Student Engineer Review

Worked on a commercial block in the heart of Central London with a great team and good salary. The company has treated me very well and has offered a summer placement for next year with the view for a graduate job offer. Would recommend anyone to go work for them.

Had a great team around me. Was given a lot of responsibility for the construction activities. The team and my seniors made me feel a valued member of the team which encouraged me to work harder towards what we trying to achieve, I have kept these contacts after placement and built relationships with the team.

Highly supported on site, given a lot of explanations of everything behind the technical stuff to how to best go about the tasks in the day. Was given a lot of guidance with the documents for the ICE chartership. Now I know what I need to do to become chartered.

Very busy each day. Given a lot of responsibility for the building including finding the volume of concrete needed, then ordering it in to site. Also checking the steel reinforcement for the concrete pours as well as setting out all the elements that needed to go in the slabs. Responsible for making sure the concrete pour was right first time.

Loads of responsibility. Although given the title of student engineer, I was soon taking on the role of site engineer. Further into the placement I was given more responsibility, like managing a sub contractor with day work sheets which I would give to the quantity surveyors and giving progress updates to the construction manager.

The main skill I developed was time management, being given a set of tasks on Monday morning for the next couple of days meant I needed to manage my time correctly to be able to complete all tasks on time without holding up any of the workforce. My university grades will benefit as a result of doing this placement.

Very good atmosphere, the whole team got on really well. The seniors were even saying how good the atmosphere in the office was. We were all very social, meet up after work every Friday and also went to some theatre plays in the west end. Very good place to work.

All set up very well, with the university visiting twice in the year to check up on how I was doing. Also laing o rourke would do the same with people coming to check my progress and also filling out an end of year placement forms for me from my manager.

Invested in me by sending me on a training programme to help develop my presentation skills. Had to research a topic and present to senior management emt my findings. I had the topic of mental health in the construction industry, it opened my eyes to the issue facing the industry.

Already been offered a summer placement and have the potential of a graduate job with a place on the graduate development programme. This programme looks very good in developing me as a person and individual. Also everyone is very professional and laing o rourke work on the best and biggest projects in the UK with a very competitive salary.

The Christmas party was a highlight where for £30 a ticket in which all the money went to charity, we had a three course meal with unlimited drinks in the grosvenor Hotel on Park lane. Also there were social events hosted for all the students on placement so we all got to know each other.

Working in Central London, the cost of living is high. Laing o rourke help by giving a high salary so I didn't feel it as much as other students in London. Lived in South London to try and keep rent down but in zone 2, looking at 800 a month rent for a room.

Worked in the west end in London. Speaks for itself, soho has a great nightlife with endless bars, clubs and casinos. Thursday through to Sunday there is always something going on. Our site made full use of the incredible number of pubs within 5 minutes walk of the construction site.

In Central London there isn't much space for activities. We had the odd football match after work. We would finish work at like 6:30 pm so there wasn't much time after to do much. I would go with some colleagues to the ICE headquarters after work to attend lectures on current events.