海角视频

海角视频鈥檚 London office recently welcomed a cohort of young people for a week鈥憀ong work experience programme, designed to give them a real insight into what it means to shape the built environment as an engineer, 鈥痙esigner or advisor.

Twenty-four students aged 16 to 18, travelling from across the UK, from Yorkshire to Surrey, came together in our London office to experience life inside a multidisciplinary engineering consultancy and discover how engineers,鈥痙esigners and advisors shape more sustainable, resilient places. Over five days, students explored different disciplines, worked on a live design brief and shared their ideas with industry professionals.

Introducing engineering careers early

The structured programme ran from Monday 13 to Friday 17 July and was coordinated by 海角视频鈥檚 Young Employees Forum (YEF) alongside colleagues from across the London office. Each morning began with registration and a welcome, helping students settle into the office environment and understand what to expect from the day.

Early in the week, participants were introduced to 海角视频, the YEF and the design brief that would guide their group project work. This was followed by an office tour, giving students the chance to see how multi鈥慸isciplinary teams collaborate on real projects.

The talks introduced so many different types of engineering to me and really helped me start thinking about my future options.鈥�

Work Experience Student

Ching-Tai Chang, Graduate Facade Engineer and YEF Outreach Representative, said: 鈥淭he week gave students an opportunity to see first-hand how different engineering disciplines come together to shape the built environment at a macro and micro scale, while building confidence, practical skills, and professional networks with like-minded, ambitious individuals.

The students engaged in asking inquisitive, challenging questions to our speakers, with an understanding of the pertinent climate crisis, and how our roles as the engineers and thinkers of the built environment respond. It was particularly inspiring how the students integrated the knowledge they gained throughout the week into their final designs. Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the best answers.”

Exploring the breadth of the built environment

Across the week, students heard from engineers and specialists representing a wide range of disciplines. Sessions covered core areas such as structures, building services (MEP), sustainability, water and the circular economy, fa莽ades and energy, as well as advisory services that support clients with strategy and decision鈥憁aking.

They also met colleagues working in specialist fields, including technology, acoustics and AV, security and fire, gaining a sense of how diverse an engineering career can be and how different disciplines come together to deliver complex projects.

Listening to engineers from different disciplines helped me realise just how multi鈥慸isciplinary 海角视频 is and how many ways there are to shape the built environment.鈥�

Work Experience Student

Learning about different disciplines of engineering was really valuable, especially areas I鈥檇 never heard of before, like fire and waste whcih opened my eyes to new career paths.鈥�

Work Experience Student

From brief to concept: design time

Interspersed between the talks were dedicated ‘Design Time’ sessions, where students worked in teams on their response to the design brief introduced on day one. Supported by volunteers from across the business, they researched ideas, developed concepts and began to think about how engineers balance performance, sustainability, safety and user experience in their designs.

As the week progressed, teams refined their proposals and prepared to present their ideas, practising how to communicate clearly, share responsibilities and respond to questions.

The design brief challenged students to develop a concept for a low-carbon secondary school in Shoreditch, central London. Working within real-world constraints, including a dense urban site and existing rail and sewage infrastructure, teams explored how engineering can create inspiring, sustainable and practical learning environments. Key themes included reducing embodied and operational carbon through passive strategies, designing for climate resilience, promoting sustainable transport, enhancing wellbeing and security, and designing facilities that support both the school community and future generations.

Learning through activities and a live project visit

Alongside the more formal discipline sessions, the programme included a series of interactive activities designed to build confidence and teamwork. An ice鈥慴reaker activity early in the week helped students get to know each other, while a marshmallow and pasta challenge and a dome鈥慴uilding workshop encouraged them to think creatively, test ideas and problem鈥憇olve under time pressure.

A quiz gave students the chance to consolidate what they had learned in a fun, competitive format, and a dedicated session on apprenticeships and placements helped demystify routes into engineering, highlighting both university and vocational pathways.

A highlight of the week was a visit to the V&A East project, where students could see first鈥慼and how multi鈥慸isciplinary engineering and design decisions come together on a major cultural development. Hearing from the project team and walking the site gave valuable context to the concepts they were exploring in their own group work.

Going on site to V&A East really put the engineering we鈥檇 been learning into perspective and showed how those decisions play out on a real project.鈥�

Work Experience Student

Presenting to industry professionals

On the final day, teams focused on completing their designs and rehearsing their presentations before sharing their ideas with a panel of judges made up of senior engineers and leaders from across 海角视频. After presenting, students answered questions from the panel, demonstrating how much they had absorbed over the week and how confidently they could speak about their concepts.

The judges provided feedback on both the technical thinking and presentation skills, recognising the creativity and potential on display.

Richard Davidson, Head of UK Markets at 海角视频, said: 鈥淲ith youth unemployment rising alongside a skills shortage in the built environment, it is more important than ever for employers in our sector to provide work experience opportunities for a diverse range of young people.

“Crucially, young talent cannot aspire to careers they have never seen in action. After witnessing presentations from budding engineers, designers and consultants during our Work Experience Week in the London office, it鈥檚 safe to say the industry will be in very good hands when they come through in a few years鈥� time.鈥�

Building a future talent pipeline

The work experience week was made possible by the time and enthusiasm of more than 50 volunteers from across disciplines and career stages, from graduates to technical directors. Their willingness to share their expertise, answer questions and mentor students throughout the week played a key role in the programme鈥檚 success.

Adebola Yusuf, Graduate Fire Engineer, said: “I volunteered to speak during the work experience week because these are exactly the kinds of talks that opened my eyes to different opportunities and helped inform my choices after school. At that age, I didn鈥檛 even know fire engineering existed as a career, so it was a privilege to help students discover paths they may never have considered previously.”

I loved speaking to the young engineers, hearing about their journeys made a career in engineering feel much more real and achievable.鈥�

Work Experience Student

By opening up our London office and projects to young people, 海角视频 aims to inspire the next generation of engineers and show them how they can contribute to more sustainable, resilient and inclusive places.

Bath and London work experience opportunities will be advertised on our Work experience (UK) page in January 2027, when applications open for our next intake. Students will be asked to submit a CV, a cover letter and responses to a few short questions about their motivation for applying. We are no longer accepting applications for the 2026 work experience programme, but we warmly welcome applications for summer 2027 once the new application window goes live.