Success Stories at Lambert Smith Hampton

Graduate profile - Christopher Tanner

Christopher attended the University of Plymouth where he gained a 2:1 degree in Building Surveying and The Environment.

He joined a national Building Consultancy practice to work in their Building Surveying group, based in their Birmingham head office. Because of the nature of this practice his experience was gained mainly in project procurement and implementation.

After one year of working for this Consultancy he decided to take a delayed year out during which he backpacked around the world visiting, among others, Sweden, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, USA, Canada and Iceland.

Following his year out travelling he came to work for Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) as a Graduate Building Surveyor based in the Birmingham office. He has been given a great deal of responsibility within the Building Consultancy team which enabled his to develop his surveying skills.

Christopher said: “As part of the RICS Assessment of Professional Competence it is essential that one gains varied and relevant experience, something which I felt lacked at my previous employer. It was very clear from the very early days of my joining LSH that I would get the varied experience needed to pass the APC.

To date the type of instructions I have been involved on include, preparing schedules of condition, preparing and negotiating schedules of dilapidations, preparing building surveys, contract administration, building cost reinstatement assessments and planned preventative maintenance programmes.

In addition to providing the relevant work experience through their graduate training programme LSH has always encouraged and supported my attendance at in house training courses, external seminars, general CPD events, etc particularly for the APC competencies which would not be covered during my normal day to day professional activities.

After two years at LSH I was put forward to sit my APC and was given a great deal of support including mock interviews, presentation work shops and an additional five days paid annual leave to undertake private study. I’m happy to say that I passed my APC on the first attempt and it is definitely the high point of my career so far.

My experiences to date have reinforced my original belief that I would enjoy a career in surveying, there is a great balance between working in the office and out on site, the projects and appointments are varied and as a “people person” I particularly enjoy the interaction with the wide variety of other professionals and clients.

I successfully sat my APC interview in June 2009 and I am therefore very proud to call myself a Chartered Surveyor, this was by no means an easy task to achieve but well worth it. Following my APC success I wanted to give my self some form of reward for all the hard work and effort and with the very significant support of LSH I am pleased to say that I have been allowed to take a two month sabbatical during which it is my intention to visit some of the far east countries I failed to explore during my previous travels.

Although we are currently in a period of economic insecurity, I would definitely recommend surveying as a career path, and LSH as an employer. The economy will recover and the good times will return; I believe LSH’s attitude to allowing my sabbatical, shows what a flexible and forward thinking employer it is.”