CampbellReith is committed to providing opportunities for aspiring professionals to gain practical experience and develop their understanding of the built environment. This summer, we welcomed Eshan Jarvis, a student at the University of East Anglia, to our Development Planning team for a six-week placement. The following account reflects on the projects, experiences and skills gained during Eshan’s time with us.
Between my first and second years at university, I spent 6 weeks within the Development Planning team at CampbellReith on a Summer Work Experience Placement. During this time, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a variety of different projects that were running during the course of my placement and meet people from across the company and those that CampbellReith works with closely, such as Surrey County Council and government bodies like Homes England.
This work included being a part of the contract management for a +£1 million demolition project. I assisted identifying site opportunities and creating issue logs to mitigate risk to the programme and budget. I was able to participate in monthly progress meetings and site progress meetings for a £2.1 million community centre at RIBA Stage 5. This gave me an understanding of a wider variety of technical challenges such as, building overheating issues that are becoming more and more of a consideration in design with the impacts of climate change.
Another focus of my placement centred around Design, Technical and Environmental Due Diligence. I assisted evaluate site constraints including flood risk, ground conditions and ecology, contributing to a gap analysis of a former chalk quarry (now lake). I particularly enjoyed being able to collaborate with CampbellReith’s GIS team, producing photo condition logs to enable a detailed review of arboricultural and ecological constraints for the installation of fencing at an environmentally sensitive site. Shadowing various design team meetings really gave me an understanding of design coordination and gain an understanding of reconciling drawings with on-site constraints. Being able to gain knowledge both in-office and on-site via multiple visits was the perfect hybridisation of learning for me.
Combining all of the skills and technical prose that I had progressed over the course of my placement, I was given the responsibility of producing a company-wide technical bulletin on the most recent National Planning Policy Framework update. Furthermore, this experience has developed transferable project management skills utilising Integrated Management Systems (IMS) along with other quality and environmental standards.
I would thoroughly recommend this experience to anyone that has the opportunity to undertake a placement such as mine with CampbellReith. The skills I have developed will be applicable to any job I get in the future, and I’ve made many memories both from a social perspective (company socials such as playing padel), and being well-looked after within a team and company that has fostered my future career opportunities.
Providing meaningful opportunities for students to experience life within a multidisciplinary consultancy is an important part of CampbellReith’s commitment to developing future industry talent. We would like to thank Eshan for his enthusiasm and contribution throughout his placement and wish him every success as he continues his studies and progresses towards a career in the built environment.