Henry Welbourn, work placement case study

"My experience as a Structural Inspection Engineer and Highways Design Engineer in my industrial and summer placements have been invaluable experiences to my professional development. The experience has enabled me to better relate my knowledge learnt throughout my MEng (Hons) Civil and Coastal Engineering to practical situations. I would recommend for all prospective students to take the opportunity to undertake a work placement as it gave the opportunity to reassure my knowledge gained at university and has developed my professional acumen. My industrial experience has helped me realise my interest in consulting and passion for the infrastructural sector of civil engineering. Finally I feel the irreplaceable industrial experience gained during my undergraduate study has been a critical part in securing my position on a civil engineering graduate scheme. My experiences have helped me realise the importance of continuous professional development and my own personal aspiration of working towards industrial chartership.

Industrial placement at BridgeZone Limited

I undertook an industrial placement as a Structural Inspection Engineer at BridgeZone Ltd, a civil engineering consultancy who specialise in difficult access. At BridgeZone I undertook my rope access, confined space and personal track safety qualifications and was able to use these qualifications to carry out the structural inspection of a number of highways and railway structures. During my placement I also drafted a number of technical engineering reports for submission to our client and was involved within the project planning stages of site works.

Working at BridgeZone enabled me to put into practice a multitude of different skills that I learnt throughout the first two years of study at the University of Plymouth. I was able to apply my knowledge from the following university modules: Hydraulics, Materials, Structural Analysis, Geotechnical Engineering and Project Management.

Within the placement I most enjoyed the variety of work and ability to work both in the office and on site, where I was able to discover many new parts of the country. I most enjoyed the self-fulfilling experience of the work placement, which allowed me to appreciate the knowledge learnt within university and secondly gave me determination and ability towards completing my masters to a high level.

Summer placement at Amey

Within my role at Amey I helped on small scheme work for Bedfordshire Highways, which included design and assessment of highways structures, road layouts, retaining walls, bridge detailing and drainage. I was also able to work on schemes from start to finish, project managing these schemes from the feasibility stage through to hand over to the construction team, also taking consideration for all required safety documentation. I feel this well structured rotation through three departments was an educating experience for me, which has helped me within my final year design project with my knowledge gained of design methods and improved commercial acumen."