UHI Inverness student wins Women in Property regional award
UHI Inverness third-year apprentice Jordan Miller has won the top prize at the annual Northern Scotland Women in Property Student Awards.
Jordan, a Civil Engineering Graduate Apprentice, was presented with The 2023 Northern Scotland Award at the event in Aberdeen and will go on to represent the region at the national finals in September.
The student awards celebrate the talent, skills and ambition of the region’s female property and construction undergraduates by honouring the best Built Environment degree students. They also highlight the need for industry to link with universities early in the education process.
Jordan, a project engineer with Ross-shire Engineering, said: "I'm very grateful to my lecturer John McLachlan for putting me forward for the award and I hope it leads to more exposure within the industry. So far the award has given me lots of opportunities and recognition within my workplace. I work for a big company and it has put my name out there for people who didn't know me before."
Jordan joined UHI Inverness while still at school as a Foundation Apprentice, progressed through the Modern Apprentice and is due to study the honours year of the Graduate Apprenticeship in the next academic year. She was highly praised by the regional judging panel for being "exceptionally engaging, a determined character with a good level of awareness and maturity, she has the right attitude and will go far…”
She received a £500 cash prize, a trophy and the opportunity to take part in Women in Property’s highly acclaimed mentoring programme. Jordan will represent the Northern Scotland branch when she goes before a national judging panel on 21st September, competing against the 13 other regional finalists for the National Student Awards.
Many students secure work placements as a direct result of competing in the awards, which often translate into permanent positions upon graduation.
Women in Property Northern Scotland Chair, Leanne Hill, Senior Associate at Pinsent Masons LLP, said: “This generation of property and construction professionals is entering the industry at a critical time, when every one of us must adopt a duty of care for our environment and our communities. These inspirational young women have demonstrated the skills, commitment and ingenuity the country will need in future and we are delighted to have met them during the course of this competition. Congratulations to all of them and, in particular, to Jordan – we wish her every success in the national final.”
The National Awards programme, sponsored by Amazon, Bouygues UK, Savills and tp bennett nationally, and by Bancon for the Northern Scotland regional Awards, was established in 2007 to seek out the top built environment students each year and raise awareness to the many amazing and diverse career opportunities offered across the industry.
Regionally, each third year student is nominated by her university, submits a piece of coursework and then goes before a judging panel in March. This year 109 students were nominated for the awards, from 53 universities across the UK. Fourteen were selected to go through to the final.
The winner will be announced at the Best of the Best Awards dinner, to be held at Claridge’s on 21st September.
Issued by The Association of Women in Property