I deserve UKREiiF Top Apprentice of the Year, as so far, my degree apprenticeship has seen me excel, and feel I have quickly developed and progressed within the industry. I am fortunate, as one of only a handful of RLB apprentices asked to attend the UKREiiF conference 2023.
I have created a good balance between working and studying, and I can apply what I am learning at university, to real life situations on a project. I have been getting as involved as possible within my project – I am currently working on a £400 million redevelopment in London. This project has given me so much exposure to many aspects of the process.
Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to be invited to represent my company at the Government Property Conference 2023. I found this event very useful, as I was able to talk to many others from within the field. Also, I joined my company’s panel and felt privileged to be asked to give a short presentation about my experience as an apprentice so far – I received some good feedback about this.
I am part of a ‘Future Professionals’ scheme, which my company has put together, focusing on nurturing staff for the future of the business. This sees me work with colleagues from across the UK, and has led to me conducting research into sustainability and ESG. It involved interviewing senior people within my company and other companies. From this we collated the information and presented our ideas to partners within my company.
Recently, I undertook research comparing RLB to our competitors, and presented this. My research was used within the ‘Sustainability Services’ committee, and subsequently, I have been attended these meetings, seeing how changes are made. This committee is global, and it has been enlightening for me seeing how the different divisions of the company work together internationally.
Academically, I have passed all parts of my degree program this year, gaining high marks and have had positive feedback from my line manager and the university.
Finally, RLB is keen to promote sports and activity. I have used this as an opportunity to set up, and captain a netball team. We have been meeting weekly for internal training, and are looking to enter a league. I am leading RLB’s netball team entry to the Surveyors Sevens tournament in London, in May.

Emily is an apprentice on Browne Jacobson’s solicitor apprentice scheme. She is currently in her first seat of her apprenticeship in the Residential Property section of the Real Estate team.

Emily has progressed astoundingly well since joining the team in January 2022. She rapidly got to grips with assisting on residential property sales and her professional manner and positive attitude meant that she was soon handling these matters directly.

Emily is now responsible for plot sales on whole developments for some of our registered provider clients. Emily successfully manages these developments herself with little supervision. She is also a regular client contact who liaises with our clients directly to provide them with updates on their plot sales and can speak confidently and clearly about the legal process.

Emily also volunteered to take a part-time secondment with one our local authority clients who required maternity cover. She spends one day a week, with supervision, assisting the Council with their right to buy queries, involuntary lease extensions, charge registrations and providing general advice. Emily has regular meetings with the client to discuss their needs and to assist them in delivering their legal services. The feedback from the client has been very positive.

Emily is not only excelling in her work but has also shown great willingness to get involved in all aspects of the firm.

Emily is keen to get involved in networking events and business development. Emily is spearheading the firm’s involvement with the Future Faces Chamber of Commerce which forms part of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce. Future Faces runs networking and training events for young professionals. Emily has taken the lead in organising events at the firm’s office in collaboration with the Future Faces Chamber and is encouraging trainee solicitors and other apprentices within the firm to get involved with these.

Emily is heavily involved in the social committee for our Birmingham office. She booked accommodation and travel for attendees of head office firm party, arranged food and drink for a quiz event held in the office and is arranging a firm dog walk in Sutton Park.

Emily has shown great commitment to her apprenticeship and continues to exceed all expectations. She is rapidly developing the skills required to be a Real Estate solicitor and I have no doubt that she will be a great asset to firm for years to come. It is for these reasons that I am nominating Emily for the Top Apprentice of the Year award.

Anneliese has supported the Colliers ESG Team on delivering compliance with the MEES Regulations. Her tenacity, patience and attention to detail was second to none when identifying the EPCs that serve each demise for our client portfolios. Anneliese has now become our in-house ‘guru’ on EPCs and helping the teams to with with the EPC register to ensure that you are finding the right one that has been lodged. By conducting this exercise, Anneliese was able to show clients their potential rental at risk and strategise a plan to mitigate against the risk of MEES and help to illustrate how our offering as managing agents can go above and beyond daily operations.
Goes out of her way to ensure all aspects of a job are done, even when not directly asked of her. For example creating a master spreadsheet of UK offices energy data for our colleagues in the global team in Toronto, even though all they initially asked for was the raw data.
Feedback from this project included Colliers Global Lead, ESG & Impact “Please thank Anneliese for me, that spreadsheet is going to save me a lot of time. And [a different] spreadsheet will likely come in handy at audit time.”
Anneliese weaves sustainability frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals into thinking for our sector in a way which positively reinforces the agenda. In an industry where frameworks are often done to tick a box, Anneliese works to ensure Colliers’ approach is robust and defensible across both the sustainability and property sectors.
An example to this is uncovering detail of the UN SDG alignment of Colliers’ stakeholders. This will be used as part of creating Colliers’ own approach.
Anneliese supports in building toolkits and narratives across Colliers in ESG and sustainability. When clients have questions, there are presentations, or there is some service innovation to be done, Anneliese works to embed the latest thinking and research, and satisfy needs and priorities.
Much of this work is currently under-wraps so can’t be given as evidence here. However one example that can be shared includes Anneliese using her second to none editing techniques to prepare slides for prospective clients and ensuring that she worked long hours into the evening to ensure the best delivery for the business.

Jake is currently in the third year of his five-year degree-level Project Management apprenticeship with Scarborough Group International (SGI) based in its Manchester office.

Jake decided to adopt the apprenticeship route as he was keen to gain industry experience while studying and, after securing an interview with SGI, he was offered its first-ever apprentice role.

When Jake began his apprenticeship in 2021, it’s safe to say that the 12 months that followed were less than straightforward.

During a challenging period of balancing work and lectures at home due to the Pandemic, Jake has shown extraordinary adaptability to the ever-changing commercial property landscape, which has required him to become extremely self-motivated and self-assured.

Day-to-day, Jake’s role at SGI supports the delivery of its major development projects, including Middlewood Locks, Thorpe Park Leeds, Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, Queensferry One in Rosyth and Talbot Green in Wales, making sure they are delivered on time and within budget.

Jake’s commitment to personal and professional development is underpinned by the positive relationships he has developed with his co-workers and peers. He regularly reflects on progress made towards his achieving the goals he has set himself by seeking feedback in order to identify any areas of improvement, developing strategies to address any challenges or areas for improvement.

He also ensures that he is always abreast of the latest developments in the field by attending meetings, taking online courses, reading relevant literature, and participating in professional development activities.

Jake’s dedication and ability to apply the leadership and management skills gained on his course has allowed him to gain significant confidence in his role and he now runs the Group’s monthly development team meetings, encouraging best practice sharing and learning.

Hungry for progression, Jake actively engages with his peers to seek out further responsibilities which has resulted in him taking ownership of managing the Group’s future workspace requirements; a reflection of the confidence and trust bestowed upon him by the rest of the team.

Outside of his role, Jake has been involved in organising the Manchester Surveyors weekly football match, which has given him a great insight into the social side of commercial property and allowed him to build his network of industry contacts.

Jake is a valued and much-respected member of the team and someone whom the Group can rely on, which is epitomised in the following testimonial from his line manager, Howard Cartwright:

“Jake is always eager to help anyone within the company and is enthusiastic towards any work requested of him. He is beginning to gain a real understanding of the development process and how we as a business execute our strategy. He has been involved with the various stages of development and is beginning to take on more and more responsibility.”