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Bamber Bridge-based Sapphire Utility Solutions has three apprentices studying quantity surveying at IoT academic partner Preston College.
The balance of studying and putting his learning into practice on the job is working well for Ben Bolton, in the second year of his HNC in Construction (Quantity Surveying).
He was in a commercial admin role with the business before he was asked if he’d like to progress his career through an apprenticeship.
Now spending one day a week at Preston College and the rest of the week at work, he is enjoying the opportunity to make a difference for the business, which operates in the water and gas industries.
Ben Bolton says the equipment gives him a better understanding
“I get quite a lot of responsibility in terms of the projects I work on,” Ben, 22, says. “I run them with a bit of guidance from my line manager, and I’m quite fortunate to have such a supportive employer. I’m the middle man on a site, because I work for the contractor, so I get to know different ways of working.”
Topics studied on the IoT course have included metering, procurement, measuring and estimating, as well as law and economics, while Ben says he has learned workplace behaviours on the job. “The equipment we get to use at college is good and gives us experience we wouldn’t have had,” he says. “We have a software called Revit, which is used for building information modelling, which we’re not always going to use on the job but we need to understand it. Having that software to use does really help my understanding, so that when I get a set of drawings I know what to look for. As this industry progresses, these are the skills we’re going to need.”
At the end of his second year, Ben will become an assistant quantity surveyor and then move on to a three-year degree to become fully qualified. “I feel like the apprenticeship is the best way to go because you get on-the-job hours and knowledge from the college,” he says. “I’d definitely recommend the role too because it can be adapted to different industries.”
In the first year of his apprenticeship, Luke, 23, began with Sapphire Utility Solutions in the same way as Ben, working in an admin role, following a degree in business and finance.
“I was asked if I wanted to go into quantity surveying and it sounded interesting,” he says. “I go out on site and I’m given a lot of responsibility.”
Revit, the software that enables building information modelling (BIM), is a highlight for Luke and he says he’s learned from other people in the business as well as those on his course.
“There are three of us who work in wastewater but there are other people on the course from different industries,” he says. “We all have different experiences and it’s good to learn from other people.”
Luke Shaw says he is given a lot of responsibility in his role
“It can be challenging, depending on how busy you are at work,” says Dwain Pearce of his quantity surveying apprenticeship. “But we have a supportive employer who lets us do some of our coursework in work time if we need to.”
Dwain, in his first year of the two-year course, previously worked at Subway before joining Sapphire because he wanted to get into quantity surveying. The software is a highlight for Dwain, bringing to life what he’s learning in the classroom. “There are lots of opportunities in the industry,” he adds.
James, who has one more year left on his course before moving into a software engineering role, said: “I’ve used the driving simulator and the telemetry from that goes straight into the Igloo so we can analyse the data and build projects around it, which is enormously helpful.
“Another highlight for me is how much we cover on this course – it’s really detailed and gives us really good experience. There’s so much we can do that we wouldn’t necessarily get to experience at a university.”
Dwain Pearce believes there are lots of opportunities available to him thanks to his course
Robert Clark, Commercial Manager at Sapphire Utility Solutions, says: “Ben, Dwain and Luke are valuable members of the commercial team at Sapphire Utility Solutions who are working hard at work and college. They each have individual projects and provide weekly reports to the senior team. They bring positive energy to the work environment and I am sure they will be successful in their future careers.”