A young Watford woman has spoken out about the value of apprenticeships, ahead of the UK’s national apprenticeship week.

Georgina Darley knows more about it than most because her career with construction firm BAM has already taken her from the Olympics, to the Metropolitan Police HQ and now to the redevelopment of London’s prestigious South Bank.

The 24-year-old said: “I found that doing an apprenticeship was an invaluable way to gain knowledge that only working on a building site can give you and also the contacts to start your career at a time when the industry was less receptive to taking on new people without a proven track like fresh graduates."

Georgina moved to Watford in 2013, and started as a London Legacy Games apprentice on the Olympic Park after being unemployed when she graduated in Architectural Technology. An agency placed her in a site engineer role for five months.

She explained: “From there, the project manager recommended me to BAM directly as a design manager.

"Although my role was as an engineer, I was shadowing a design manager for the North Park Hub and aiding a small but hard working team consisting of two professionals, a site manager and section engineer, and three apprentices.

“I got to try a bit of everything, even attending client progress meetings. I learnt more than any book or graduate degree could teach in the same time.”

Georgina’s role with Hemel Hempstead-based BAM – the firm appointed to redevelop Watford’s intu Shopping Centre - has taken her to Greenwich’s Harris Academy, and she has just finished a stint at the new Metropolitan Police HQ. She is preparing to work on early stages of works for the South Bank which was originally built by BAM.

She said: “I’ve been so lucky working on these signature buildings in the capital. Each one has different drivers and teaches you something valuable and new.

“I know I wouldn’t have found a job such as the one I am in, without the confidence given to me by the people I met on site after being unemployed as a graduate. Being a woman has never been an obstacle and young women should not be discouraged by stereotypes.

“I am whole-heartedly grateful for the path the apprenticeship has taken me. These schemes are vital to young people without enough experience onsite to shine on a page of a CV."