Winner announced for the Tom Barton Award 2026

Pictured from left to right: David Porter, ICE President, Cliff Smith, GIRI executive director, award winner Samantha Kenny, and Mary Barton.

Samantha Kenny of AtkinsRéalis has won this year’s Tom Barton Award at the annual ICE Awards recognising outstanding civil engineering achievements. Samantha, head of quality for transportation at AtkinsRéalis, was recognised for work that has led to measurable quality improvements, error reduction and improved customer satisfaction across the business. 

The Tom Barton Award is given in honour of GIRI’s founding director and celebrates excellence and innovation in error reduction in construction and engineering . 

Samantha’s win reflects the impact she has made across three core areas at AtkinsRéalis:

• tools and processes, 
• innovation and continuous improvement, and 
• external engagement. 

This includes her work to improve the efficiency of the company’s Project Assurance Tool, laying the groundwork for its evolution into a comprehensive Project Audit Trail that will encompass areas such as design risk assessment and carbon management. She also helped create the transportation division’s Excellence Plan, introducing targeted training for early-career staff and extending the company’s quality programme to its Global Technology Centre in India.

Samantha adopted the ‘No Fault Forward’ manufacturing principle, creating clear processes that identify and address errors at every stage before they reach construction. Through lean methods, value stream mapping and root-cause analysis, she cut response times for quality-related events by half while fostering a culture that continually asks how work can be done better.

Finally, the award recognised the way Samantha engaged across client, sector and company boundaries to share knowledge and ideas. Her engagement has spanned contractor partners, projects and client organisations including Balfour Beatty, Sizewell C, and National Highways.

Commenting on the Award, GIRI Executive Director Cliff Smith said: “Samantha’s commitment to eliminating error and improving error shone through. We are delighted to partner with the Institution of Civil Engineers to recognise and celebrate individuals, teams and organisations striving to improve quality and productivity across our industry.” 

Nominations for the Tom Barton Award 2027 are open now and the deadline is midnight on 8 September. If you have a colleague who deserves recognition for their efforts to reduce error in construction and engineering, make sure you submit a nomination by the deadline. More information is available on the ICE website.