Alfie Foxton-Smith is a Project Engineer at Stork UK, a provider of maintenance and asset integrity services to a wide range of energy and industrial sectors. He has fourteen years of experience in Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) disciplines across various industries including oil and gas, power, petrochemical, rail, nuclear and fabrication.
“It’s great to have the chance to use my knowledge and experience of the energy industry to help guide young people with an interest in our sector.”
As a young boy growing up in Redcar on the Yorkshire coast, I wanted to be a RAF fighter pilot. This might have had something to do with my VHS Top Gun tape and some family military connections; my Grandad served in the Royal Navy as a diver and my cousin joined the Parachute Regiment. I would use toy boxes and an old TV to build fighter jets. I also had a strong passion for sport and one year represented Great Britain at a junior kickboxing tournament in Germany.
As I grew up, I was never certain on what I wanted to do as a career. I was considered “bright” and the traditional and expected route when I was at senior school was to study something at university. But this didn’t fit in with the careers of people around me, who all had jobs in mechanical and energy industries.
I studied A levels in Politics, History and English Literature at college and was set for a Politics degree. However, I decided last minute not to pursue this field as I knew it wasn’t for me. I decided I wanted to start working. My dad was a supervisor for a prominent power station boiler company, and I announced to him that I was thinking about becoming a welder.
I needed a job. Fortunately, I had a family member in the energy industry, and he secured me an interview for an apprenticeship in NDT. It is quite a common story with NDT professionals, that no one really chooses it as it’s not a well-known trade. I had no clue what NDT was. Looking back ahead of my first interview, I had no understanding of how the application of NDT is so imperative to the energy infrastructure.
Working in NDT is a perfect opportunity to operate across all aspects of the UK’s energy industry and applying its many techniques across a plant allows you to see the complex nature on how energy is produced. The endless numbers of tanks, vessels and pipework I have tested, along with other trades which are vital in asset protection, has given me valued experience and appreciation of what is needed to protect our energy supply.
My job can be very demanding, as I am involved with managing projects and technical aspects of NDT within our successful Asset Integrity division, which operates from the North Sea down to Southampton. Recently, I have also been involved with growing our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in the Teesside area.
As part of this, I have had the chance to work with the Junction Foundation, a charity which helps young people enter employment. It has been great to have the chance to use my knowledge and experience of the energy industry to help guide young people with an interest in our sector.
However, what I am noticing is the lack of awareness young people have of the energy industry. A lot has changed in Teesside over the years, and now the sector doesn’t seem to be considered a sustainable path to employment for a lot of younger individuals. We have a long way to go to make that right, as the potential in the region is only getting started with carbon capture projects.
The industry has a fundamental part to play in the wider energy transition. We especially need to support our trade workforce, whether that be through re-employment or re-training, their expertise is vital in however the energy industry evolves.
It might sound cheesy, but the people are why I feel so positive about the energy industry’s future. After being in this industry since I was 18, I would say that attitudes have come a long way. It’s not just about earning a good wage; people want to put something else into the communities they work in. Stork’s CSR team have really opened my eyes to what is possible in terms of how the energy industry can positively impact our communities.
Share this article