My Work Placement - by our guest blogger Kieran Burley

For my work experience I tried to find a placement to do with design and luckily I came across CAD Architects. As I came closer to the building where CAD Architects is held I felt nervous about what it would be like, but also I was excited about learning new skills and gaining an experience in what it would be like to work full time as an Architect.

When I arrived at the building I went to reception and met Tanya, she welcomed me to the company and my nerves were at ease right away, she then told me I would be working with Adam and he came down and greeted me. After meeting Adam, he showed me round the building and informed me on all the safety information and hazards. We then did the weekly fire safety test to check the alarms are working, and a light safety check to make sure all the bulbs are working. After all this I was shown how to work the printer as I would need to use it throughout the week. He then took me up to the office, as I walked up the office I felt nervous about meeting new people but after I was introduced to everyone I felt at ease right away. I was then introduced to the task that I would be doing over the week, my task was to make an Olympic kiosk which is to be transported around the Olympic event sites. We then came up with some design ideas on paper and I was then shown how to draw them to scale, I was shown how to do a floor plan,  sections and elevations. I was then shown how to make a 3d model using Google SketchUp. After I finished making the model, I was then shown how to render it using Kerkythea. Finally, I was shown how to present my entire project using Photoshop. On the final day I went off site to have a look at some of the CAD Architects completed projects, I also took a level reading of a wall that will be rebuilt. Over the week I was also shown how to cash in cheques at the bank and how to frank the post.

Over the week I found my time at CAD Architects very enjoyable, I had a great experience and will use lots of the skills I learnt in the future, for example I will use Google SketchUp for making a 3d model of my DT project. It has also given me an idea of whether or not I would like to follow this career in the future. In the future I would like to become an Architect from my amazing experience at CAD Architects.