Sandwich Placement Student Review

I was a Sandwich Placement Student within the Planning team, supporting the delivery of both large-scale residential and mixed-use development projects and smaller-scale schemes across the England. On a day-to-day basis, my role involved coordinating Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) inputs and Planning Application submissions -including drafting and reviewing Environmental Statement chapters, planning statements and validation documents, cross-checking policy compliance, and ensuring consistency across supporting documents. I also liaised with clients, local authorities, legal teams and technical consultants (covering disciplines such as ecology, landscape, transport, air quality, hydrology and heritage), chased outstanding deliverables, managed document version control on SharePoint and Teams, and helped coordinate meetings and submission schedules to keep projects on track.

Yes, I was given a significant level of responsibility from the outset. I was involved in real, live projects - including large-scale residential and mixed-use development schemes - while also being given the opportunity to shadow colleagues and undertake observational tasks, which helped me understand the full range of processes involved in managing complex, large-scale projects. I took on ownership of key workstreams, such as coordinating Environmental Statement chapters, drafting planning and validation documents, liaising directly with clients, local authorities and technical consultants, and managing document control and submission schedules. This level of trust and responsibility gave me hands-on experience of the full planning application process and allowed me to make a genuine contribution to the team's project delivery.

Yes, I have learned an enormous amount and am still learning every day. The experience has been truly invaluable. I've developed a much deeper understanding of the planning system, EIA processes, and the coordination involved in delivering large-scale planning applications. I've also strengthened writing, policy analysis, document management and stakeholder communication skills, and gained new skills in project coordination, managing multi-disciplinary consultant teams, and using collaborative platforms such as SharePoint and Teams to their full potential. Overall, the placement has significantly built my confidence, professionalism and practical understanding of the industry.

I was very fortunate to have a wonderful mentor and an incredibly patient line manager, both of whom offered invaluable guidance and support throughout my placement. That said, this is a very busy planning consultancy, and I was often working directly alongside very senior colleagues on live, high-pressure projects. As a result, there were inevitably times when not every question could be answered straight away, and the level of support I might have liked was not always available. On reflection, this pushed me to become more independent, but not always confident in the quality of my work.

Fantastic and very friendly. Very social environment.

Overall, I really enjoyed my placement and feel incredibly grateful for the experience. That said, I would be lying if I said it was easy throughout. At times, I found it challenging to manage the pressure of working on such complex, live projects alongside very experienced colleagues, and there were moments when I struggled with self-doubt and questioned whether I was performing to the standard expected of me. On reflection, I can see that this was part of the natural learning curve of stepping into a professional environment for the first time. This has given me a much clearer sense of the professional I want to become.

Yes