The winners in 2017 were Charley Whitelock, Oliver Teall and James Cowley

Charley Whitelock:

• Now Community Relations & Communications Officer on Thames Tideway – after time on Crossrail.
• Costain’s first Public Relations apprentice.
• Commended for high interpersonal, professional and problem-solving skills and for the esteem in which she is held by her colleagues.
• She grasped every opportunity throughout the apprentice programme.
• Praised by Crossrail when she received the Higher Apprentice award and then overall Apprentice of the Year.
• When she left school, not many years ago, all she knew about construction was that workers wore hard hats! Now, her passion for the industry is such that she is acting as an ambassador to get more people, particularly women, into construction.
• 2016 was a very good year - “Women in Rail” voted Charley as one of the 20 most influential women in Rail and she was the Costain Trainee of the Year.
• “Exceptional young lady based on her outstanding performance, enthusiasm and dedication to Costain, its clients and stakeholders”.

 

Oliver Teall:

• Working in Highways sector of Costain Information Technology Services
• Worked for Costain for two summer placements, with excellent reviews, whilst doing civil engineering degree.
• His first full-time role was on an M1 project, where he excelled - and published a paper on Building Information Modelling in his spare time.
• He then decided to take a more technical route, becoming active in engineering communities in and out of Costain.
• Oliver became Costain’s first sponsored PhD student working on developing advanced materials to extend the life of critical infrastructure.
• During his PhD work, Oliver presented at several international conferences and picked up awards including the New Civil Engineer Technical Excellence Award, the Fiatech Celebration of Engineering and Technology Innovation Award and the FIB Best Lecture Award.
• Alongside his research, Oliver maintained an active participation within Costain, started a PhD community within the company and even found time to work on an acquisition proposal.
• Oliver has completed his PhD and is working within a new team to develop and grow Costain’s research and development capability.
• Tim Embley wrote: “I nominate Oliver to showcase how we are supporting professionals to develop their skills at the same time as delivering value to the customer and raising the profile of Costain. Oliver has been an exceptional role model”.

 

James Cowley:

• Graduate Civil Engineer on the Eight2O programme.
• Sponsored by Costain through university and worked on summer placements, winning a prize for his contribution and responsibility.
• Won four other prizes at university, including best overall results and a prize for best performance in management subjects - which he credits to his experience on placements with Costain.
• On Eight2O, he has presented to the Eight2O Board and has demonstrated effective communication at all levels within the organization and supply chain. He has been the “go-to” person for people wanting to understand the client’s onerous systems and requirements.
• In his own time, James has taken several online.
• Health and safety is key for James – he has pushed for risk to be identified and removed at the design stage.
• The client has congratulated him on his commitment to the achievement of milestones.
• His pro-active nature, leadership, initiative, work ethic and internal drive for constant learning has set James aside from his peers.
• “James is the one that everyone wants on their team. He is a credit to himself and the Costain Training Programme. It is difficult to believe that someone with so few years experience can produce so much. I am sure that he will be a model holder of this trophy”.