Summer Placement Student Review

As a building surveyor everyday looks a bit different as some site visits/inspections mean that you are out the whole day and some only half the day. Site visits are interactive and insightful. During office days, I helped with writing various reports, AutoCAD tasks and reading through tenancy agreements. Overviews of all the different departments in the company were scheduled into our month here too.

Yes, I have learned a lot about the world of building surveying, what it involves and its importance. Since I do a non-cog degree, a lot of the information was new to me and the team took out some time to explain the basics to me. I was able to practice my AutoCAD skills too. I learned how to interact with clients and contractors in various settings and how to take minutes of a meeting.

Yes, especially in terms of interacting with clients and contractors face to face. I wrote a few reports after getting a briefing on how to do it and wrote these by myself before sending a draft to a member of the team who would let me know if anything was missing or could be taken out.

A member of the team was always happy to take me to site with them and explaining what we were looking for on each site. Most of the team got me involved in different projects they were working on but since I was a non-cog student, some were hesitant to involve me on more complex projects, especially if they were under a time crunch and felt it would be too long to explain.

The whole office had a very friendly atmosphere, and I met great people in both my BPC and the other teams in the office. There were drinks after work every Friday to get to know others better and outside of a work environment. Everyone has lunch at different times and no one mentions when they are going, so lunchtimes could be a bit quiet.

I enjoyed getting to know the team and learned a lot about BPC and the world of property during this month. It was a very insightful placement.

Yes

Don't be put off if you are a non-cognate student as everyone is very supportive and can explain things to you - if you ask! Be honest about your skill level and be open to develop these skills, don't act like you know everything to impress Savills as they know you are a student and are here to learn.