Paul Ebbs ICIOB, a 23-year-old site manager from Southampton, has been named winner of the Project Management category in the prestigious Duke of Gloucester’s Young Achievers Scheme.
Ebbs is celebrating his achievement along with Apeksha Gupta, winner of the Architecture prize, Kier’s Stacey Clifford, who won the Engineering prize, and Interserve quantity surveyor Stacie Kirkham, who won in the Surveying category.
Stacey Clifford, who is also holder of Kier’s Graduate of the Year award, was also named overall Young Achiever of the Year.
The four winners will each receive a package of support through the Trust and a one-year mentoring programme to enable them to make an even greater impact in their future careers.
L-r: A director of sponsor Byrne Group, Duke of Gloucester, Stacey Clifford and Christine Townley, chief executive of the CYT
The young professionals received their awards in front of more than 200 senior industry figures and HRH The Duke of Gloucester at the RIBA on Wednesday (13 March). The finalists were chosen from a shortlist of 26 through a rigorous process of presentations and interviews earlier in the year.
Ebbs, a site manager at Barratt David Wilson, impressed the judges with his enthusiasm for the industry and his drive and determination to get to where he is today.
He began his career as an apprentice at the age of 16, achieved Apprentice of the Year two years in a row, and now mentors apprentices just like him.
He has also achieved an NVQ, BTEC, HNC and a degree whilst working for Barratt. The judges commented: “Paul shows all round excellence; his enthusiasm for the contribution that young people can make in the construction industry is infectious.”
Ebbs told CM: “When I heard my name called it was simply fantastic – especially when you see the calibre of other people in the room. My wife and parents were there too, which made it really special.
“I want to use the opportunity to do more of what I’ve currently been doing – mentoring more young people in construction. I wasn’t aware of the Construction Youth Trust before, so I definitely want to get more involved with the organisation.
L-r: The Duke of Gloucester, Paul Ebbs and Christine Townley, chief executive of the CYT
Ebbs, who is currently working towards his MCIOB qualification, says his ambition is to become a building company director.
Kier’s Stacey Clifford impressed the judging panel with the ideas she brought to her projects, her voluntary work with the charity Engineers Without Borders, and her encouragement to other young people to follow the path she had chosen.
“I love doing outreach work because that’s how I got involved in the industry,” she says, explaining that she was invited to a Women into Science and Engineering weekend at the University of Bradford as a Year 11 student.
“At the time I wanted to be an accountant or a maths teacher, it was always ‘what can I do with maths’. But engineering had never been part of my thinking, it was never mentioned at school. I recently went back to Bradford to give a talk about my work with Engineers Without Borders, so it was great to go the full circle.”
Working on a major infrastructure project, she initiated the creation of a 4D digital model to plan the earthworks phases of the project. In the pre-construction stages, the model enabled the project team and client to instantly calculate the impact of programme changes.
Clifford says that her plans for the next few years are “to get more experience on site and work towards chartership”.
