Close
General Workshop & Laboratory Services
Niamh Grace, Workshop Manager, The Bartlett Manufacturing and Design Exchange (B-made)
In 1985 I dropped out of Art College in Dublin to pursue a Modelmaking apprenticeship, turning a passion for making into a skill I could travel with. I did my apprenticeship in sheet thermoplastics and resin and silicone casting. There were three small firms in Ireland that made models and I spent my school holidays working in one, which also subsidised my college fees.
In 1987 I moved to London where all 10 of the modelmaking firms offered me work, but I chose Arup who offered me an apprenticeship making models in wood. There were eight of us in the workshop that made models for Arup Associates (Architects) and Arup and Partners Engineers. I was the youngest employee at the time, and the only female. The first job I worked on was the area around Saint Paul’s where I carved a statue of St Anne, and I later went on to specialise in quick sketch models.
I spent some time traveling around Australia working as a modelmaker in various architectural practices, making card models of Sydney Opera House, Adelade shopping Centre, Newcastle town Centre and managing Backpackers Down Under, in Brisbane. From 1991to 1996 I continued freelance modelmaking in Europe working on projects such as the Eurostar terminal Waterloo, new parliamentary buildings in Westminster, Heathrow terminal buildings, BBC Broadcasting House, and Reichstag Berlin. I also taught Modelmaking in The Caribbean School of Architecture in Kingston, Jamaica.
I updated my education by taking a City and Guilds NC/CNC programming course at South Thames College, in the evenings, and from 1996 to 2010 I ran my own 200 sq metre architectural modelmaking workshop in East London with a core team of 8 (gearing up to 20 when required). I trained some of the staff in an apprenticeship style, often working with universities providing internships, and providing work experience opportunities to secondary school students.
I then decided to retrain as a schoolteacher while my son was young, graduating with a First Class Honours degree (BA(Hons) Design & Technology Education with QTS) from Goldsmiths College in 2014. I did my QTS in a STEM FE college teaching Engineering and Product design. My teaching qualification and experience gave me the skills required to manage teams and finances in an educational institute, as well as an understanding of how to motivate and focus a team when you are, or are not, the owner of the workshop.
In September 2018 I joined UCL as the Analogue Workshop Manager in the Bartlett School of Architecture. I had originally applied for a Teaching Fellow position, but it was suggested at the interview that my skillset was more suited to a management role. With a restructure in April 2019, I became the Workshop Manager which also included responsibility for the digital parts of the workshop such as CNC.
In 2019 I became a core member of Engineering Technical Staff Community of Practice (CoP) which is involved in working with ‘Staff who perform skilled applications of knowledge and processes through accurate manufacturing to produce bespoke components.’ This opened new conversations for me with other colleagues in the wider technical staff community.
My current role entails being a Workshop Manager, Personal Tutor, Teacher, Project Manager, Deputy Departmental Safety Officer and recently a Departmental tutor to MA /MLA landscape students. I have first-hand experience of managing records of maintenance (should incidents in the workshop lead to safety investigations), ordering supplies, machines and replacements; maintaining inventories of equipment and other assets while responding to institute plans, managing budgets, control regular and capital purchases, communicate constantly with internal and external stakeholders including the preparation of reports and the monthly bulletin for B-made.
My current and previous roles have involved the recruitment and management of staff, managing their working schedules and supporting their induction and training. My job is extremely rewarding as I feel I am contributing to the future workforce while keeping a link to practice outside HEI.
Lately, I had the pleasure to participate in organising the inaugural ‘Technical Staff Showcase at UCL’ with the pivotal role of using my experience with exhibitions to organise the exhibition space of such a beautiful event.
I am looking forward to the future and hope to continue inspiring the students, staff and apprentices I work with at B-made.