The knowledge that's
walking out the door.
UK engineering and skilled trades face a silent, structural crisis. Experienced practitioners are retiring faster than they can be replaced — and the knowledge they carry, much of which was never written down, is leaving with them.
A drain you can measure.
Two engineers, two hooks,
same platform need.
EngTree was built because two different kinds of engineer independently arrived at the same conclusion. Both stories are true. Both lead to the same place.
Hook 1 — The founder
“I qualified as a Civil Engineer with an MEng. I joined TfL. I started the chartership journey — logged my hours, padded my CPD, ticked the boxes. And somewhere along the way, I lost track of why I wanted to do it in the first place.”
Then ChatGPT arrived and started reciting Eurocodes back to graduates. The question got sharper: what's the point of chartership now? For six months, I didn't have a good answer. Then I started building EngTree — and got my reason back.
— Franklyn Frantos, Founder · MEng, TfL Programme Delivery
Hook 2 — The senior engineer about to be chartered
“I've been an engineer for 10 years and I still don't know how the drainage works on the station I'm designing. EngTree is the platform I should already be on.”
She's a senior design manager on a major UK station development, weeks from her chartership. Good at her job. And she just named the universal engineering experience: you're responsible for something, your name on it, and there's a cross-discipline gap you don't fully grasp.
— Senior Design Manager, UK Station Development
Every chartered engineer hits three to five cross-discipline knowledge gaps per project they touch. EngTree is the only platform built specifically to close those gaps — with credentialed humans, not Google searches or ChatGPT guesses.
Why YouTube and Coursera
don't fix this.
We checked. They can't. Engineering knowledge needs verification, credentialing, jurisdictional awareness, and an economy that pays the experts. No existing platform combines all four.
| Platform | Strength | Why it fails for engineering |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | Free video content | No verification, no quality control, no credentialing — and no payment to the expert for accuracy. |
| LinkedIn Learning | Structured courses | Generic content. Not jurisdiction-aware. Instructors not necessarily practising experts. |
| Coursera | Academic courses | Designed for curricula, not for solving real engineering problems on Monday morning. |
| Stack Overflow | Q&A community | Developer-focused. No equivalent exists for engineering or trades. No credentialing. |
| Wikipedia | Reference content | Open editing, no accountability, no commercial reward for contributors. |
That's the gap EngTree fills. Practitioner-authored, peer-validated, jurisdiction-aware, creator-economy by design.
EngTree grows in stages.
Each stage compounds on the last.
The data layer built today powers the platform of tomorrow.
Verified Knowledge Marketplace
Contributors share. Validators verify. Learners subscribe. The marketplace runs on accountability, not anonymity — every entry signed off by named, credentialed practitioners.
Global Engineering Platform
Institutions licence the platform. Universities embed it in curricula. Employers onboard their graduates. Multi-jurisdiction support — US, AU, EU — goes live. The marketplace becomes infrastructure for the industry.
Knowledge Infrastructure
Every contribution, validation and engagement is a discrete attribution event. The data layer becomes a category-defining asset — for industry, for regulation, for AI training, for everything that comes next.
EngTree
Engineering knowledge, shared and verified.
£2M
Pre-Seed — open
Raising now, with non-dilutive grant support in preparation.
- Founded
- 2026 · London
- Status
- Live · pre-launch
Founded by Franklyn Frantos — Civil Engineer (MEng) and Programme Delivery Manager at TfL — with a small founding team forming around the raise.
May 2026
EngTree Ltd incorporated
Registered in England & Wales (Companies House).
May 2026
Platform live at engtree.org
Verified knowledge marketplace, video + AI review pipeline, and a Pathways preview.
2026
First Founding Channels confirmed
Senior chartered engineers and master tradespeople anchoring the corpus.
2026
Innovate UK Smart Grants — in preparation
Primary non-dilutive R&D route; a TfL letter of support strengthens the bid.
2026
£2M Pre-Seed — open
Raising to build Pathways, contributor payouts, and the first pilots.
Next
Pathways + first pilots (Stage 1.5)
Career simulation live, plus first university and employer pilots.
“Rewarding shared expertise to drive innovation and growth.”
EngTree Mission
Unlocking innovation and discourse
in the technical space.
The bigger ambition
Elevator pitch
Engineers and skilled trade professionals should get paid for the experience and knowledge they contribute to the world. EngTree is how.
Engineering knowledge, shared and verified.