A St Albans mum has been recognised as one of the UK’s 50 most influential women engineers.

Herts Advertiser: Louise HardyLouise Hardy (Image: Archant)

With a career that spans a number of major projects, including the construction of the London 2012 Olympic site, HS1 and Jubilee line extension, Louise Hardy’s achievements are numerous.

Perhaps the most impressive, however, is that alongside being the most senior woman civil engineer on the London 2012 team, leading 200 people as infrastructure director, Louise also delivered twins merely two weeks after leaving the project.

The list of influential women was compiled by The Daily Telegraph in collaboration with the Women’s Engineering Society, with the top 50 selected from almost 900 nominations.

Born and raised in this area, Louise attended Oakwood JMI and Beaumont School before winning a National Engineering Council scholarship and reading engineering science at the University of Warwick.

Louise was inspired to enter the engineering profession by a campaign in the 1980s which aimed to encourage more girls to consider the industry. Over the past year she has delivered speeches to more than 1,000 schoolgirls.

She said: “I am absolutely delighted to be on the inaugural list of ‘Top 50 Women of Influence in Engineering’ and it is wonderful to see the amazing depth of senior female talent in the engineering industry.

“I very much hope that this list of role models encourages young women to take maths and science subjects and to enter the exciting and fulfilling engineering profession.”