‘Put this job on a CV and it'll set you up for life’

Phil Pamphilon, 26 - assistant project leader, BAA

What do you do?

I co-ordinate the design, commercial aspects and costing of Terminal 5’s signage.

What’s special about working on T5?

There’s a tremendous sense of achievement here. It hit me when I was talking to my designer, and he said “we’re creating a piece of history”. One day, I’ll be able to take my grandchildren and say, “I helped build this”.

What have you learned?

How to develop contacts. One of the biggest challenges on a job like this is establishing the right person to speak to, and keeping in close contact with them. I have a large phone book on my mobile and it seems to grow by the day.

What do you want to do next?

My current project wraps up in June, but I’d like to stay at Heathrow in some capacity. Maybe T5c, if there are opportunities there. I’ll be looking for a job with more responsibility. I want to be in charge of a big scheme by the time I’m 40. I just need to find the route to get there.

David Harbage, 25 - automated people mover engineer, Bombardier

What do you do?

I’m working on the transit system between the main terminal and its satellites. It’s my first job after leaving university. I wanted to go backpacking, but this was too good an opportunity to turn down.

What’s special about working on T5?

It’s a bonus working on a site where the levels of safety and quality are of such a high standard. Working under the T5 Agreement, where companies are encouraged to work together as one team, is something you don’t get on other sites.

What have you learned?

The importance of gaining respect from everyone. The young starter takes time to earn trust. It’s a matter of trying to keep your head down and being eager and willing to help.

What do you want to do next?

My T5 project finishes in November and I’ll stay with Bombardier. I hope I’ll get the chance to work on European sites. It may not be backpacking, but at least it’s abroad.

Emeka Okorocha, 26 - electrical design engineer, Balfour Beatty

What do you do?

I’m working on the tracked transit system, which is the underground link between the A and B sections of the terminal.

What’s special about working on T5?

The sense of community. There are so many people from different companies. We come together and work to a common solution.

I’ve definitely made good contacts here.

What have you learned?

How to work effectively under pressure.

When I started, I had to put two days of PowerPoint presentations together. It was nerve-racking, but I lined up all the slides and put the pictures together. At the last minute, someone came to me with a presentation on CD. I had to work quickly to incorporate those pictures. It was hard work, but it came out well.

What do you want to do next?

I’ll be working on T5 until the end of the year, then moving on to another project, hopefully with BAA. I’d like to work on Stansted.

Ben Harris, 23 - assistant quantity surveyor, Amec

What do you do?

I’ve been involved in module manufacturing. Services like pipes or ducting are put into a steel frame, then transported to site. The frame can be 6 × 3m, and there were 2,000 of them so it was a big job.

What’s special about working on T5?

The size and the diversity of the project. You’re exposed to areas in commercial and engineering that you wouldn’t get on other sites. It’s a privilege to work here. You can put it on a CV and it’ll set you up for life.

What have you learned?

Planning skills. With so much going on at once, your time management and prioritising need to be perfect. At the moment, I’m dealing with the end of the module manufacturing while working on my new project at the same time. It’s not something you learn at school.

What do you want to do next?

I’ve just started working on the corporate lounges in the terminal. I’m still called an assistant but I’m doing a full surveying role.

Steven Turner, 24 - requirements manager for rails and tunnels, Mott MacDonald

What do you do?

I collate clients’ requirements for London Underground and Heathrow Express. I’m responsible for managing the database and co-ordinating requirements.

What’s special about working on T5?

It’s a pleasure to come to work. Morale is high and there’s a great camaraderie. Now construction is well on its way, you come in and see a staggeringly huge building every morning and think, part of me went into that.

What have you learned?

The importance of soft skills to engineering. It’s quite easy for engineers to not see what’s going on around them. Before, I would just turn up and get on with the job, but I’ve learned you have to communicate.

What do you want to do next?

I don’t know. We’re handing over to London Underground in April and to Heathrow Express in September. I’ll miss it. It will be strange going back to a little office after this.

Madeleine Sillence, 28 - senior surveyor, Faithful + Gould

What do you do?

I started cost planning on T5 just before Christmas. There are items for which planning is needed: fixtures, fittings and equipment. These change regularly, so the design team looks at that and I look at costs.

What’s special about working on T5?

It’s a prestigious job, and you feel privileged being asked to do it. There’s also a great sense of achievement because everything seems to have turned out so well and on budget. To be involved can’t harm your career prospects.

What have you learned?

You have to be so organised on a project of this scale. The co-ordination needed to get anything signed off on T5 is phenomenal. You have to show plans to BA and BAA, then any other companies involved, which could be up to 10 people. It was certainly a challenge.

What do you want to do next?

I’ve begun work on an £80m pharmaceutical project. It does seem very small after working on T5.

Nick Pankhurst, 27 - supervisor, Framework Archaeology

What do you do?

I was a field technician to begin with, which meant I would excavate the site and then do all the paperwork. Now I’m co-ordinating an excavation team of about eight people making sure they don’t destroy anything important.

What’s special about working on T5?

When we’ve had larger phases of work, we’ve had 80-100 people on site, so it’s been very sociable. That isn’t normally what you get with archaeology. It was a fantastic opportunity to get to know lots of people.

What have you learned?

With a lot of sites, it’s keyhole stuff, but on T5 I had learn to get used to an entire prehistoric landscape. You have to keep in mind you’re not just digging a hole in a ditch, you have to relate everything you do across the whole of this ancient landscape.

What do you want to do next?

Who knows? I can be moved anywhere really – it’s in the nature of the job. I’m going to try to move into building archaeology. Having T5 on the CV can only help.

Jody O’Dea, 27 - architectural technologist, Pascall + Watson

What do you do?

I was brought in to work on the planning side. I was given general work at first. Then, as my role developed, I was dealing with unresolved elements of the terminal’s interior.

What’s special about working on T5?

It’s just so exciting working on a high-profile project that everyone in the UK knows about and that has got great coverage. It is a big, beautiful building that I’ve watched being raised from the ground up and I’ve loved working on it.

What have you learned?

I’ve learned a lot about communicating ideas and getting people to buy in on them. It’s a two-way thing. You learn you’re not always right, but you get much further if you communicate.

What do you want to do next?

I’m now working on the production design for the Stansted airport extension. I enjoy working on big projects so it’s great to be going on to another.

Adrian King, 25 - architectural technologist, Richard Rogers Partnership

What do you do?

I was employed for six months to do a design package and presentation for BAA.

What’s special about working on T5?

The infrastructure was a lot to take on board. For example, they had to divert two rivers as part of the project. To get experience on an international airport at this stage of my career is great and the drawings I’ve done look impressive in my portfolio.

What have you learned?

My course didn’t concentrate on presentation, so I learned a lot about that. The final presentation was to two senior clients at BAA and was quite daunting. When the day came, I was very nervous – you think the client will be terrifying, but of course the reality is completely different.

What do you want to do next?

I still work at Rogers one day a week, but I’m currently working on my final presentation for my architecture course at London Metropolitan University.