Tom joined Paul Basham Associates as a Graduate Transport Planner in the Southern Office in October 2022 after graduating from university in July 2022.
What does your job involve?
While working through the graduate scheme, I assisted the more senior members of the team on several different projects with writing numerous reports including, Transport Assessments, Transport Statements, Travel Plans, alongside implementing Travel Plan Coordination (TPC) works and reviewing layouts in AutoCAD. Since becoming a Transport Planner, my role has developed to take more of a lead on projects and work closer with clients.
What made you choose a role in transport planning?
In university we were taught about different opportunities after graduating and a career in Planning stood out most to me. Transport planning in particular was a job where I could work with developers/architects and have a direct impact on making communities more sustainable. I also knew people that got roles as Graduate Transport Planners after graduating university with a geography degree and they highly recommended Transport Planning as a career.
What do you enjoy most about the role?
Since I have joined Paul Basham Associates, I have worked on a variety of different projects, from smaller residential sites to large strategic sites and commercial schemes. This has certainly kept the job refreshing, interesting and challenging. I’ve learnt that no two jobs are quite the same, with each job having their own challenges. Despite this I do enjoy the problem-solving element of the work we do. I also enjoy getting to go out on site as this helps me to visualise different problems that are not always clear from a desk-based assessment.
What do you get up to in your free time?
Outside of work I spend a lot of time seeing friends, going to the gym and when not restricted by knee injuries playing football and golf.