During the internship, I had the responsibility of helping design a footpath in Chipping Norton as it was asked by one of the residents in the area. This responsibility meant I found out what material should be used in the foundation of the footpath and estimated the cost of the project.

 

I was quite excited and nervous at the same time as it felt like I was going to be able to apply the ideas and theories that I have learnt over the past 3 years in uni. I was also nervous as it felt like I was going to be thrown in the deep end at the beginning of my internship and did not want to disappoint my supervisor at the beginning of my internship. I began researching materials for the foundation of the footpath and had been fixated on pure concrete. I was quite confident in myself and my research had told me that the only material required was concrete. However after informing my manager he had told me that concrete is not the only material and can be expensive and unsustainable.

 

After hearing this, I was quite discouraged and felt confused as to what I have done wrong. I thought I had done enough research to present to my manager. My manager had mentioned that the project should prioritise structure as well as environmental stewardship which meant using recycled materials which is cost effective and promotes corporate social responsibility. After speaking with my manager, I had realised that while making sure assets of the council are safe accessible for the public, it also needs to help reduce the council's carbon footprint.

 

I continued my research and realised that there are several materials that can be utilised especially in the surface of a pavement. For example demolished concrete waste being used in the subbase of the footpath  (Mazhar et al., 2023) which reduces the requirement of using virgin aggregates and reducing landfill waste. I had presented this idea and the manager was impressed as I had incorporated both corporate social responsibility as well as the Australian standards. 

 

This experience has taught me that while university teaches me in a theoretical way of understanding concrete strength, real world experience allows us to understand the importance of corporate social responsibility and to always think outside the box when it comes to working on projects. Furthemore, the experience has taught me that confidence in working on different projects is built with time and working hard.

 

Mazhar, Mohd. A., Alam, P., Ahmed, S., Khan, M. S., & Adam, F. A. (2023). Sustainable usage of demolished concrete waste as a sub-base material in road pavement. Frontiers in Sustainability, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2023.1060878