BA French and Music,
Keele University
My current role is as a quantity surveyor on the Birmingham New Hospital project. I work on the envelope package, which means the cladding on the outside, the roof and structural glazing – it’s a very varied role. I liaise with sub-contractors and get to go to the design meetings to discuss the finer details.
Balfour Beatty is very good at supporting its staff. I wanted to fully buy into that so I decided to do a masters course that would help me progress in my role and, in turn, help the company progress. The company was more than happy to sponsor me to do that. Plus, when I have exams, my senior managers within the company allow me time off. They also allowed me to interview them for essays and other assignments, so I could get their perspectives on management modules. It’s been excellent and they’ve given me a lot of support. My line manager, in particular, has been extremely helpful in finding articles, helping me explore new points of view, bring in perspectives from various projects and things like that.
The best thing about working on a project of this size is seeing the local community, and how they and the healthcare staff and all the patients are reacting to the project. They’re just loving it. Knowing you’re creating state-of-the-art facilities for so many people is just such a phenomenal feeling; it’s immensely satisfying.
The combination of work-related training, having such a good team to work with and also learning about the commercial team is a fantastic opportunity. If you are ever having a bad day, you just look up at what it is you are doing and you just think ‘Yeah, I’m part of that; and that is something really special’.
It’s such a great team; everybody supports everybody else; everybody’s working tirelessly and constantly to make sure the project is the best it can possibly be. It’s such a great project to work on and it’s such a privilege to know that you are helping so many people in the local area.
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