QS Awards 2008: Young Achiever of the Year

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David Whysall of Turner & Townsend beats a strong field to scoop this sought-after award

Winner

David Whysall of Turner & Townse

David Whysall is a young consultant who is a credit to both his employer and to his sector. Aged 26, he has already had a host of impressive project successes, such as leading a high-performing team on a £100m project at Heathrow and being singled out by the client for his skill at cost planning. But this is only part of the story. David is already emerging as a future industry leader, having hosted an Egan evening for more than 80 industry figures and he has been asked to join an industry working group that is producing a post-Egan agenda.

Runners-up

Helen Gray of Faithful + Gould

After graduated from St Andrews university four years ago, Helen Gray has put together a project CV that would be the envy of many senior figures in the industry. As part of Faithful + Gould’s infrastructure team, she spent a year working on a £50m project at Heathrow airport to renew fuel storage facilities for Terminal 5 and existing terminals. She then transferred to the property team to work on the 2012 Olympic masterplan, thereby contributing to London’s winning bid to host the 2012 Games.

Georgina Green of Arcadis AYH

In her three years at Arcadis AYH, Georgina Green has examined other graduates at an APC sitting, delivered a talk on the redevelopment of the Arsenal stadium to an industry networking group and treated colleagues to a mildly terrifying trip on her speedboat. But the greatest testament to the ability of this rising star is the fact that she has risen up the ladder to become project associate director on the NIDO Spitalfields scheme in London – one of AYH’s most prestigious jobs to date.

Adrian Van Rooyen of John Rowan and Partners

Originally from Cape Town, Adrian Van Rooyen had his first taste of responsibility in the sector at the age of 20, when he was given a refurbishment project to handle for an overseas client. From there, his enthusiasm has been impressive. He joined UK-based John Rowan in 2006 and has since risen through the ranks to become associate partner. Now 28, he has ambitions to start up his own business unit within the firm by the time he’s 30.

Andrew Schmidt of SUM

Andrew Schmidt is fast making a name for himself with SUM, the QS firm he founded six years ago when he was 24. He is currently directing projects including a multiple roll out programme for OK Karaoke bars, and a sports project that could run to £200m in value. This entrepreneurial QS is not the only high-flier at his company, though – the average age of its 16-strong team is a mere 29 years.