Last month Earth Environmental & Geotechnical South West Office worked with students from local schools  @John of Gaunt -Trowbridge, @King Edwards School – Bath @Ralph Allen School -Bath providing Environmental & Geotechnical Work Experience

Over three weeks the students had the opportunity to work with @Simon Leat and the South West Regional Office to gain an understanding of careers in Geotechnical and Environmental Sciences. The students worked alongside the team on several site investigation projects to get some hands-on experience of what the roles entail. All the students found the work fascinating, especially the drilling rigs and discovering the geological strata beneath their feet !

“I personally really enjoyed going on site and seeing the drilling going on and learning about all the different layers of ground that made up that section of the site seeing them as they continued drilling.

I’m hoping to become an environmental geologist and I am planning on going to university and studying geology preferably somewhere local such as Bristol”

The Southern Regional Office wanted to inspire an interest in careers in Geo Sciences

“When you are choosing A levels and Degree subjects it can be difficult for students to understand what career options are open to you and what exciting projects you could be involved in as Geo Environmental and Geotechnical Engineers. We wanted to give some real-life experiences to the students to see what our consultancy gets involved with ”

The work experience was a great success and student feedback has been great

“I think for me the work experience was very valuable as I got to see all the different aspects of the job such as the reports and site work and would recommend doing it if you are interested in that career”

Simon and the team provided some detailed training and thought it was good idea to make the work experience challenging and real life. Hopefully inspiring an interest in Geotechnical and engineering careers to more students.

“I really enjoyed working in a professional work environment. What I felt was special was being given real responsibility within the team which made me feel really motivated.

I am hoping to be in the engineering industry; cars and motorsport have always been my passion but with the growth of renewable energy I can imagine working in that sector.”

Would the pupils recommend a career with a Geotechnology and Geoenvironmental Consultancy?

“I think that work experience is extremely valuable, not only because it is helpful on a university application, but also as it provides something to aspire to post degree”

“I really enjoyed my week, and it gave me a great insight into working in the Geo-Environmental field. I’m very grateful to all the staff who gave their time to show me what they do.”

A career in the Geotechnology and Geo-Environmental field is a fantastic choice if you are interested in geology, engineering, and environmental sciences. If you enjoy investigating the details and problem solving then a career in Geosciences could be for you. You need an analytical mind to analyse and organise vast amounts of technical data and enjoy working outside and desk-based. New technologies and techniques are constantly emerging, so there’s always something new to learn.

At Earth Environmental and Geotechnical we are involved in an extensive range of areas including renewable energy projects. Ground source heat pumps and harnessing the geothermal energy from abandoned coal mines are interesting developing areas.

“What I love about the role is that no two days are the same, whether it’s desk-based, field-based, in a quarry, or developing a remediation strategy for contaminated land the job is always fascinating! “

The work experience project was a great success and Simon and the team are looking forward to providing more opportunities to inspire students in the future.