Member Article

Students Gain Industry Insight With Multi-Business Summer Placements

Seven young people from across the North East are supporting their studies with a summer of on-the-job learning with some of the region’s best known engineering firms.

Northumbrian Water has teamed up with five of its key suppliers to offer the 12-week undergraduate placements for people working towards a degree in engineering or the built environment sector.

Students are being paid the living wage and are receiving invaluable skills and experience, working on real life projects.

The businesses joining Northumbrian Water for the project are Esh-MWH, Mott Macdonald Bentley (MMB), Turner & Townsend, Interserve, and AMEC Foster Wheeler.

The seven students will spend time understanding project management roles, working with Northumbrian Water’s team for the first four weeks. They will then gain important insights into commercial management, design and also construction.

Undergraduates taking part are Anna Golightly, from Seaton, James Hewitson, from Chester-le-Street, Ross Wilson, from Gateshead, Cameron Mackenzie, from Jesmond, Tamara Barker-Privalova, from Durham, Jacqueline Penn, from Cullercoats, Nathan Collins, from Middlesbrough, and Xanthe Polaine, from Cambridge.

Earlier this year, Northumbrian Water joined 26 other companies in launching the Energy & Utilities Skills Partnership, with the aim of encouraging more than 200,000 new recruits into the sector by 2027.

Richard Woodhouse, Asset Delivery Project Manager at Northumbrian Water, said: “Supporting students at key stages of their education helps them to develop their skills and to better understand the career options available to them in the utilities sector.

“It’s important for us at Northumbrian Water to support the learning and development of young people, because they are the workforce of the future and our industry’s future skills needs are considerable.

“By working with key suppliers, we can do this in a way that gives far more than we are able to do on our own, while also ensuring that these young people are supported by good quality businesses that share our values and standards.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Northumbrian Water Group .