Howard

Howard is a Chartered Engineer who joined Waterman Aspen on retiring from Local Government after 33 years service. During this time Howard gained a wealth of knowledge in both the design and supervision of major road and bridge schemes. Following nine years with Staffordshire County Council he joined Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council where he gained additional experience in Highway Maintenance, Traffic Engineering, Drainage, Development Control and Management rising to the position of Chief Engineer in the process.

“Once I knew that I was being offered the opportunity of early retirement from Local Government I made contact with Waterman Aspen to register my interest in being employed by them on a contract basis through secondment. After a couple of weeks of retirement and to my surprise an offer of being seconded to the Highways Agency came along. This gave me the opportunity to keep myself active in the industry by utilising some of my previous experience and knowledge. The idea of offering my services on a contract basis gives me a great degree of flexibility regarding the type of work undertaken and also allows me to take time out to revert to retirement if required.”

Howard has worked on secondment including Derby City Council and the Highways Agency.

Danny

Danny " I have been a contract member of Waterman Aspen staff for 4 years now. During that time I have never been without a secondment. This has given me a huge belief that Waterman Aspen are keen to maintain continuity for their staff, whilst in turn, making a commitment to the client, who importantly, considers you to be a valued staff member within their organisation. This comes from the professional approach by Waterman Aspen that you don’t get from an agency, which really makes you feel part of the team.

I have always been seconded into local government. However there are opportunities to work inside the offices of other consultants, including Waterman Aspen’s sister company Waterman Civils. This gives you the opportunity to gain a large variety of work, helping you to understand the various disciplines that occur within Civil Engineering, and what it takes to be able to pull things together in order to make the job on site run a smoothly as it can.

I am in regular contact with my Area Manager, either by telephone or email. He will also meet me in the office, particularly if I have a concern which requires urgent attention. This really makes you feel a valued member of the company, as the management are always expressing a keen interest in the changing conditions of the contracted members of staff.  There is also the chance to chat at the Waterman Aspen quarterly social gatherings.

The thing I like about working for Waterman Aspen is the fact that there are always opportunities arising should you feel the need for a new challenge. With this brings the opportunity to meet new people, enabling you to develop your networking and business contacts.”

Stuart

Stuart “Since joining in April 2000 I have spent the majority of my time working for Birmingham City Council, working on various traffic and transportation issues throughout the city. I was also fortunate enough to work on the redevelopment of Massshouse Circus in the centre of Birmingham, forming part of the £6bn Eastside regeneration. Being able to work on a scheme of that size gave me some excellent experience and being able to change part of a city that I have always lived in made it even better.

During my secondment to Birmingham City Council I was able to make some really good friends and due to the size of the office I made a lot of contacts which have also helped in  my new secondment at the Highways Agency. The management are very professional and have enough contacts to always find a new placement.”

“With regards to Waterman Aspen I really enjoy myself and feel that they look after their staff well. We have quarterly social do's which range from a meal at TGI Friday's to Go Karting. I have always found they offer a competitive hourly rate, and when I graduated with a degree in engineering they were very helpful about training for chartered status.”