Where were we? Oh yes, our third year on the training scheme, back in Head Office. If I remember rightly, we were given a bit more responsibility in the creation of Bills of Quantities, mainly for the huge number of public housing projects with which the company was involved. We were doing some measurement from drawings so we were working with senior takers off for the first time. We were also seconded to other departments for short spells. I had a great few weeks in Central Estimating working with a small team of estimators pricing jobs for one of the midland regions.
In the summer of 1966 we were involved in discussions about where, in September, we would go for our fourth year. I was adamant that I needed site experience so I was transferred to the Leeds Region and based on a large housing and apartments contract that was just starting on Meynell Street in Leeds. This was exactly what I needed. I was the sole assistant to the one Surveyor on site and I learnt so much sharing his office. I was outside a fair amount of the time, measuring and checking progress for Valuations. The apartments building was on seventeen floors so climbing unfixed ladders in the wind at the top to check the last concrete pours was something I will never forget.
I was living in a shared house with three other guys in Pearson Terrace in the Hyde Park area of Leeds, not far from Headingly. Again it was quite disruptive to the site team to lose me for three periods of five weeks at college during the year. But I felt the site experience gave me a lot more confidence going into the two year course for the final exams. I really enjoyed my time in Leeds and was not looking forward to the final year back at Head Office.
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