Kirsten and Laura are two students sponsored by Hardies Property & Construction Consultants, and they have just finished their first year at Midlothian’s two new schools.
It’s the first year down for Hardies Property & Construction Consultants two sponsored students, Kirsten O’Connor and Laura Falconer, both from Dalkeith.
The latest two young people to benefit from Hardies student support scheme, Kirsten and Laura, both students at Edinburgh Napier University, have been gaining vital work experience in Hardies’ offices in Edinburgh and Dalkeith. Of particular significance to them, coming from Dalkeith, has been their on-going work experience at the area’s two new Primary Schools at Gorebridge and Bilston, which are now under construction.
Kirsten, who is studying to be a Building Surveyor said : “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my first year of study. The experience Laura and I are gaining through this scheme with Hardies is absolutely brilliant- it’s really helped enormously with our course work. Being from Dalkeith, it’s exciting to see the two new schools take shape too and to be able to tell our families that we are involved in something for the community which will make a huge difference.”
Laura Falconer, training to be a Quantity Surveyor said: “One of the main advantages with the Hardies sponsorship scheme as I see it is that there is a guaranteed job with Hardies for two years at the end of the course, as well as paid work experience throughout. It’s something to work towards and we feel very motivated and grateful. It’s a great start in the industry for us. Hardies are also very supportive of females entering this business.”
Laura also pointed out that, on the schools project, it was very useful to see drawings “come to life” when they visited the school site.
“We go to the site every week so we have pretty much seen the project take shape from start to finish,” she said.
The two girls also come into Hardies offices to complete work, so that they are experiencing the office environment too and can network with other Hardies colleagues.
“Everyone has been so friendly and supportive,” said Kirsten.
Hardies Managing Partner, Derek Ferrier said: “Kirsten and Laura have both proved themselves extremely able and committed in this first year. At the time we couldn’t decide between them as we normally just take one student on, so we decided to offer both a chance on the scheme, and it has more than paid off.”
Mr Ferrier outlined that the girls are getting £1000 a year to help them with their studies, and are being paid under our Living Wage policy to work with Hardies when they are not at university, during the Christmas and summer holidays for example.
Hardies, which has fourteen offices throughout Scotland and is the country’s largest multi discipline surveying firm, has always put the support of young people in the industry at its heart. It also operates an approved RICS APC (Assessment of Professional Competence) programme which employs recent graduates and allocates them a supervisor, mentor and counsellor who supports them throughout their two year APC training period. Many graduates who originally came to Hardies through this scheme are still with the firm.
Added Derek Ferrier “Our support of student and graduates brings enormous benefit to the firm as a whole and we are quite clearly investing in the future of Hardies.”
Hardies, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2013, serves clients in both the private and public sectors with a complete operation in property and construction development, including property valuation, building and quantity surveying and project management. The firm also handles the leasing and sale of commercial and industrial buildings; H&S Principal Designer, Dispute Resolution Services and the provision of Energy Performance Certificates. Altogether, Hardies employ over 100 members of staff, professionally qualified in various disciplines.
Further details at http://www.hardies.co.uk.
Submitted by clare graham
