38 SURVEYING 2016
SURVEYING 2016 39
How did you get into surveying?
Emma-Kate Ryan Graduate quantity surveyor Faithful+Gould
I originally studied architecture for three years at University College Cork, then spent a year travelling in Australia. I began to realise that my skill-set was more suited to project management – I consider myself a people person and I like to lead, collaborate and get things done. So I returned to studying, this time at the University of Limerick. My construction management and engineering degree gave me a broad overview that incorporated project management, engineering and quantity surveying. I was one of four women on the course, in a cohort of 31. I spent nine months on placement as a site engineer in Omagh, County Tyrone, where my boss suggested I’d be good in a consultancy role. The placement was a useful experience and convinced me to pursue a career in UK construction. I’d always wanted to move to London, so in 2014, my final year at university, I applied for quantity surveyor jobs with UK firms.
Tell us about your current role? In June 2014 I became a graduate quantity surveyor in Faithful+Gould’s London office. I was assigned to our 47-strong infrastructure cost management team, with a focus on railways. The Faithful+Gould selection process was thorough, but the graduate recruitment team were helpful and accommodating, providing
flights and a hotel, and to me this spoke volumes about how the business treated its staff. After a phone interview, I attended an assessment centre alongside five other candidates and three of us were offered jobs. I was delighted to succeed and in June 2014 I became a graduate quantity surveyor in Faithful+Gould’s London office. I was assigned to our 47-strong infrastructure cost management team, with a focus on railways. Although I’d not thought much about rail beforehand, I find it a very interesting area – there are so many new advancements and technical developments, and I get huge satisfaction from keeping on top of those. After a few months, I went on a six-month secondment to London Underground. This was great experience, working out of a client’s office and seeing how a client operates, and I learned a lot. Back at my Euston Tower base, I’m enjoying contributing to a strategic study of signalling operations for the Digital Railway. We’re working to develop a solution to unlock capacity on the Wessex mainline route, and I love working on estimates that include such innovations in technology. A lot of our estimating is theoretical – previous examples don’t exist yet. So it’s challenging and demands an ability to assess the technical side. We meet with engineers to improve our understanding and knowledge.
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Q&A
Steve Simms Dip Surv BSc, BSc (Hons) Estate Management Corporate & Commercial Valuations Surveyor, Santander UK Plc
The College of Estate Management, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom, RG6 6AW
0800 019 9697
enquires@cem.ac.uk
www.cem.ac.uk
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