Summer work experience

A Year 12 student from Toot Hill College in Bingham joined us for a week in July to get a taste of what a career in Structural and Civil Engineering might be like. Here are his thoughts…

‘My time at HWA has been very enjoyable and an intensive learning experience. Through the different tasks and activities I have completed and attended I gained a greater understanding of the various operations involved in successfully running the business as well as technical knowledge. 

Over the course of the week I was lucky enough to accompany several site visits, including prospective building projects and assessments of existing structures, during these I was generously taught much about the structures themselves and the logistics of those specific jobs. Using information collected at one of these sites I was guided in some calculations relevant to that job, allowing me to exercise my previous understanding and learn more about the physics behind the structure in a realistic context. Beyond these aspects I was also given the opportunity to research for and write the biweekly website blog, allowing me to explore a completely different aspect of the business and employ a new set of skills. Finally I accompanied an assessment of a fire-damaged property, which was an intriguing case and really displayed another side of the work.

Overall I am greatly pleased with the variety of the operations I engaged in, the level of attention I was afforded by the several people I interacted with and the overall value of the experience. All of the work has been interesting and exciting, leading to a thoroughly enriching week for which I am very grateful.’