Birmingham

Birmingham suffers a bad press. What most people don’t realise is that things have changed here in the West Midlands! Birmingham is a vibrant, exciting city that has reinvented itself – a process that you can watch before your very eyes!

I came to study at Birmingham University just over five years ago and have chosen to make my home here. I got fed the standard string of lines when I arrived, some of them may surprise you. Birmingham has more canals than Venice, more parks than any other European City and, my personal favourite, is home of the Balti. Whilst the curries have always been good it is the last few years that have seen the renaissance of the city’s canals and parks, they are now really pleasant places to be.

Birmingham is affectionately known as a city of activity. From first class sports facilities to the most acoustically perfect concert hall in the world. Broad Street is home to some of the best bars and clubs in the country and Brum is now (so my girlfriend tells me) the shopping capital of Europe with the new Bull Ring. A chilled out city centre mixes the old with the new, there are plenty of chic apartments for those who want a short walk to work and no taxi fares on a night out!

In the office we have a very active sports and social club. Subsidised events this year include: go-karting, Drayton Manor, bowling, Birmingham Beer Festival, cricket and curry night along with many sports fixtures. In the pipeline before the Christmas “do” we also had a comedy night and paint-balling.

The office management are flexible and approachable, they gave me three months off to do voluntary work in the Amazon, all I had to do was ask for it!

We are always looking for people who are keen to get involved - I have been asked to put in a particular request for new staff who play football!

Ciaran Willcocks
Graduate Civil Engineer