Hayley McArthur
Building Services Design Technician Apprentice

Why did you choose an apprenticeship?

I feel there is a lot of pressure for young people to go to university once they have finished their years at school and everyone follows the crowd, University is made out to be something that is mandatory and not enough opportunities are explored so I wanted to be different and not follow the crowd. When doing an apprenticeship you also work while you learn, meaning you are gaining experience as you learn and in my opinion it is better to have a good balance between experience and knowledge.  I would highly recommend going into a workplace/apprenticeship as early as possible.

What are the benefits of your apprenticeship?

One of the main benefits of my apprenticeship is that you get paid to learn as well as work.  There a many unthinkable opportunities that are available within an apprenticeship.  During my first month at TB+A I travelled down to London for a day, every day is different and you never know what to expect and that is what makes it more interesting, some days I could be in the office and other days I could be travelling places I had never been before to do site surveys. I am given responsibility which helps me gain a lot more confidence within myself, responsibilities such as working on live projects and going on site, attending meetings and more.

Why building services engineering?

Buildings are a necessity in life and being a services design engineer means we bring that building to life, electrically and mechanically, we give that building the energy, the heat, the power, light and more, I chose building services engineering because I know it serves an important purpose to the world, I am gaining experience and knowledge but also giving back to the world in a sense.  I always knew I wanted to be an engineer but I just was never sure what specific role intrigued me the most but what I now do for a living is all around me and I was always watching it being amazed by all the wide varieties of designs every day, what I wanted to do was always right in front of me.

Why TB+A?

When digging deep into companies that covered this area of engineering, Troup Bywaters + Anders seemed to be quite a hit on social media – especially for young people like myself looking for apprenticeships.  After doing some research and learning more about the company, this was easy to access as they have a well structured website containing a lot of information like the history of the company.  Even when I came for my first interview with the company any questions I had were answered, I felt at home already as I was welcomed warmly.

What are your future plans?

One of the many amazing benefits about TB+A is that you don’t stop growing within the company.  With all the opportunities in place you can go extremely far and that is what I am going to do, keep growing within the company until I can’t go any further and hopefully one day I’ll become an associate or a partner for TB+A.

Jack Cooper
Apprentice Building Services Design Engineer

Why did you choose an apprenticeship?

I choose the apprenticeship path so that I could complete my degree while gaining knowledge and experience on the job. After completing my A-Levels and taking a gap year, I decided that I wanted to further my education and learn a dedicated profession. I decided I did not want to return to full-time education so the logical next step for me was an apprenticeship.

What are the benefits of your apprenticeship?

The main benefit of my apprenticeship is being able to work and apply what I have learnt to actual jobs and real life situations, instead of always working ‘in theory’, within a class. I think that this helps to actually understand and learn the job I’m doing. Other benefits such as being paid a salary and having no debt once I finish my degree was a big factor in deciding to complete an apprenticeship.

Why building services engineering?

Throughout my secondary and sixth-from education I had always been interested in and chosen engineering and design technology subjects along with the compulsory subjects. Having completed up to level 3 in engineering and achieving an A-level in product design, when I came across building service design, it was a great mix of both subjects, hence the reason I chose to peruse a role in it.

Why TB+A?

I chose TB+A because of the high numbers of success its apprenticeship schemes has had, as can be seen from the number of awards they have won. TB+A employ a high number of apprentices and this was a positive as it meant I would be able to speak with others people in my position if I had any questions. TB+A made me feel welcome from my first interview and understood that I wouldn’t know everything straightaway, this was reassuring compared to previous interviews.

What are your future plans?

My future plans are to complete my full degree to a high level and work towards becoming a chartered engineer. Along with this I want to continue working at TB+A and eventually start to climb the ranks within the company. 

Grace Payne
Digital Marketing Apprentice

Why did you choose an apprenticeship?

I decided to go down the apprenticeship route as I felt it would give me the best opportunities to help achieve my career goals. I also knew that I no longer wanted to study full time and felt that getting stuck into the real world of work would be the best option for me and my future plans.

What are the benefits of your apprenticeship?

In my eyes, the benefits of apprenticeships are endless. I am earning a well-paid salary for someone my age, at the end of my apprenticeship I will also have a full degree qualification, and I am gaining invaluable practical experience which cannot be taught or learnt in full time education.

Why TB+A?

The reason why I chose TB+A is because I felt extremely welcomed into the new environment and immediately knew that I would not only get the best out of my apprenticeship but also enjoy my time here, which can be extremely important when working 9:00am-5:00pm, 5 days a week.

What are your future plans?

In the future, I would love to achieve senior management level status and run large scale digital marketing projects for the company. I would also like to achieve chartered status one day and complete a Masters in Digital Marketing at University.