Congratulations to Kiya Cooke-Smith for winning the Building Plymouth Technical Construction Apprentice of the Year Award 2025!
Kiya is undertaking a Level 6 Degree apprenticeship in Civil Engineering with Hydrock now Stantec and the University of Exeter. Having already achieved a BTEC Level 3 in Engineering, Kiya has now immersed herself in the next stage of study to help further her career.
During her first year, Kiya has assisted on a wide range of projects and proven that she can run complex three-dimensional structural analysis models, a task which graduate engineers would find a challenge. Kiya has also become a mentor to industrial placement students and graduate engineers, which demonstrates the level of experience and trust she has built within her team. In fact, in her first year, Kiya has exceeded all expectations and advanced her career far earlier than some of her peers who are following the traditional degree pathway.
Kiya's outstanding performance reflects not only Kiya’s commitment to the industry and her chosen profession as a structural engineer but also the enormous opportunities that are available through an apprenticeship and learning on the job.
Kiya has also involved herself in Hydrock’s voluntary “Learning Curve” programme, showing her appetite to meet new people, work as part of a team, start building her professional network and learn about a wide range of personal and professional development topics.
Keen to achieve and progress, these extra-curricular activities, have shown Kiya the understanding and need for networking. Through her participation in the award winning BPART (Building Plymouth Aspiring Rising Talent) CPD programme, Kiya is now keen to approach South West Women in Construction, further building up her professional network.
Kiya’s involvement in BPART, and her passion for promoting the construction industry, led her to volunteer for Building Plymouth’s week-long Mission Mammoth STEAMFest. This meant engaging primary school children with the world of construction and the built environment. Kiya helped the children with the design and sustainability activity to design a mammoth house, making them think about the structures that would be required and the types of materials that could be used.
As if she wasn’t doing enough already, Kiya has also participated in community work with Eggbuckland Community College, giving Year 12 students a fantastic introduction to the construction industry. She was able to speak to the students about the benefits of apprenticeships, leaving many feeling that an apprenticeship was a great option.
It is a testament to Kiya’s commitment that she has achieved a 100% attendance rate for her first year at university. This is no mean feat considering she travels five days a week from Plymouth to Exeter across all modes of public transport to ensure that she never misses a lecture.
It is clear from Kiya’s determination, work ethic and proactive attitude that she has a bright future ahead of her. All of these are fantastic reasons for her being the well-deserved winner of this award.
Jonathan Derwent, Director of Hydrock now Stantec said: “Congratulations to Kiya on becoming Building Plymouth’s Technical Apprentice of the Year. This is highly deserved and reflects your commitment to your apprenticeship, your career as a structural engineer, and being such a positive role model. Seriously well done, everyone at Hydrok, now Stantec is super proud! ”
Upon receiving the city’s top construction technical award, Kiya said: "It is so exciting to have won this award. I am so grateful to everyone who has supported me on this apprenticeship journey. I would always recommend doing an apprenticeship to anyone, it has really opened so many opportunities for me and has been a great start to my career as a structural engineer. The things that I enjoy most being a woman working in STEM is being able to inspire the next generation of girls coming into the industry. Hydrock now Stantec are a fantastic employer and allow me to make the most of all the opportunities that come my way."
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