Heather Wall
Former apprentice and Assistant Project Manager for Coniston Ltd.
Heather became a construction apprentice in her 30’s, having formerly trained and had a career in interior design in Australia, she realised she really wanted to work on projects restoring heritage sites. Heather left her job to study for a Foundation Degree in Historic Building Construction, at the Buildings Craft College in Stratford, which is part of Kingston University.
Heather secured an initial ten month internship with a company working with listed buildings, then in 2017 Coniston visited her college seeking students to work with them on the award-winning Painted Hall restoration project at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich. Heather successfully secured a year-long site management and quantity surveying apprenticeship on the project and in her second year became full time for the project, as well as still studying for her degree. She has been working with Coniston ever since as a Management Trainee and now and Assistant Project Manager.
At the altar in the Dockyard Church Photo by Rikard Osterlund
Heather says …
“The team really invested in us on the ORNC project. The paid apprenticeship for the Painted Hall project was an incredible opportunity, there was just so much history, everything you touched was 100 to 600 years old, the project even uncovered Henry VIII’s original building structures. I also had the chance to work alongside some seriously skilled craftspeople which was a unique experience, it was a real privilege to learn from their incredible knowledge base and see them painstakingly cleaning the paintings.”
As a project manager, Heather’s current role involves ensuring a project runs to schedule and as specified, that work is good quality and that health and safety measures on site are maintained as well as keeping clients up to date on progress.
Heather felt the challenges young people face joining the profession were juggling the need to study for a degree alongside gaining site experience whilst often earning low wages which meant making sacrifices and having a very demanding balance of study and work.
Heather was keen to encourage young women into construction jobs, she adds …
Heather Wall Photo by Rikard Osterlund
Photo by Rikard Osterlund
“Lots of girls assume they couldn’t work on a site and that they wouldn’t be strong enough, but these days the technology and systems in place protect all workers doing manual handling and you don’t generally need strength and could undertake any role on site, the industry is certainly changing and Coniston have been great at championing Women in Construction”.
Looking to the future Heather is keen to gain more experience on sites, following projects through from start to finish, she also plans to undertake more independent learning and courses, and further develop her skills to become a Project Manager ideally working with listed buildings.