IPSWICH-BASED MLM Consulting Engineers has appointed Carl Bowen-Price as a trainee technician following his winning performance at last year's Engineering Cup Challenge.

IPSWICH-BASED MLM Consulting Engineers has appointed Carl Bowen-Price as a trainee technician following his winning performance at last year's Engineering Cup Challenge.

Carl, 18, who attended St Albans Catholic High School, was part of the winning team from the 2006 contest, which invites teams from local schools to battle it out to solve real-life engineering problems.

The challenge is an annual event run by MLM Consulting Engineers and Jackson Civil Engineering in conjunction with the Suffolk Education Business Partnership and CITB Business Skills.

Carl's ability caught the eye of Ian Henderson, a civil engineer at MLM, and he has now left school to pursue a career with the firm.

The youngster, who lives in Ipswich and enjoys extreme sports, will also be studying for a BSc in civil engineering at Anglian Ruskin University in Chelmsford.

“Attending the Engineering Challenge made me realise that civil engineering was the career for me,” said Carl.

“I couldn't believe the amount of work and planning that goes into a project - there is so much preparation and problem-solving to do before you even get started.”