I am currently studying a degree in Construction Management at London South Bank University. Whilst completing my second year in the degree, I knew it was vital for me to gain some on site experience, to increase my knowledge of working on site and leasing with site management and sub-contractors, as I felt this is where I needed to gain some more understanding to, before entering my final year in to the degree. I have always had an interest in the industry and had previously worked a week long work experience placement with E G Carter & Co Ltd, when I was in year 10 at secondary school. E G Carter & Co Ltd introduced me to the big world of construction, not only did I gain a concept of what working on site would be like, but I also gained some knowledge of all other aspects of the building process within the office environment, such as Quantity Surveying and Buying . By gaining a concept at such a young age, by a professional expert company, had inspired me and gave me such an enthusiastic approach to continue studying a Construction related topic. My three week placement this year at E G Carter has again filled me with more enthusiasm and excitement to graduate and start my career within the industry.
I worked at St Whites Primary School in Cinderford, alongside experienced project manager Paul Morgan, who has worked with E G Carter for many years and he definitely knows his stuff within the building industry! Whilst shadowing Paul, I also got the opportunity to attend site progress meetings and this gave me a chance to meet all the other professionals involved with the build, such as the Contracts Manager Alan, Construction Manager Tom , trainee Site Manager Marlon, Quantity Surveyor Andy, Buyer Steph and the architect from Roberts Limbrick. Not only did I gain some insight from everyone else involved in the build, and by talking to all of the team and asking many questions about their experience in the industry, (not only within this project but many others that they have worked on), developed my understanding that there is not just one simple route in construction and that every project that you will work on will be different with a different method of the way its constructed and each site will contain different constraints, but the ultimate goal Is not to lose the focus of achieving a completed project in line with the contract, in budget and on time to the planned schedule.
I also got the opportunity to see how site management and the team involved with the project liaise with the client, this was inspiring and the meetings always fulfilled a future vision to what would be completed by the next meeting and eventually the final product of the completed school ready to open its doors to students in January 2016. I noticed how all the site team addressed any concerns from the client immediately with answers or discussed steps on how they would gain an answer from the query that the client had raised, this maintained a relaxed and exiting site progress meeting.
The school is a new build, under a design and build JCT contract. When I joined the site, the school was at the middle stage of completing its first fix process. I gained a quick understanding of how rapid the building process can be and how important it is to interact with sub-contractors, consisting of different skills and personalities, to enable and ensure that the build follows the plan of works and gets completed on time as scheduled. Being out of the site office I was able to explore the site with the detailed drawings and visually see how the building was being constructed. I also tried a bit of bricklaying but I definitely didn’t have the same skills as the professionals!! I gained knowledge on many aspects of the building internally and externally, an example of this is floor sections and the process of laying and screeding over underfloor heating. Plastering and how each section of the building has a different type of board, with different tolerances on sound and strength. Scaffolding and what type of system needs to be installed to ensure a safe way for the tradesmen to complete the job whilst complying with legislation. All different trades have to work around each other in a safe way complying with health and safety legislation, checking that the tradesmen were following this vital rule was fun and I found some potential hazards that could have escalated to a worse situation, talking and discussing this to different trades on site was challenging, but eventually I got used to the interaction with different types of personalities.
Overall the experience was amazing! Again E G Carter has fulfilled me with enthusiasm and more knowledge in to the construction industry. I feel ready to graduate from University and carry on with my career in Construction on site! I would like to take this opportunity to everyone I met during the three weeks and say Thank you for answering all my questions and giving me the extra knowledge within the industry.