Apprentice Quantity Surveyor

The role of Apprentice Quantity Surveyor is to support the more senior commercial staff in the administration of costs and contracts relating to projects. The role may involve all aspects of work from the initial tender to final account and close out, seeking to minimise the costs and enhance value for money whilst achieving the required standards and quality. This role will work under the close direction and supervision of a more senior Quantity Surveyor.

About the project: Costain have won extensive work across the water sector this year to support the AMP 8 investment cycle. We have been appointed by United Utilities as one of 7 partners to the Enterprise, delivering £5.5bn of projects in the Asset Management Period 8 (AMP8) between 2025 – 2030, and AMP 9 (2030 – 2035). Our scope is to provide project management, design, construction and commissioning services on design and build schemes throughout the North West and Cumbria region covered by United Utilities. Projects vary in value, covering both infrastructure and non-infrastructure assets on water and wastewater sites with wider Enterprise partners.

What does joining an apprenticeship at Costain offer you? There are a wide range of apprenticeships available both in levels of qualification, and in length of study. At Costain we have a variety of apprenticeships on offer working on projects around the UK in sectors including nuclear, highways, rail, water, airports and tunnels and with a number of partners and joint ventures. When taking on one of the many apprenticeships offered by Costain you will be supported by your project line manager and team, The Costain Early Careers Team, and the training provider of your academic qualification. The training provider may be a college, a university or even an independent training provider. At your interview you will discuss the level of qualification on offer. At this time, we may not know which training provider you will be registered with but either before or in the early weeks of your apprenticeship, the Early Careers Team will register you with a suitable training provider who can support the delivery of your qualification. Being an apprentice means you will work both on-the-job with your project at site, and off-the-job at with the provider. You will be supported throughout your apprenticeship by your local team and line manager, and you will be given time to carry out your studies with the provider. Your on-the-job training will be in line with the work available on site but will afford the opportunity to ensure that you are given on site experience required to meet the technical and competency levels in order to achieve your apprenticeship goals.

Responsibilities:

• Developing an understanding of the built environment.
• Assisting in the preparation of enquiries, analysing tenders, negotiating, and administering allocated accounts including orders, payments & final accounts in accordance with customer or company procedures.
• Assisting with the preparation and agreement of applications for payment, or the assessment & preparation of payment certificates, or the assessment and approval of invoices.
• Assisting with capturing, managing, and communicating change and risk on the project in accordance with the contract.
• Assisting with the reporting of the Project Budget / Cost Report.
• Undertake record-keeping including but not limited to collating site records, the preparation of meeting packs, meeting invites, and taking meeting minutes.
• Undertaking study to obtain an appropriate qualification as agreed with the Company.
• Understanding the implications of health and safety regulations.
• Ensure all health, safety and environmental risk situations are brought to the attention of Contract Leader / Project Manager.

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience:

• Be proactive in self-development and obtaining a professional qualification.
• Knowledge and understanding of effective oral, written, graphic and presentation skills.
• Ability to work in teams.
• Developing an appreciation of company policies, procedures & controls, office management systems & document control; contractual correspondence; financial reporting; programme evaluation; health, safety & environmental regulations.

Qualifications:

• Five GCSEs, grade A*- C or certified equivalent, including maths and English language.
• Full UK Driving Licence - due to requirement to travel to different sites across the project.
• Understanding of Costain's aim of Net Zero aims.

About Us: Costain helps to improve people’s lives with integrated, leading edge, smart infrastructure solutions across the UK’s energy, water, transportation and defence markets. We help our clients improve their business performance by increasing capacity, improving customer service, safeguarding security, enhancing resilience, decarbonising and delivering increased efficiency. Our vision is to be the UK’s leading smart infrastructure solutions company. We will achieve this by focusing on blue chip clients whose major spending plans are underpinned by strategic national needs, regulatory commitments, legislation or essential performance requirements. We offer our clients leading edge solutions that are digitally optimised through the following five services which cover the whole lifecycle of their assets: future-shaping strategic consultancy; consultancy and advisory; digital technology solutions; asset optimisation and complex programme delivery. Our culture and values underpin everything we do.

Costain appreciate the time and effort taken when applying for one of our positions but, due to the high volume of responses, we are unable to provide individual feedback on candidates at application phase. We do share individual feedback following an interview. A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that discloses they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people.