Building on my Education

During my Degree Apprenticeship at Faithful+Gould, I have worked on over ￡86m of secondary education projects with the Department for Education (DfE) on 7 different sites, spanning the North East region from Northumberland in the North to Teesside in the South. The breadth of experience I have come across during my degree apprenticeship at Faithful+Gould has been crucial to my career development and has driven me to thrive for more!

I started my degree apprenticeship with Faithful+Gould in August of 2017, working from the Newcastle Office. Soon after joining I began working on projects with the Department for Education (DfE), under their Priority School Building Programme with my mentor John Burford.

From January 2018, the first project I worked on, assisting John with was Kepier School in Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham, the first of the batch and planned by both DfE and the Main Contractor, BAM Construction to showcase the investment and workmanship; this new build school was delivered to programme and on budget in a very tight build period; some 50 weeks to deliver a ￡12m teaching block.

Whilst Kepier Academy was under construction, we commenced work on The English Martyrs School in Hartlepool on 2nd May 2018. This project had the largest contract sum in excess of ￡20m.

This was closely followed by Durham Community Business College (DCBC) which started on 18th May 2018. However, this differed from the other projects due to its offsite fabrication and short onsite build period; the new block had to be ready for occupation for the new school year in September 2018. This modern method of construction comprised of teaching rooms, dining and kitchen facilities which allowed me to gain crucial experience and understanding of how offsite construction can increase the supply of future schools.

The fourth school Faithful+Gould delivered with the DfE was High Tunstall College of Science, this project was also located in Hartlepool, within walking distance of English Martyrs and similar in scale, another ‘super block’ with a contract sum of ￡19m. This build has been showcased within the DfE for the quality of the finished project.

The final school Faithful+Gould delivered for the DfE as part of the PSBP2, was Whickham High School, in Gateshead. This particular site presented a number of challenges as the site was formally used for mining and was very restrictive. The building utilised CFA piles, this aided my University studies as I was currently undertaking a Construction Technology module, this allowed me to bring first-hand experience into the classroom. The contract sum for this project surpassed ￡16.5m.

Faithful+Gould’s Newcastle office established a strong relationship with the DfE when delivering projects on the PSPB2. As a direct result of our performance across the programme, Faithful+Gould were awarded 2 additional projects, Bishop Barrington School and St Benet Biscop Catholic Academy.

Built under the DfE’s North East B Batch, this new teaching block at Bishop Barrington School in Bishop Auckland started onsite on 1st April 2019 with a contract sum of ￡13m. This project was onsite during the COVID-19 pandemic which brought new challenges we hadn’t faced on any previous project. However, with continuous communication between Contractor, DfE and Faithful+Gould ensured the project was delivered smoothly given the circumstances.

St Benet Biscop Catholic Academy was the most recently awarded project for Newcastle’s Faithful+Gould office delivered alongside the DfE. Due to my continued development, ever more exposure and a good working relationship with the DfE I was given more responsibility undertaking the day to day cost management role, which was overseen by lead Cost Manager John Burford. The project comprised of the refurbishment of the existing sports hall and a 6-classroom extension, to the secondary school in Northumberland. During the refurbishment of the sports hall it became evident the existing substructure was not adequate and required strengthening. Faithful+Gould worked alongside and challenged the main contractor to design and construct the most economically advantageous solution, and to mitigate delay. We coordinated workshops to review design options with engineers, our client and Contractor to achieve a suitable solution developing a saving of over ￡550k on one of the original options proposed by the Contractor. I then managed the Compensation Event during construction which ensured the contractor maintained a sufficient cashflow during the COVID period and challenged costs which seemed excessive.

Looking back on my early career there has been lessons learnt at every stage. However, the three most crucial characteristics I’ve learnt during my apprenticeship at Faithful+Gould are:

1.   Don’t be afraid to ask questions;

2.   Always be eager to learn;

3.   Build strong working relationships with both colleagues and clients.

The three points above have been beneficial in both work and University studies, which I plan to finish later this year, graduating from University College of Estate Management (UCEM). Faithful+Gould have provided continuous support throughout my time at UCEM which has certainly helped with adapting to distance learning, which was something I previously has no experience of.

To conclude, working alongside the Department for Education for the first 3 years of my career has provided fantastic experience which I will use throughout my career and I look forward to working with them in the future.