Born in 1956 in London, Springman was educated at Wycombe Abbey, where she was later a governor from 1993 to 1996.[1][2] She studied engineering sciences at Cambridge University (Bachelor level) from 1975 to 1978[3] and returned for a MPhil in soil mechanics in 1983 and carried on her doctoral research in soil-structure interaction, earning her doctorate between 1984 to 1989. She worked as an engineer on geotechnical projects in England, Australia and Fiji (primarily on the Monasavu Dam in Viti Levu), from 1979 to 1983 and became a chartered engineer and Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1983.[4]