VIDEO: Bedfordshire engineer is Britain's best technician

Steve Green, Senior Prototype Engineer at Lockheed Martin, was named Technician of the Year at the Semta Skills Awards 2016 ceremony.

The 54-year-old from Bedford, said he was “massively humbled” to win at the event in the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane, London.

He said: “I am very proud of what we do. I feel British engineers are the best in the world and will do anything to help show that. I want to thank everyone involved – winning this award is awesome.”

As part of his role, Steve regularly takes on seconded apprentices and spends a significant amount of time supporting them, sharing his extensive knowledge and experience.

He added:“I enjoy my job and feel proud of what I do and the many things I have done. I am also proud that I can pass that experience on to encourage younger people to get the most out of their lives and their careers.”

Lockheed Martin’s Head of Engineering Technical Facilities, Mark Lawson, said: “Steve’s impact is massive. He is involved in just about every research and development programme we do on site – he goes way beyond being a technician, involved in designing and putting real world engineering into all of our products at an early stage.

“The company’s prototyping, research work and bid activities have all benefited from an input from Steve at some point, and the business would be a poorer place without him.”

Semta - the Science, Engineering, Manufacturing and Technologies Alliance - is a not-for-profit organisation responsible for engineering skills for the future of the UK’s most advanced sectors.

Hundreds of nominations from across the UK for the nine categories were shortlisted to leave 27 finalists battling it out in the prestigious Semta Skills Awards. Lockheed Martin employee Alexander Godfrey was also nominated for Graduate of the Year.