Vacation Student Review

Over the 6 weeks working as a Building Services Summer Placement Student, Arup has provided me with a stimulating environment to further develop my client focus, communication skills and problem solving techniques. The apprenticeship scheme has helped me have a better understanding on the role of engineers and I am now certain that this is the career for me. I have really enjoyed my time here at Arup as I have met a lot of friendly people, who were willing to share their ideas and experiences with me.

Built strong relationship within the department by sharing ideas and experiences through weekly meetings and participating in socials. A department visit to Sky Garden, where I not only managed to enjoy the wonderful skyline view of London but also mingle with my future colleagues from the BEL D team. Accompanied one of the Mechanical Engineers from BEL D, Jon Moore to Monument Building, where Arup is working closely with Skanska Project Development Limited (SPDL) in the development of an 88,000 sq ft office-led scheme at 11-19 Monument Street.

I have really enjoyed my time here at Arup as I have met a lot of friendly people, who were willing to share their ideas and experiences with me. A word of thanks to my mentor for his guidance. The placement is really worthwhile and I would definitely recommend it to future applicants. I was privileged to work on multiple interesting projects and managed to tackle unique problems alongside the world’s brightest. Arup is a great place and platform to jump start a career and I hope to start my professional future with Arup.

I was given insight by my mentor into the building services industry, the various offerings available by Arup, the team process workflow and the types of workload the mechanical division performs. BEL D are mainly focused on the arts and cultural industry sector and their main clients includes museums, libraries, theatres, galleries, communication and broadcasting centres, located both in the UK and abroad. In the mechanical services division, we are primarily in charge of the ventilation system within a particular building. Experience working on a real engineering design project using a formal planning and design process. Approached the project by clarifying the task, defining a design specification and generating design concepts that could deliver the specification.

Took charge of 4 interesting projects (London Science Museum, BSKYB by SKY in West London, Burlington Gardens & Burlington House Entrance in the Royal Academy of Arts and Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens (SNFCC) – Comprises of the National Library of Greece and Greek National Opera, located within the Stavros National Park) that gave an interesting insight into the role of a Mechanical Engineer and was primarily in charge of the ventilation system within a particular building.

I learnt many things from this and even managed to apply what I have learnt from my modules. I gained invaluable knowledge by learning and using various 2D, 3D modelling and designing software, which included Bluebeam Revu, AutoCAD, Autodesk Revit and Oasys. These software are different from what I have been accustomed to on my degree in the University of Leeds.

Over the 6 weeks working as a Building Services Summer Placement Student, Arup has provided me with a stimulating environment to further develop my client focus, communication skills and problem solving techniques. The apprenticeship scheme has helped me have a better understanding on the role of engineers and I am now certain that this is the career for me. I have really enjoyed my time here at Arup as I have met a lot of friendly people, who were willing to share their ideas and experiences with me. The placement is really worthwhile and I would definitely recommend it to future applicants. I was privileged to work on multiple interesting projects and managed to tackle unique problems alongside the world’s brightest.

My mechanical building services summer placement started off with an induction given by supervisor and was briefed on Arup, its history, culture, values, diverse projects and the general terms of employment. What struck me during the induction was the numerous projects Arup have been involved in; Sydney Opera House, Bird’s Nest (Beijing National Stadium) and London Heathrow Terminal 5. I was then introduced to my team for the next 6 weeks, the Building Engineering London D (BEL D) and my mentor, whom are based on the 5th floor of 8th Fitzroy Street.

At the start of my placement, I was given insight by my mentor into the building services industry, the various offerings available by Arup, the team process workflow and the types of workload the mechanical division performs. BEL D are mainly focused on the arts and cultural industry sector and their main clients includes museums, libraries, theatres, galleries, communication and broadcasting centres, located both in the UK and abroad. In the mechanical services division, we are primarily in charge of the ventilation system within a particular building.Over the course of my placement, I had the brilliant opportunity to work on 4 projects, which gave me a very interesting insight into the role of a Mechanical Engineer at Arup.

Over the 6 weeks working as a Building Services Summer Placement Student, Arup has provided me with a stimulating environment to further develop my client focus, communication skills and problem solving techniques. The apprenticeship scheme has helped me have a better understanding on the role of engineers and I am now certain that this is the career for me. I have really enjoyed my time here at Arup as I have met a lot of friendly people, who were willing to share their ideas and experiences with me.

We had a department visit to Sky Garden, where I not only managed to enjoy the wonderful skyline view of London but also mingle with my future colleagues from the BEL D team. On another occasion, I had the privilege of accompanying one of the Mechanical Engineers from BEL D, Jon Moore on a site visit to Monument Building, where Arup is working closely with Skanska Project Development Limited (SPDL) in the development of an 88,000 sq ft office-led scheme at 11-19 Monument Street which will be opposite the famous Christopher Wren Monument. I was honoured to have an exclusive first glimpse of the newly completed 1st floor. The Monument Building is designed to achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating as it will feature LED lighting, showers, cycle parking and a roof terrace with photovoltaic panels. It was surreal and a great chance to see what I have been doing in office, transform into reality.

Cost of living was a bit high and there's a few bars to socialise after work!

Sometime there is some events around that area during summer.