ACA, Engineering Director
David Downs was born in Lewisham in South East London in 1957; he was educated at the Roan School for Boys in Greenwhich. On leaving school he took up a student apprenticeship with Vickers Ltd Shipbuilding Group in Barrow in Furness and attended University College London, studying Naval Architecture. He graduated in 1982 with a Masters Degree in Naval Architecture. David spent the early part of his career in the Naval Architects Department at VSEL in Barrow in Furness where he worked on elements of structural design of the Upholder and Trident submarines. He was seconded to the MoD at Foxhill Bath where he worked on Computer Aided Design and Finite Element Analysis particularly related to the Trident Submarine Design. He was appointed Head of Hydrodynamics at VSEL in 1990, in which role he led work on the hydrodynamic design of the proposed SSN20 submarine and proposals for Replacement LPD and LPH. In 1992 VSEL set up a Surface Ships Project Group with the intention of securing surface ship business in Barrow. David was appointed as Surface Ships Design Manager and played a key part in the successful bids for HMS Ocean LPH and the two LPD(R) HMS Albion and Bulwark. In 1999 David joined the Type 45 Destroyer Project, initially in Bristol as Assistant Chief Engineer and then as Chief Engineer from 2003. He was instrumental in the design and integration of the Type 45 Destroyers including overseeing the successful launch of the first three ships and initial sea trials for HMS Daring. In 2008 David joined the Aircraft Carrier Alliance as Engineering Director in which role he leads the ACA Engineering teams across all four Alliance Partners in the delivery of the two Carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. David is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects and has published technical papers through RINA and other bodies.
Speaker's bio
