Queen Appiah-Mills, 29, from Lambeth has landed a fulltime job and new career with Niblock Building Contractors in Anerley after completing a work experience placement with the firm in June.
Niblock are undertaking a pilot Passivhaus Retrofit project in Bloomhall Road, in Gipsy Hill as part of the council’s net-zero decarbonisation work. Under the contract it was agreed that a two-week work experience opportunity for a local person would be created.
Queen, who went to Charles Edward Brooke School in Lambeth, was in the final year of studying for a Quantity Surveying Consultancy degree at Kingston University, and looking for graduate jobs in the industry.
Career ambitions
Queen said: “I was looking for construction related jobs and placements when someone recommended Opportunity Lambeth to me. I had a look and there were a lot of roles in the areas I was studying.
“I uploaded my cover letter and CV to the Opportunity Lambeth portal. The council then forwarded my application to Niblock and arranged for the Niblock team to contact me. The council really helped support me through that process.
“A short time later I had a virtual interview followed by an in-person meeting with Niblock’s Director and Social Value Manager where I was offered the placement to start in June.
“The work experience was really enjoyable as I could apply my knowledge from University to real life construction projects. Towards the end of the work experience they offered me a full time job which I started at the end of June.”
Delighted
Queen said she was delighted to land the role, and having now graduated from her degree with first class honours she has the graduate role she wanted.
She said: “I’m really happy, it’s the perfect opportunity for me, and my family are really proud. Also, my little daughter is really jealous of the high vis vest and other equipment I have for my new job.
“I would definitely recommend other young people in Lambeth go on the site and look what’s on offer. When you’re young it’s hard to know what career you want, so you need to get out there and see what’s available. I would never of seen myself in construction when I was younger, but now I love it.”
Lambeth is currently refreshing its Opportunity Lambeth jobs portal and it will be relaunched in September as BeLambeth.
Word from the Cabinet
Cllr Maria Cameron, Lambeth’s Cabinet Member for Economic Inclusion, said: “I want to congratulate Queen on her incredible efforts, and thank Niblock for creating this opportunity. I’m excited that we will be launching BeLambeth shortly, giving job seekers in our borough even more opportunities for follow in Queen’s footsteps.”
