Consultancy and Engineering Awards: Terry Morgan wins Ambassador of the Year prize

Crossrail chairman Terry Morgan CBE is this year’s recipient of the ACE Ambassador Award, presented periodically to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the industry. Previous recipients have included Sir John Armitt and Sir Michael Latham.

Morgan was nominated for the award for his exemplary leadership skills at the helm of Crossrail and for the tireless and passionate way he has championed apprenticeships and training in the sector.

Morgan became chair of Crossrail in 2009, the same year he was awarded a CBE for services to the railway sector. Crossrail is the biggest construction project in Europe, and the first complete new underground line in more than 30 years and Morgan is steering it to the finishing line on time and on budget. The £14.8bn project is an incredible engineering feat and has involved boring 26 miles or 42 km of new 6.2m diameter rail tunnels under London weaving in and out of existing complex tunnelling networks. When the line opens as the Elizabeth Line in 2018, Crossrail trains will transport up to 72,000 passengers per hour.

Before joining Crossrail, Morgan had made his mark in delivering world class infrastructure as chief executive at Tube Lines, A PPP company contracted to maintain and upgrade the tube’s infrastructure on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines.

Previously to that, Morgan has held senior positions at a number of engineering firms, including group managing director, operations, BAE Systems and managing director (Land Rover), Rover Group.

Down to earth and plain speaking, Morgan started his own illustrious career as an apprentice at the Lucas Girling factory in Cwmbran in Wales and soon converted to a student apprentice to learn engineering skills. After completing a master’s degree in engineering production and management, he switched over to British Leyland, quickly being promoted to operational management roles, before moving the Rover Group.  

As a former engineering apprentice himself, the value of bringing young people into our sector through this route has not been lost on Morgan who set into procurement policy at Crossrail the need for firms to take on engineering in both contracting and consultancy. As of April 2016 Crossrail had created 550 apprentices – far exceeding the target it set itself. This extraordinary success caught the eye of Secretary of State, Rt Hon Patrick McLoughlin, who asked him to develop the Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy, published in January 2016. The government has a pledge to create 30,000 new rail and road apprenticeships by 2020. He continues his educational and training role as the chairman of HS2 College Governing Body. Morgan sits on the ACE Editorial Advisory Board and is the past President of the CMI (Chartered Management Institute).

“Terry Morgan is a fantastic leader, a huge advocate of training. He is someone who walks the talk. He is a great ambassador for our sector.”
Dr Nelson Ogunshakin, chief executive, ACE