The man with his finger on the pulse of the canals

摘要

When civil engineer Stewart Sim joined British Waterways in 1974, he expected to be working for the organisation for just a few years. "I thought the job would simply be a stepping stone and that eventually I would move onwards and upwards elsewhere." Stewart did indeed move onwards and upwards, but solely within British Waterways. He has now clocked up 31 years' unbroken service with the corporation, finally becoming Technical Director. Derby-born and raised, Stewart's first post with British Waterways was assistant area engineer in Birmingham. "The condition of the track in those days was such that we seemed to have an emergency every other week. There was a lot of 'fire-fighting'. We had huge problems in Birmingham and had to close quite a few of our tunnels and canals for long periods."