I spent the first week in the company’s head office in Abergavenny, just round the corner from where I had been on-site back in 2006 working on section 1 of the A465.
Here's the outside of the office:
I got stuck in to working on the quality submission side of tenders for small/medium size schemes. For example, one was to be on a framework for a county council. The tender asked us to give advice on buildability and risk issues for two sample schemes – a retaining wall reconstruction with new footpath alongside, and a drainage bypass channel to relieve an existing river pinchpoint under a bridge. Whilst in the office I took the opportunity to work with all the people involved in the tender process, from the guys who find and identify the prequals, through to the estimators and engineers developing and pricing solutions. Interesting stuff, particularly seeing how smaller schemes are managed differently to the big projects I’m used to.
My second week took me to ‘Valleywood’, a large development centred around film studios and silent stages. AGCL were contracted to form and construct earthworks, services and access roads to 3 new housing plateaus. I worked with the engineers setting out batters/ gully locations and as checking levels of works such as pipe runs into manhole locations as you can see here:
It was interesting to see how site engineers interpret the construction information we designers give them, and what they like to see on it to make their jobs easier. I also worked with the sub-agent and got involved with how works are managed such as plant, ordering materials and programming.
I spent the last day of the second week working with a Quantity Surveyor based in the Swansea waterfront site office, working on the AGCL framework with Swansea Council. Mike showed me all of the development works being carried out under the framework and the financial/contractual issues in running the jobs. For example, AGCL have done a huge amount of resurfacing of pedestrian areas with associated landscaping, railings etc as you can see in the photo below.
Overall, the secondment was a great experience and a perfect end to my year as Apprentice to Mr Griffiths. I got stuck in with a variety of projects of different scales at different stages. I can now sympathise a lot better with the issues contractor’s face on site and interacting with designers and I’ll definitely have a different perspective.
The whole year has been eye-opening, interesting and educational. I’ve met people from a wide cross-section of engineering areas and seen exactly how the Institution of Civil Engineers works, both within Wales and nationally. I’ve learnt a lot about the industry that will help me progress as a a Civil Engineer and I would like to take the opportunity to thank Keith and everyone at ICE and especially Mr Griffiths for his time and efforts on making my apprentice experience so successful.
