At Alvance British Aluminium, young people can gain practical experiences through summer work placements, apprenticeships or graduate positions, highlighting there is #NoWrongPath to starting your career in the manufacturing industry.

In this post, we interview Harris Lovatt who shares his motivations for coming here and highlights the projects that he has been involved in.

You can click here to read more on Logan MacKenzie who also joined our Project Engineering Department this summer.

L:R Logan MacKenzie & Harris Lovatt

What attracted you to Alvance British Aluminium and why did you pursue a summer work placement here?

“The smelter attracted me because it’s an industrial site where I could gain some practical engineering experience before beginning my degree in MEng Electrical and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Edinburgh.”

Projects and Involvement:

“So far, I have been involved in the planning of the VDC pit painting, drafted a scope of works for a custom scaffolding tower, observed both the FTP duct repairs and the L2 generator’s annual maintenance and learned the basics of AutoCAD.”

The Rewards of Working with Alvance British Aluminium:

“Alvance British Aluminium is a very diverse site with a lot of different jobs and tasks, this along with its relatively small size allows you to gain a lot of knowledge and experience in a wide variety of fields. By simply shadowing, observing and asking questions you learn a lot about real world engineering. This wealth of practical knowledge will help underpin any theoretical concepts that I will go on to learn in university.”

Advice for Fellow Students:

“My advice would be to trust that you will pick things up over time. In the beginning you will be very confused and not understand how anything works and that’s OK. Just don’t be afraid to ask questions. Everyone on site has been incredibly friendly and will happily take time out of their day to explain something to you.”

Standout Moments and Highlights:

“One of the standout moments of my placement was when I successfully completed my first minor project. I was entrusted with the responsibility of identifying areas requiring fire safety signage, ordering the signage, and strategically placing it around the site. Although a seemingly small task, the sense of accomplishment I felt was immense. It was gratifying to know that I had made a tangible impact on the site’s safety measures.

I’d like to thank Alvance British Aluminium for this opportunity. I am enjoying it thoroughly, learning a lot and this placement will give me a real head start for when I begin university.”

If you are wondering about routes into engineering, here are some examples of opportunities we offer via college, university or apprenticeships – showcasing #NoWrongPath.

If you would like more information on our careers – then please contact us on lochabercareers@alvancegroup.com