Andricke Smith of Ethos Engineering claimed Excellence in Senior Leadership – Engineering at the Women in Construction Awards 2026, establishing a benchmark for engineering leadership excellence. Her achievement in managing an extraordinary portfolio scope whilst demonstrating exceptional technical expertise and team leadership reflects the multidimensional capability essential to senior engineering practice.

Andricke's engineering portfolio represents exceptional scale and complexity. Master planning work across 645MW of generating capacity demands strategic thinking, regulatory navigation, and long-term planning capability spanning multiple project phases and stakeholder engagement. Detailed building design across 540MW reflects technical depth and specification expertise translating master plans into buildable solutions meeting performance, regulatory, and client requirements. Construction-phase support across 355MW demonstrates sustained technical involvement throughout delivery, ensuring design intent realisation and adaptive problem-solving in real-world project contexts. This progression across planning, design, and construction phases illustrates comprehensive engineering understanding spanning complete project lifecycles.

The scale of this portfolio—totalling 1,540MW—executed under Andricke's leadership demonstrates her capability managing substantial, complex engineering programmes. Engineering at this scale requires sophisticated resource management, multi-team coordination, quality assurance systems, and strategic decision-making across interconnected work streams. Her ability to deliver this scope whilst maintaining technical standards and team performance reflects exceptional operational and leadership capability.

Andricke's impact extends beyond individual project delivery toward team development and colleague advancement. Her leadership creates environments where engineering talent grows, technical excellence is developed, and colleagues achieve their potential. This people-development focus distinguishes leaders who leave lasting organisational legacy beyond individual projects.

Judges highlighted Smith's distinctive engineering leadership qualities. "This entrant demonstrated exceptional leadership and technical expertise, overseeing an impressive scope of work across multiple projects," the panel said. "Under Andricke Smith's leadership, the team has handled designs for 645MW of master planning, 540MW of detailed building design, and 355MW of construction-phase support, showcasing a truly extraordinary portfolio. Our panel felt that this entry highlighted Andricke's significant contributions to both Ethos Engineering and her colleagues, providing strong examples of leadership and operational excellence across the engineering sector."

This award recognition reflects the Women in Construction Awards' commitment to acknowledging leaders advancing engineering excellence and technical sector advancement. Andricke's achievement illustrates how exceptional technical expertise combined with team leadership and organisational impact creates lasting contribution within engineering practice.

For the full list of winners and category details, visit the official Women in Construction Awards website and subscribe to the newsletter for exclusive insights and coverage from Ireland's construction sector.