The Roger Wickens Engineering Award 2021

This September, Nationwide Platforms once again holds a special challenge for our apprentices, the Roger Wickens Engineering Award. From 13^th-17^th September, two teams will be competing to build the best scrapheap machine they can from our pool of spare parts.

In just 3 days, the apprentices will have to work together, combining their skills to assemble a scrapheap machine capable of lifting and repositioning 3 different objects of varying size and weight, raising money for their chosen charities.

Roger Wickens

This award was created in memory of our colleague, Roger Wickens, who stood as an influential and much-loved member of the powered access community, with a career spanning five decades. Roger’s proactive approach was praised by many and helped raise industry standards, and drove improvements to many product ranges.

He was also a key force behind the highly successful and respected Technical Excellence (TechX) programme run by Lavendon Group, which is now being adopted all across the Loxam Powered Access Division.

Sadly, after bravely battling cancer, Roger passed away in 2019. There could be no better tribute to the man who lived and breathed good old-fashioned engineering than an engineering award in his name, instilling the same passion into the next generation through healthy competition, whilst encouraging sustainability, recycling, and charitable giving. 

The Event

In 2019, the first competition of the Roger Wickens Engineering Award took place, with teams of apprentices competing to refurbish two machines from the Nationwide Platforms fleet, the proceeds from their future hire going to Cancer Research UK.

Now in 2021, two teams are raising money for their respective charities, Cancer Research UK and Mind.
After constructing their machines, on the final day of the event, the teams will face one another in a race against the clock around a complex obstacle course – taking care to avoid cones, keep hold of important objects, and to deliver their cargo to the finish line!

Visit the Nationwide Platforms blog or our Youtube channel to see the videos of the competition as it happened!

This event is being made possible by the generous contributions of our suppliers