Mike Needham

Spearhead Director, Major Crossings, UK

T: +44 23 8081 7500

“I am committed to getting the best out of people, through high performing teams that communicate and collaborate both internally and with stakeholders. I like to work with individuals who understand the bigger picture and are motivated to excellence in all they do. I believe that the best performance is generated by open, mature conversations that get to the real issues and look to improve the future rather than dwell on the past.”

Mike Needham is Head of Department for the UK Major Crossings team within the Transport Group. He joined Ramboll (then Gifford) in 2006 as an Associate, becoming Technical Director in 2011.

Mike manages teams carrying out the design of all kinds of civil engineering structures. His primary responsibility is for ensuring excellence in the delivery of major international bridge and tunnel projects.

Applying extensive design engineer expertise to his role in project management, Mike often works directly with the Contractor on a Design and Build basis. His particular skills are in multi-disciplinary transport projects, with a bias towards highway structures.

Mike has been involved in the design of numerous highway schemes, including bridges, retaining walls, sign gantries, footbridges, cut and cover and immersed tube tunnels. This work has ranged from greenfield sites to existing motorways and trunk roads and includes inspection, assessment and refurbishment. Mike also has experience in the safety of road tunnels and feasibility of metro projects.

Experienced in all aspects of the construction process from conceptual design to site supervision, Mike is familiar with steel, steel-concrete composite, precast concrete, in situ-concrete and prestressed concrete forms of construction. He also has experience of embedded pile, reinforced earth and reinforced soil retaining structures.

Mike’s UK based team has the full range of skills needed for pedestrian, highway and rail bridges - with iconic and moving bridges a speciality. The team also has particular skills in cut and cover and bored tunnels, retaining walls and other heavy civil engineering structures.

As part of the Major Crossings Global Division Mike’s team is aligned with bridges and tunnels staff around the world, who collaborate to bring together the global skills and local knowledge needed to deliver major projects. Through the Ramboll Group Mike can call on the skills of staff worldwide, covering a wide range of regional multidisciplinary engineering services.

Major projects undertaken by teams under Mike’s leadership include the Queensferry Crossing, Bermondsey Dive Under, Hammersmith Flyover Phase 2 strengthening, Twin Sails Bridge and MediaCityUK Footbridge.

His direct involvement on recent projects, both in the UK and internationally, includes:

Mumbai Trans Harbour Link Package 2. Design Manager for substructure and foundation elements of a 7.8km length of the elevated crossing.
TfL River Crossings. As Project Director, carrying out the duties of the Tunnel Safety Officer to support the development of the proposed Silvertown Tunnel in accordance with the Road Tunnel Safety Regulations.
Gibraltar Airport Tunnel. Leading the design of the cut and cover tunnel to carry traffic under the airport runway from outline design to construction.
Queen Elizabeth Park. Project Manager for the design of several bridges, including subsequent conversion of one of them from a temporary to a permanent structure.

Mike is a Supervising Civil Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and an Associate Member of the Association of Project Managers. He is Ramboll’s representative for the Concrete Bridge Development Group and UK Road Tunnels Operators Forum.

Recent projects

Mumbai Trans Harbour Link

A new 21.8 km bridge to connect Mumbai and Navi stimulating economic growth in India.

Thameslink: Bermondsey Dive Under

Rebuilding a vital section of the Thameslink rail line at Bermondsey Dive Under included track and infrastructure work, with sustainability and urban regeneration aspects. Value engineering and detailed design by Ramboll, in collaboration with main contractor, Skanska, and Network Rail, delivered significant cost benefits.

Hammersmith Flyover - Phase 2 refurbishment and strengthening (HFO2)

Phase 2 strengthening of the Hammersmith Flyover (HFO2), was a phenomenally complex £100m programme including innovative engineering solutions to install a full new prestress without removing the original. With 70,000 users every day on a key strategic route into London, the structure, which had been deteriorating due to significant corrosion, presented many technical, logistical, programme and political challenges.

Twin Sails Bridge

The competition-winning design for the second road bridge crossing in Poole Harbour is a steel bascule bridge known as ‘Twin Sails’ for its distinctive silhouette when open …

Gibraltar Access Road and Tunnel

Ramboll produced an outline strategic brief to improve access between the city centre and airport, adjacent to the frontier with Spain. The objective, to provide for a free flow of traffic; currently interrupted by airfield operations where 600m of existing road crosses the runway.

Media City Footbridge - Salford MediaCityUK

Media City footbridge forms a visual landmark and sculptural gateway to the vibrant MediaCityUK site, part of the Salford Quays regeneration on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal. Together with our partners we designed a bridge that met the dual 20m headroom requirements for ships and achieved “landmark” designation.