Toby Fitch

Name: Toby Fitch
Title: Undergraduate
Division: Phi Group
Location: Mereworth
Degree: BEng Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Plymouth

I was based at the Phi Group South East office located just outside of Maidstone in Kent. I was primarily working as part of the Design team where my main responsibility was to first and foremost understand the client’s requirements and liaise with the project designers or main contractors to reach the best solution. This sometimes required a meeting on site with all the relevant parties. I was also required to price projects in such a way as to secure the order through offering a value for money solution while still maximising the division’s profits. Once an order had been secured I produced detailed conduction drawings for approval then act on any feedback accordingly.  After correcting any errors the drawings are issued for construction. I found this way of doing things pretty rewarding as you could see your project develop from just a simple drawing right through to its completion.

The part of work I enjoyed the most was getting out and about, talking to clients and going to site to solve a problem that had occurred. I found I learned more quickly from these hands-on experiences. The part of work liked the least was chasing up my priced jobs to find out their status, as it seemed to take a long time to find out the small bit of information you were after.

I think my greatest achievement was winning a job at Northfleet waste water treatment works. This was a 6m high, 100m long Permacrib wall worth about £150,000. The job was hard to keep up with as the design and layout changed many times. I ended up pricing the job 8 times before starting on site. To further complicate things when we started on site the Main Contractor had excavated the footing and profile incorrectly which required a quick solution from ourselves to minimise standing time. Despite this we managed to finish the job ahead of schedule and under budget. The main learning point to come from this and other jobs I was involved with was that good communication between all parties is essential for a project to run smoothly.

On the whole I enjoyed my time with Phi Group Keller and it has given me a great insight into how the industry works in a way that could not be taught in a lecture theatre and has set me up for my final year with a far better understanding of Geotechnics and a much better work ethic.