Budding Brunels Case Study: Nawaal Abdalla-Omar

Nawaal took part in a recent Budding Brunels course and was offered a work placement with Taylor Woodrow. In her words, here's her story:

Introduction

Budding Brunels, a project run by Construction Youth Trust, gave me the fantastic opportunity for a weeks’ work experience with Taylor Woodrow at the Old Oak Depot earlier this term.

Pre-Work Experience

Before my placement started I needed to first research the company so I’d have a better understanding of what they are about. What I found was that they are a company who are owned by a large firm called VINCI who are French. Before my work experience started I wasn’t really motivated to go and do this work experience as I couldn’t really remember why I wanted to go into engineering in first place. However I have decided that this is an opportunity and I’d be stupid to not take advantage of it (although I didn’t feel motivated). Most of all I felt incredibly nervous as I weren’t sure what to expect or what I would be doing there exactly. All I knew was that I should be in at 8am at Old Oak Depot to start my work experience at Taylor Woodrow.

During Work Experience

During the week, I spent my days working with a whole range of different people, including:

• Environmental advisor
• Planning manager
• Site engineers (inside the depot)
• Site engineers (outside the depot)
• Stakeholder
• Quantity surveyor 
• Site engineer (inside depot/cladding)

Post Work Experience:

When my placement ended on the Friday, I felt incredibly motivated and eager to do all that’s necessary to work in this field of work in the near future. I had met amazing individuals who have gained their positions by taking lots of different routes into the industry.

I have subsequently applied for apprenticeships with Transport for London, Network Rail and am in contact with Taylor Woodrow about opportunities with them. I am waiting to hear from them all about starting work in September 2016.

Nawaal's experience on the course and her work placement are a perfect example of what we set out to achieve through our Budding Brunels programme: to change young people's perceptions, inspire and introduce them to careers they had never considered before and provide them with a route into the construction industry.

To find out more about the Budding Brunels programme, click here or contact the team at Construction Youth Trust – buddingbrunels@constructionyouth.org.uk / 0207 467 9540