Sandra Šlihte selected as one of the Top 50 Women in Engineering

Congratulations to our Head of Engineering Sandra Šlihte for being selected as one of the WES Top 50 Women in Engineering 2020: Sustainability. The WE50 raises awareness of the skills shortage facing the industry, highlighting the huge discrepancy between the number of men vs. women currently in engineering professions. ​They aim to change perceptions, and encourage young women to consider engineering as a viable and rewarding career.

Sandra is well-known for driving innovation in the design of secondary and in-building heat networks. She has pushed the boundaries of fourth generation district heating principles and engineered lower temperatures across developments of up to 10,000 homes, making it possible to integrate fossil-free and zero-carbon heat sources into heating systems. The viability of lower-temperature heat networks greatly increases the extent to which we can reach zero carbon heating across the country.

Sandra has also optimised cooling techniques to draw on datacentres and other waste sources for low carbon heating. She is regularly invited to present on innovation in district heating and sought out by engineering firms and developers for her expertise.

Sandra and her team have set new standards in district heating, designing the UK’s largest installation of heat pumps serving over 6,000 homes and half a million square meters of commercial space in London. 
  
As a ‘The Girls’ Network’ mentor, Sandra encourages young women and girls to pursue their ambition. She champions women in engineering and was an initial member of the ‘District Heating Divas’, a networking group behind the first-ever UK district heating event with only female speakers, ‘Connecting Women in District Heat’. The event focused on empowering more women to enter the discipline and the potential of district heating to abate climate change.