From Mentee to Mentor: WLVArchitecture Students Celebrated by Women in Property

Two WLVArchitecture students celebrated at the Women in Property Midlands Region awards, offering peer mentoring and widening opportunity. 

Second-year architecture student Sukhjit Kaur recently joined her soon-to-graduate colleague Samantha Elliott at the newly completed No. 3 Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, for the Women in Property Midland Region annual celebration.

Nationally, the not-for-profit creates opportunities, expands knowledge, and inspires change for women working in the property and construction industry.

Sukhjit's nomination recognised what her tutors see every day in the Architecture Department's dedicated studios: a student who is always working, pushing her design ideas through exemplary hand-drawing, imaginative thinking, and a drive to test and improve her expressive work.

The studios are where a big part of our encouragement of growth. In WLVArchitecture, peer-to-peer growth isn't just encouraged; it's embedded in the culture of the space, where students at different stages of their studies work alongside one another, share ideas, and invest in each other's development in ways that can't be timetabled.

This was on display at the Birmingham celebration, where Samantha delivered a speech reflecting on how transformative the Women in Property programme had been across her second year and into her graduation year. Afterwards, Sukhjit shared her excitement at following in her friend's footsteps, building the confidence and experience that she has watched Samantha gain first-hand.

There is much to look forward to. Through the programme, Sukhjit can expect dedicated mentoring, opportunities to speak at events across the country - potentially including London - and visits to live construction sites, making contacts that will open doors into the industry that go beyond our campus.

WLVArchitecture will continue to nominate young women for this programme, because in Samantha and Sukhjit, we can see its value written clearly in their growing aspirations.