Member Article

Building careers in South Yorkshire

Sheffield Housing Company is building careers as well as new homes after linking up with the city’s Hallam University to create work placement opportunities.

Nick Gonella and Thomas Lowe are in the third year of degree courses, studying to become quantity surveyors and needed to add real work experience to their portfolio.

Having spotted the opportunities on the university website the pair, both 21, applied and landed roles with Keepmoat – the construction partner in the Sheffield Housing Company venture to create 2,300 quality new homes in the city.

Said Nick, who is from Chesterfield: “It has been a real eye opener. There are so many aspects to work which you simply cannot learn at university and although challenging, I feel I have already benefitted massively from the experience.”

Thomas, who is from Sheffield, is also enjoying his work: “The variety of the tasks I have to do and the hands on experience, both in the office and on site, has been fantastic,” he says: “I now plan to complete my degree and remain in the profession, possibly becoming a chartered surveyor with industry recognised accreditations.”

Tom Fenton, Project Director with Sheffield Housing Company, added: “We are delighted to have been able to give Nick and Thomas the opportunity to gain quality experience in quantity surveying, supporting their studies and hopefully opening the door to successful careers.

“Whilst our first priority is to improve the quality and choice of homes for sale and for rent in the city, we also want to create opportunities for local people and businesses to be involved in the project.”

This commitment was demonstrated by the commissioning of almost £5.5 million worth of work and services from businesses within the city region.

This represented almost 30% of the total investment made in the construction of 118 new homes – 74 of which have already been sold and 24 provided for rent. Of those sold, 75% were bought by people living within five miles of the sites.

“This shows that there is great local demand for the properties we are providing and that this project is, as anticipated, providing economic as well as a housing stimulus to the city,” added Tom Fenton.

Sheffield Housing Company is a partnership comprising the city council, regeneration specialist Keepmoat and Great Places Housing Group. Over the next 15 years it plans to build up to 2,300 homes across the city with an emphasis on quality, space and value.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Paul Dobbie .