A to E – Principal Engineer Holly Phillips on designing the fastest lifeboat in the RNLI fleet

Holly Phillips has always loved boats, spending most of her life being in them, on them or under them. Having joined the RNLI Poole crew in 1992, and starting as Senior Naval Architect 10 years later, she shaped the evolution of lifeboat engineering during her impressive 21-year career at the RNLI.

In particular, she was instrumental in the design of the fast and manoeuvrable E class lifeboat, and was at the helm of the team that saw the project through from conception to launch. It was this that led to Holly being awarded an MBE by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – which Holly humbly describes as a team effort.

In this episode, hear Holly talk about her inspirational career as a woman in engineering, and why the challenging moments along the way always ended up being the most rewarding.

200 Voices is produced by Adventurous Audio for the RNLI   

Interview by the RNLI's Eleanor Driscoll

Soundtrack composed and performed by Jon Nicholls   

The RNLI is a charity celebrating 200 years of saving lives at sea - find out more at RNLI.org/200