My placement year at Forge Property Consultants

Undergraduate Charlotte (Lotti) Robinson has spent her placement year working at Forge Property Consultants and has now returned to Harper Adams to complete her degree. We have been delighted to have her working alongside us and wish her well in her studies.

Before she left, we asked Lotti to share some of her thoughts on the value of taking time out of the academic environment.

What have you enjoyed about working at Forge Property Consultants?

Throughout my time at Forge I have enjoyed applying the theory I have learnt at university into real life scenarios in the workplace.

I have enjoyed starting my APC journey, where I have selected the Commercial Real Estate Pathway. I picked the competencies that I felt would best suit me and Forge kindly tailored my work to give me the best exposure to those ones.

I have particularly enjoyed the agency and property management side of working at Forge. As the firm has a commercial property portfolio, as well as an extensive residential one, this has allowed me to work on my communication, organisational, and time management skills.

Has anything surprised you about the world of work?

Mainly how different the theory is from the practical! This is especially true of valuations. Having found the theory side of valuations at university challenging, I thought the practical side would be so difficult. However, being able to complete so many valuation jobs and working closely with two Directors in a variety of different type of properties, from semi-commercial mixed-use, farms, to residential and whole portfolios of properties, I now feel much more confident with valuations. I’m now looking forward to applying my knowledge to the theory work in my final year at Harper Adams.

As Forge is not a huge firm, the exposure to so many different kinds of work, clients and properties has surprised me. Being able to cover the commercial, residential, and rural sector has given me the building blocks to develop what I have learnt in this year further. Although I am excited to go back to university I will miss being able to continue working and learning more and expanding my knowledge of the industry.

What’s next for you after graduation?

I will be applying for a commercial graduate surveyor role. Having moved away from home for my placement year, it was great to learn and experience a new location in the country and seeing how the property market differs from region to region.

How would you sum up your experience of working at Forge?

My time at Forge has been incredibly rewarding, both personally and professionally. Something I have loved about working at Forge is the team of employees. Since the first day I arrived, everyone has been so welcoming and have continued to support me over my year. Forge has helped me to grow and gain more confidence as well as being allowed to take the lead on property management tasks, valuation jobs, and agency work.

I could not have asked for a better placement year to kickstart my journey in becoming a surveyor. I look forward to getting back to Harper Adams to apply the knowledge I have gained from my placement to my assignments in my final year but I am sad to be leaving Forge, and I will never forget the experiences I have had and the people I have met!

To find out more about working at Forge, go to https://www.forgeproperty.co.uk/meet-the-team/