Vanessa’s work experience

At Buxton Building Contractors, we value the opportunity to host work experience students like Vanessa. Below is her blog for the week, detailing her experiences and the insights she gained during her time with us.

DAY 1- Introduction and marketing

During my first day, I was firstly shown around the office and met everyone by Becky. I was introduced to the wide range of positions in Buxton and briefly what they did. It was extremely interesting to see the many people that deal with the construction of facilities, housing etc behind the scenes. I was then given an introduction to construction and Buxton by Divya. I not only learnt about the health and safety in construction but also the coordination needed with subcontractors to complete a job.

I then went to the marketing department where I found out more about the work they do. Due to Buxton’s 100-year anniversary this year, I looked through the company’s history and achievements, I also looked at the history of Cedar house (the head office) and its very own ghost (however, unfortunately I never met him!). In the afternoon, Jim and Sharne showed me the social mapping that is researched for each project.

DAY 2 - Site visit- Master Park, Oxted

For my second day of work experience, I was at a site called Master Park. The site was in a very nice area and for most of the time I was there the weather was dry. There I met Renato (a site engineer). I was shown around the site (with required PPE), and he then explained to me what he does, and the equipment he uses (personally the equipment he used was very intriguing). I also saw the many drawings and plans used - and the many revisions of each one as well!

DAY 3 - Site visit- Farmstead Road, Lewisham

This site was different to the one before as it was made for housing, here, they were building flats. After arriving, I was taken around site and up onto the scaffolding- seeing the progress before a building, especially housing, was very memorable. I then sat in a monthly production meeting, it was interesting to see all the details needed in not only the building design but also the financing and logistics. I only saw a small fraction of the entire project and what is dealt with on a day-to-day basis however I can only imagine that it would be a challenge for the people working on the project.  

DAY 4 - Admin support and office management

My final day of work experience at Buxton was in the office with Becky. We began with packing a site set up, this consisted of packing stationery, posters etc to be used at a site. We then completed the weekly fire drill (honestly this was quite fun as I got to pull the fire alarm!). As a part of Buxton’s support to local charities, I made a poster telling people in the office to donate to the local foodbank.

Overall

Work experience at Buxton gave me an insightful look into workplace and construction (I found out lots that I would never have known before!). Thank you to everyone that helped to organise my work experience week and allow me to visit their sites, it was brand new (and fun!) experience for me! Lovely to meet so many people and introduced to so many different roles in Buxton!