a tunnelling project. Emily moved back to the UK to join BAM in 2013 as Assistant Geotechnical Engineer on site.
Currently as an Engineering Manager she focuses on support of numerous projects at time on technical and engineering aspects of the upcoming and live geotechnical projects utilising digital construction and project planning software. Emily is involved throughout the project lift cycle at early contractor involvement, tenders, project construction and handover stages. In 2019 Emily won the BAM Digital Construction Award for her individual for contributions to digital construction in BAM many of her projects involve 3D and 4D elements and digital field data capture techniques.
Petr Nikolaev MEng MSc PhD FHEA MIMMM
Petr Nikolaev is a geotechnical and mining engineer specialising in underground construction, ground improvement and computational geomechanics. He graduated from Moscow State Mining University in 2013 in Mining and Underground Construction and subsequently worked across industry and academia on projects involving shaft sinking, tunnelling, underground structures and geotechnical design.
He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Manchester and has developed particular expertise in artificial ground freezing, numerical and multiphysics modelling, soil and rock behaviour, and subsurface energy and storage applications. His work combines advanced modelling with practical engineering, with a focus on translating complex analyses into design guidance for underground construction and ground improvement. He has authored more than 30 publications across geotechnical and underground engineering.
Since 2026, Petr has been based in Germany, working with the Ground Freezing team at CDM Smith SE and contributing to geotechnical and underground construction projects.
Patrick Cox Beng (Hons) MSc DIC CEng FIMMM, Cgeol FGS
Education
BEng (Hons) Geological Engineering, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London
MSc DIC, Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, University of London
Patrick is UK Managing Director at INTERA and a senior leader in the ground engineering and multi-disciplinary infrastructure project delivery environment with more than 30 years of international experience. He is professionally qualified in geotechnical engineering and geology and specialises in project ground risk and delivery strategies. He has held key roles on some of the highest profile infrastructure projects from pursuit through feasibility to design and construction. These often require exceptional stakeholder management and attract mainstream media which requires highly developed engagement strategies and actions. They also demand data acquisition strategies for optimal design and risk management, which is a key area of expertise that his advice and input is sought for by clients, to help mitigate development phase time and cost over-runs. He is an advocate for authentic values in business and agnostically promotes the growth of people and their organisations, both internal and external through open collaboration. Beyond contributions to IoM3, Patrick is active in the profession, as Chair of Think Deep UK, a think tank promoting better use of our underground space, and as a coach, mentor and scrutineer of candidate Chartered Geologists and Engineers.
Dr Maria Holloway-Strong CEng MIMMM
Dr Maria Holloway-Strong is a Principal Engineering Geologist with AtkinsRéalis. Maria returned to the paid workforce after an absence of 17 years. She has more than 20 years’ experience in ground engineering and is both a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Geologist, as well as a certified expert witness. Maria is Chair of the Ground Engineering Advisory Panel for CIRIA, serves on the Ground Engineering Subgroup (GES) of IOM3, is a committee member of Women In Materials, Minerals and Mining (WIM3) of IOM3, and has previously served as a committee member of the Engineering Group of the Geological Society.
Maria is also an assessor for the CEng accreditation for IOM3. Maria was the winner of the 2021 Atkins Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award and the 2025 winner of the WISE STEM Returner of the Year Award. Maria is committed to inclusion in the workplace and is a vocal advocate for underrepresented groups. She is a people manager to a team of geologists and engineers in the early stages of their careers and is a single mother to three young adults.
Jono Cook MEng CEng MICE
Jono is Geotechnical Director of the WSP Mining Shafts & Tunnels Group. He is a geotechnical engineer with 25 years’ experience, specialising in geomechanical characterisation, analysis and design of complex underground structures in mining and civil tunnelling environments. Jono has extensive design experience in deep shafts, including creeping ground and artificial ground freezing, mine access drifts and development tunnels/caverns, and metro tunnelling schemes, including both temporary and permanent works and damage assessments.
Jono has spent the last 15 years specialising in underground design, for complex civil infrastructure works such as metro station upgrades and mine access and development design in challenging ground conditions. This experience means Jono has a detailed understanding of the challenges involved in characterising and working in variable ground conditions, from soft ground tunnelling, to squeezing rock and creeping strata such as evaporite rock masses. His deep mining work has involved artificial ground freeze analysis for deep shafts through water bearing strata, yielding liner systems for development tunnels in a major uranium mine, and block cave development in weak ore zones. Jono is a chartered Member of the ICE and holds an MEng (hons) degree in Civil and Structural Engineering (University of Sheffield), which, coupled with his wide industry experience enables an understanding of the cross disciplinary issues involved in underground engineering when marrying the fields of structural and geotechnical engineering.
RoGEP and the GEG
The GEG supports the UK Register of Ground Engineering Professionals (RoGEP), which assists clients in identifying professionals who have the right level of knowledge, skills and experience in ground engineering.
Applicants must be professionally qualified with one of the following professional bodies;
- Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3)
- Geological Society of London (GSL)
- Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)
- Engineers Ireland (EI)
- Institute of Geologists of Ireland (IGI)
Applicants must also possess a sound knowledge and understanding of scientific /engineering /technical principles together with expertise gained through suitable experience of ground engineering.
Forthcoming events
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ABMEC Annual Conference and Exhibition in partnership with MAUK 2026
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Resourcing Tomorrow
This event is supported by IOM3 as part of London Mining Week 2026.
London
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