A Dorking resident has joined the celebrated inventors Sir James Dyson and Sir Tim Berners-Lee in being elected a Fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineers.
Cliftonville resident Martin Knights received the honour earlier this month, in recognition of his groundbreaking work in the field of tunnelling.
Mr Knights, who has lived in the town for 32 years, is global head of tunnelling for construction firm Halcrow, and served as president of the International Tunnelling Association from 2007 to 2010.
In a 40-year career, he has worked on infrastructure schemes in the UK and overseas, including transport, hydro, and energy projects.
These have included the planning, design and construction of 100km of high voltage cable-carrying tunnels under London, underground works for the CERN Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, underground hydro schemes in the Drakensberg Mountains on the KwaZulu-Lesotho border and in Thika, Kenya.
His current projects include acting as a panel member for underground works on London's CrossRail project, visiting engineer for hydro power tunnels and caverns under the Himalayas in Kashmir, and work for both metro and high-speed rail projects in Brazil.
He was one of 60 new Fellows elected on July 22, a group which included the British Army's chief of the general staff, Sir Peter Wall.