Meet the Team: Apprentice Engineer Steven

Name: Steven Todd
Company: Sacyr Farrans Neopul (SFN)
Job Title: Apprentice Engineer
Born: Livingston
Previous City: Whitburn
Current City: Fauldhouse
Favourite Team: Rangers F.C 

Tell us a little about yourself:

As a part of my Graduate Apprenticeship degree in Civil Engineering at Heriot-Watt University I’m an apprentice engineer with SFN, situated in the Trams to Newhaven project in Leith, Edinburgh. 

Tell about your career history:

During my 5th year of secondary school I underwent a Foundation Apprenticeship (FA) NC Civil Engineering course at West Lothian College, where I was able to learn the basics of Civil Engineering and gain an understanding of how the construction environment operates. Through completion of this course I underwent several weeks of placement on a residential building site. This placement allowed me to gain first-hand experience about the industry of construction and engineering.
Through completing the FA NC course, I then progressed onto the HNC Civil Engineering course once I left secondary school. From here I decided that I wanted to further progress with my studies, from college I then moved into year two entry of studies at Heriot-Watt University as a full time Civil Engineering student. At the end of my second semester of year two I was successful in obtaining a Graduate Apprenticeship with Farrans, where I will now be mainly on site and attending university part-time. This opportunity allows me to gain real life work experience in the construction and the engineering field, whilst also working towards achieving a BEng in Civil Engineering at Heriot-Watt University. 

What parts of your job do you enjoy the most:

There are many aspects that I enjoy within my role at Farrans and the project. I really enjoy the aspect of being able to relate my current university studies to my role and the project I am working on, it gives me a better insight into how the theory of a process is transferred into a real-life environment. I also enjoy that I can work alongside other roles and disciplines on site. Even though I have only been on site for a couple of weeks, I have had the opportunity to learn from engineers, managers, tradesmen, inspectors, operators and many others. This opportunity to learn from different roles has been greatly beneficial in understanding the importance of teamwork, as well as the combination of many different skills and knowledge that is available on site. I also enjoy that I have been able to get an early start into my career in engineering as usually you would have to wait until completing a degree. I feel that from even the short amount of time I have spent on site to date, the experience has been immensely beneficial to myself and I believe will be extremely relevant to my future within the industry.  

What is your role on site:

My role on site is to assist the qualified engineers. I am currently working towards undertaking my CSCS card which has slightly restricted my ability to get out onsite as much as I would like. However, despite this, the team have supported me by having me shadowing key roles on the project such as foreman and engineers’ duties.  This has helped me to learn as much as possible about the current site set-up and how some of the processes involved are conducted. I have also been learning and developing skills within the project offices.  I have helped create key chainages for the inbound and outbound sections of the site. I have also helped by doing some forms and tables on excel, as well as doing a bit of quality assurance work. On site, when I am being supervised, I have helped with tying the chainages onto fencing, I have also helped with setting up total stations, and taking levels on certain areas of site, as well as trying to be as useful as possible. 

Sum up your experience to date:

My experience so far with SFN as an apprentice has only been positive. I have been supplied with the necessary equipment, and training to ensure that I am capable to complete any relevant tasks required of me. It is also evident through working alongside peers, that the company puts a lot of time into their apprentices, building them up to be an engineer of the highest possible standard, and this is something I am appreciative of and look forward to trying to attain.