DAY 1: On arrival at the office, I was introduced to the MESH team by Senior Marketing & Bid Executive, Jack. I then spent the first part of my day with Oliver, an Assistant Cost Consultant, being introduced to CAD. Oliver taught me how to use the tools in the programme to work out areas on building plans and how to transfer measurements from the programme into an Excel file. I then used what Oliver had taught me to complete work on the 3 Daleham Gardens project. In the afternoon I was with Assistant Cost Consultant Phil and he explained to me how he organises tenders and compares them to MESH’s own estimates. Using what I learnt from Phil, I put all the tender information from a project at GOSH into one Excel file.
DAY 2: My second day was spent completing measurements on CAD for Assistant Cost Consultant Rachel, where she helped me further work out the tools on CAD for Narrow Quay House project. I then recorded these measurements in Excel.
DAY 3: I spent my morning shadowing MESH’s Managing Director, Tim, and attended my first site visit at Harley Street Clinic. I sat in with him in a meeting where they discussed some of the issues they were facing with certain areas of the project and how they were going to solve them. After visiting Harley Street Clinic, Tim kindly bought me lunch. I then accompanied him to another of his meetings.
DAY 4: In the morning I was taken on a site visit by Phil, who talked to me about the Roupell Street project. I shadowed him while he talked to the client and architect about the project. After we came back to the office, I spent the rest of my day continuing with the work Phil gave me on Monday. This included reviewing the Excel file I had previously organised, highlighting areas where I thought tenders had high or low costs. Phil explained to me how he flags these price values and questions the companies about them to make sure what they are offering is correct and for the right price.
DAY 5: I continued helping Rachel with more measurements for Narrow Quay House on CAD, such as areas and lengths on wall finishes and counting furnishings for the project.
DAY 6: I started with some measuring of the area on a drawing for Interchange House, East Croydon for the proposed ninth floor layout for Tim. In the afternoon, I checked the cost breakdown for Ramsey Hospital Croydon, another one of Tim’s projects.
DAY 7: I worked on the proposed ground floor and first floor plans of the Optegra Eye Clinic. Daniel, an Assistant Cost Consultant, supported me as I used CAD to measure areas and lengths of rooms, as well as taking counts of things, such as the doors, chairs, washing basins etc.
DAY 8: Assistant Cost Consultant, Davina, gave me a plan of HSC 3rd Floor Ward Refurbishment and guided me as I worked out the measurements on CAD from drawings. This was important as it was needed to update a tender report, where I had to look at different factors such as wall finishes, floor finishes, as well as demolitions and alterations of existing plans.
DAY 9: My morning was spent completing the work on the HSC 3rd Floor Ward Refurbishment project. After lunch, Phil and I went to Holborn where we went to Great Ormond Street Hospital. I accompanied him on a site walk around, where he explained the project to me and what had happened to the site so far. He explained how certain areas in the specification had to be changed for the project, which meant some of the values needed to be altered. Phil explained how his role is to check that these values are correct and challenge anything that doesn’t seem right.
DAY 10: Jack talked me through his role and how he promotes the company through different ways such as social media, emails, and online publications. He showed me something which was very different to the other experiences I’ve had over the past two weeks at MESH. After talking to Jack, I understand how MESH position themselves and build awareness, and how marketing plays an important role for companies in general.
I am very glad to have been part of the MESH team for two weeks and appreciate the work experience opportunity, as well as everyone from MESH. The experience has given me a great insight into what takes place in a cost consultancy and has definitely encouraged me to pursue a career in the construction sector for the future.