Naval engineering and design consultancy Houlder has been working with clients providing innovative maritime solutions to a range of issues from propulsion to offshore wind construction for many years. We spoke to Jonathan Strachan, chief technology officer at the company about his role and the company’s ethos.

Jonathan Strachan (pictured) joined Houlder in 2013 as a project director, having previously held various roles at maritime heavyweights including Lloyd’s Register (LR) and Carnival. On working for a class society and a shipowner, he says while LR makes sure the rules are applied and the statutory regulations abided by, alternatively “a shipowners focus [Carnival] is more on making sure that what it says in the spec is actually delivered, and making sure that what it says in the spec will do what you need it to do commercially.” Having seen the maritime industry from these alternate viewpoints is a surely a boon when it comes to the world of design and engineering.