Meet Katie Rice....

​I first heard about the AYP Mentor Scheme through a friend and after spending some time researching it and reading about the mentors,

I was really interested in working with Neil Smyth. I was drawn to working with Neil due to his vast experience in the Construction industry over many years. Currently just starting my 5th year of my Architecture degree and just having finished a year of placement at an architectural firm in Edinburgh,

I knew that having an outside source with more practical experience would be of great help this year. Having been based in Edinburgh until a few weeks ago, this made scheduling meetings with Neil a little bit difficult, however I haven’t seen this as a setback in our progress as we have still been in touch and had a face to face meeting where we got to know each other and set out what we would like to achieve this year.

Neil and I have plans to meet up together shortly with his other mentee too. I first envisioned my time with Neil being more focussed construction and architecture but after the first meeting, I quickly realised he will also be mentoring me in management and the importance of good communication skills within the industry.

​Neil has already given me some invaluable advice, has arranged with me to visit some sites with a QS from Morrison Construction and has pushed me to work outside of my comfort zone. 

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