Project Controls Technician Level 3 Apprentice
THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED
Reading (RG1 8DB)
Closes in 21 days (Friday 6 March 2026)
Posted on 11 February 2026
Contents
Summary
Kick‑start your future as a Project Controls Technician Apprentice, supporting the UK’s largest water and wastewater provider. You’ll gain hands‑on experience maintaining accurate project data and learn how major capital projects are planned, tracked, and delivered.
- Wage
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£22,500 a year
- Training course
- Project controls technician (level 3)
- Hours
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Hours: 36 hours a week across four working days, plus one off-the-job training day, Monday - Friday.
36 hours a week
- Start date
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Tuesday 1 September 2026
- Duration
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2 years 2 months
- Positions available
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2
Work
Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.
What you'll do at work
What you’ll do:
- Rotate across key PMO teams to learn reporting, planning, and project controls.
- Maintain accurate cost, schedule, and performance data in systems like SAP.
- Support planners building and updating project schedules.
- Help Reporting Analysts create clear performance reports.
- Assure contractor data, checking cost and milestone accuracy.
- Gather and share project data with the delivery teams and management.
- Join review meetings to validate VOWD, forecasts, and highlight performance trends.
- Help keep a £1-2bn capital programme on track through reliable baselines and insights.
Where you'll work
Clearwater Court
Vastern Road
Reading
RG1 8DB
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
LONDON METROPOLITAN COLLEGE LIMITED
Training course
Project controls technician (level 3)
Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)
What you'll learn
Course contents
- Develop work breakdown and coding structures to meet the scope laid out in the projects’ technical information and specification, ensuring that the controls will monitor project progress and performance accurately.
- Manage data: source, retrieve, check, edit, format, record and analyse data – using it to create relevant time, cost and resource reports.
- Estimate: develop cost estimates for defined scopes of work, create appropriate benchmarks, analyse quotes from sub- contractors and suppliers, and input to tenders and the early stages of projects.
- Schedule and plan: break down the scope into activities to create a logical linked control schedule to input to the development of outline and integrated plans and baseline schedules; identify critical milestones; gather accurate progress data for controlling the schedule; and monitor progress.
- Cost engineer and control: prepare control budgets, carry out cost control activities, gather and interpret cost data, monitor progress on a regular basis, interpret trends and forecasts; keep in line with contractual requirements, maintain baselines; ensure accurate reporting and control.
- Monitor progress/performance and analyse data: associated with milestones, schedules, progress, manpower, resource and costs; undertake earned value analysis, create progress reports and identify variances from plan and likely consequences if no corrective action is taken.
- Use computer based technology: model potential trends and resource use etc. using the right software package for the right task.
- Problem solve: recommend early corrective actions to reduce variances, identify issues and risks, present and maintain related action plans and contingencies.
- Effectively communicate: with good interpersonal skills and share the right information with the right people in an appropriate format to enable effective project control.
- Input to project closeout: generate key benchmarks and outturns including lessons learnt.
- Observe and apply professional ethics, and maintain a duty of care.
- Apply safety in the context of the role: comply with relevant national and international health, safety and environmental requirements.
- Work in accordance with company management systems, policies and procedures: especially those relating to quality, data security, risk, change and document management.
Training schedule
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Knowledge, skills and behaviours as set out in the Project Controls Technician Level 3 Apprenticeship Standard.
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ECITB Level 3 Diploma.
- Your training is delivered virtually through bi-weekly workshops, plus added enrichment days either in person in central London or online.
Requirements
Essential qualifications
GCSE in:
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Communication skills
- IT skills
- Attention to detail
- Organisation skills
- Customer care skills
- Problem solving skills
- Presentation skills
- Administrative skills
- Number skills
- Analytical skills
- Logical
- Team working
- Creative
- Initiative
About this employer
Who are we? We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come
https://careers.thameswater.co.uk/our-roles/early-careers/ (opens in new tab)
Company benefits
- Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance targets.
- Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances.
Disability Confident
A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.
You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.
After this apprenticeship
Permanent contract with 28 months a structured programme.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
LONDON METROPOLITAN COLLEGE LIMITED
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000014656.
Apply now
Closes in 21 days (Friday 6 March 2026)
After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.