Michèle Dix

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(born 5 February 1955) is a British

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

. She is the managing director of Crossrail 2 and had previously been the director of planning for

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

. In 2016, Dix was named as one of the Top 50 Influential Women in Engineering.

Early life

As Michèle Holland, she attended Cleethorpes Girls' Grammar School. Dix gained a degree in civil engineering from the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

before studying for a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

degree in transport and land use planning at the university's Institute for Transport Studies which she was awarded in 1982.

Career

She worked for the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

for six years as a traffic planner developing traffic policies and planning new road schemes. She became a

chartered engineer Regulation and licensure in engineering is established by various jurisdictions of the world to encourage life, public welfare, safety, well-being, then environment and other interests of the general public and to define the licensure process thr ...

through the council's graduate development scheme. Dix subsequently joined engineering consultancy Halcrow Fox and became their board director for urban transport planning. She is a fellow of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

, of the

Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation The Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT, formerly the Institution of Highways and Transportation) is a British learned society for the planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of land-based transport system ...

and of the

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) is a professional body representing the transport and logistics industries worldwide. It is a membership-based organisation with over 30,000 members in over 40 countries. This i ...

. After 15 years at Halcrow, Dix joined

in 2000 as co-director of

congestion charging Congestion pricing or congestion charges is a system of surcharging users of public goods that are subject to congestion through excess demand, such as through higher peak charges for use of bus services, electricity, metros, railways, tel ...

, in which role she was responsible for development of the

London Low Emission Zone The London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) is an area of London in which an European emission standards, emissions standard based charge is applied to non-compliant commercial vehicles. Its aim is to reduce the exhaust emissions of Diesel engine, diese ...

. She was promoted to managing director of planning in 2007 with responsibilities for planning the future transport needs of London, coordinating local plans and developing major transportation schemes. On 5 February 2015 she was made managing director of Crossrail 2, a proposed £27 billion high-capacity rail line to connect Surrey and Hertfordshire with London and provide additional capacity to the rail network. Dix was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2015 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2015 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to transport in London. She was described as "the best transport planner in Britain" by Sir Peter Hendy and was named as one of the Top 50 Influential Women in Engineering in 2016. Dix has stated that when she retires she would like to "run a

tea room A teahouse or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel, especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment that only serve ...

– baking cakes and serving teas".

Personal life

She married in 1977, with a son and daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dix, Michele 1955 births British civil engineers Living people British women engineers 20th-century British engineers 21st-century British engineers Alumni of the University of Leeds People from Cleethorpes Transport for London Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century British women engineers 21st-century British women engineers