From work experience to HS2: Taran’s apprenticeship journey with Arcadis

Posted on: 12 February, 2025

Taran’s path to his quantity surveying degree apprenticeship began six years ago when he secured work experience at Arcadis: the same company that now employs him.

Name: Taran Barard

Company: Arcadis

Taran’s path to his quantity surveying degree apprenticeship began six years ago when he secured work experience at Arcadis: the same company that now employs him.

In a twist of fate, Arcadis was involved in a project to provide solar power to the New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton, where Taran was born. He cites this project as one of his main inspirations for pursuing a career in the built environment and at Arcadis specifically:

“They created a solar farm, which enabled the entire hospital to be powered by solar energy, reducing the chance of power cuts. The decision saved the hospital approximately £15m-£20m which they were then able to reinvest in other areas.

“To see a project like that motivated me to think that I could do something not just for myself but for the greater good. It’s amazing to be involved in something that could potentially change many lives.”

Work experience at Arcadis

Aged only 16 at the time, Taran’s work placement at Arcadis opened his eyes to the different career paths that existed in the built environment, including quantity surveying:

“It was an amazing experience, and it made me realise this was something I could see myself doing in the future, especially as I’ve always liked problem-solving and I’m a people person.”

A couple of years later, having also done work experience at National Highways, Taran started to explore apprenticeship opportunities in earnest:

“I always enjoyed maths, and I was quite good at it, so after I got my A-levels I decided to apply. Unfortunately, that was during COVID-19 when a lot of companies weren’t hiring many new apprentices, so I spent a while working in accountancy before applying again and getting my position at Arcadis – the same company that gave me my work experience when I was 16.”

Dealing with rejection

Taran faced multiple rejections while applying for apprenticeship opportunities. How did he stay motivated?

“It can be difficult to get onto an apprenticeship programme with all the competition out there, and it’s hard to stay motivated. It’s not a nice feeling to be rejected, but I tried to use each rejection to motivate me and help me improve. I treated it almost like revision for exams!”

Taran studied YouTube videos to develop his interview skills and pick up tips about how to approach group activities in the application process. He also realised the importance of staying active – even though this led to him receiving a rejection phone call from a last-stage interview while at the gym. Nevertheless, he decided to turn this into a positive: “It wasn’t a nice feeling to be in the gym and hear that I’d been rejected, and it dampened my mood for the rest of the day, but after that I reflected on it and realised that if I got that far, I could only get further next time.”

Taran is keen to encourage other would-be apprentices not to give up at the first hurdle:

“Something I’ve seen a lot on social media is people applying once, getting the rejection and thinking ‘that’s it, the end’. But you’ve got to have that self-belief to keep going and not give up.”

Highly-practical studies

Like most apprentices at UCEM, Taran appreciates the highly-practical nature of his degree apprenticeship. Now in his second year, he recently drew on a module he was studying to assist him at work:

“Part of the role I’m doing is contract management and commercial management. We had a back and forth with legal, talking about if we can abide by the contract’s specific terms and conditions. While this legal matter was going on, I was able to use the knowledge from one of the modules I was studying at the time and apply it.”

The modular nature of the course suits Taran’s learning style, as he enjoys the exposure to different topics, many of which tie back to his role at Arcadis:

“Having the different options through the modules really enables me to want to learn more. For example, with law, you learn about contract law, and you could specialise in something like NEC contracts. You can figure out what you’re interested in and spend more time pursuing it.”

New responsibilities at work

Taran is thriving in his role at Arcadis. He’s been working on HS2, one of the UK’s largest rail infrastructure projects. Although he felt he’d been “chucked in at the deep end”, he rose to the challenge and kept asking the questions he needed to grow into the role.

He’s now performing above his apprenticeship level, undertaking a chargeable assistant role on the HS2 project and taking on responsibilities such as gaining important invoice approvals:

“I’m in charge of the Application for Payment process. I ensure that the amount the supplier has applied for is commercially assured against the guidelines within the contract and that payments are made within the agreed timeframes written in the contract.

“When reviewing a recent payment application, there was a requirement to obtain an approval from a senior member of the HS2 team. I’m an early starter, so I tend to log on before eight. I noticed they were online early in the morning and took the initiative to resolve the issue on the spot by reaching out to him. It was a bit scary as an apprentice to reach out to a senior member of the HS2 team, but it meant I could go into the 9am meeting able to provide the good news that the invoice would be paid out on time.”

Another major achievement for Taran was securing a six-figure cost saving for the HS2 project:

“It’s taxpayer’s money at the end of the day, so I was very proud of being able to make that saving.”

He has also been given the opportunity to mentor three newer apprentices, which he describes as “one of [his] biggest highlights.”

Award nomination

Taran has been nominated for Apprentice of the Year in the Undergraduate category at the UCEM Built Environment Apprenticeship Awards: a vote of confidence in his abilities that he says he will be “forever grateful for receiving”. He credits his line manager with investing the necessary time in him to help him succeed, as well as his mentors and teaching team at UCEM.

“I remember hearing about the awards last year and thinking ‘oh, that’s an amazing experience to have as an apprentice’, and I never in a million years thought it would be me here this year! So it’s definitely a humbling experience and I’m very grateful.”