Ava Parnell, assistant estimator at McCarthy Stone, is CIOB’s January apprentice of the month.
What was your biggest challenge during your apprenticeship?
Going straight from sixth form to a setting that’s highly professional was really quite daunting, especially as a woman.
But, after a few weeks, days even, I realised that being thrown in at the deep end is the best way to learn. You adapt quickly. I spent four months on site as part of my first-year rotation and that was quite a challenge.
Going on to site as a female in a male-dominated industry, I was a bit concerned. But everyone welcomed me and helped me in every single way that they could.
There were two female apprentices taken on in my cohort and we’ve been discussing going into secondary schools to talk because all of us went to girls-only secondary schools and construction was never offered to us.
What is your favourite stage of a project and why?
As an immediate answer, I would say build start because in my current position I’m involved in the project straight from the feasibility studies, so it’s a real sense of success seeing teamwork come together to start the build.
“Going on to site as a female in a male-dominated industry, I was a bit concerned. But everyone welcomed me and helped me in every single way that they could.”
I’ve also really enjoyed the handover. The site that I was involved in in my first year, I was involved from the groundworks to handover. You really get to see the sense of joy that we bring to homeowners.
What would be your dream project to work on in the future?
I’ve always been fascinated by sustainability and modular construction and I’m really interested in Passivhaus. So I can see myself going into a small housebuilder who focuses on sustainability and energy efficiency in a niche market.
Which technical advances in the sector are you most excited about?
I’ve been following quite a few. Firstly, health and safety: we really need to use tech technology advances to our advantage.
I’ve seen little devices being trialled for operators who work in confined spaces that can alert them when gas levels are too high, when the temperature is too high, and I think that’s great. Also the work of BIM really interests me.
