The JBA Graduate scheme provides a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience from your very first day. Amy Ewens joined our Water Management and Geoscience Graduate pathway in our Warrington office’s Resilience Team - and we caught up with Amy to find out about the opportunities she's encountered from day one.
My first week
My first week was a mixture of completing induction tasks and undertaking aspects of JBA’s internal training programme. This included how to create mapping for water ingress points in properties, flood warning areas, and fluvial and surface water flood risk maps. It covered how to accurately collect site data and write up Property Flood Resilience (PFR) reports. I was then asked to join two members of my team for a three-day site visit the following week. I worked on the preparation for the site visit, writing the Risk Assessment, organising transport and booking residents in for PFR surveys.
My first site visit
My first site visits were to York and Malton to complete a combination of PFR surveys and Post Installation Audits (PIAs). My tasks during this visit involved shadowing team members undertaking property flood risk assessments – but I also assisted by taking measurements and photographs and capturing property data using the PFR proforma. During the PIAs, I was able to see various property resilience products such as flood doors, barriers, non-return valves, self-closing airbricks and pumps that I had only read about or seen pictures of previously.
As a bonus, we met with the Flood Risk Manager from the City of York Council to walk over the site and discuss the specific surface water flooding issues facing the area and possible solutions to consider. Along with the opportunity to meet the contractor from Watertight International, the company installing the PFR measures, which gave me an insight into their role within the PFR scheme process.
Looking forward as part of the Resilience Team
Going on-site and meeting homeowners has given me a much better understanding of PFR schemes and how the resilience team role fits into this. Coming back into the office, I felt more confident writing up the PFR and PIA reports. As I had a better understanding of how the survey process works and how the data collected feeds into the reports. I have also been involved in the first stages of a new scheme in Leintwardine, where I have assisted with the pre-survey preparation – and now have a clear view of what will happen next and how the information will be used. With my team about to start on more PFR schemes, I am looking forward to getting involved and am also excited to see what other projects and opportunities come along.
Find out more about our Graduate Careers here.
Services
Delivering transformative technology that is pioneering in the pursuit of flood, water and environmental resilience.
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Developing leading resilience strategies and solutions founded on the integrated modelling and assessment of water quantity, quality and environmental processes.
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Working within a robust and mature digital delivery environment, our engineering specialists work closely with our modelling, hydrology and environmental teams to ensure designs are developed to create efficient, low-carbon and sustainable solutions.
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Our specialists in landscape, heritage, ecology, fisheries, EIA, planning and sustainability all work collaboratively with our engineering designers, modellers and our project managers to develop resilient places.
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Our proven skills and experience make us a natural partner to help support communities and organisations to become more resilient. We support and empower our clients to manage the twin risks of flood and drought, encouraging and delivering effective water management.
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Working with communities across the world to identify and mitigate flood and environmental risks, support sustainable development and build resilience.
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