{"id":1121,"date":"2021-05-04T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T09:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/?p=1121"},"modified":"2021-05-04T09:01:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T09:01:29","slug":"josh-chana-project-manager-minor-works-estates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2021\/05\/04\/josh-chana-project-manager-minor-works-estates\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Chana, Project Manager – Minor Works, Estates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h3>\n

\u201cOur team works on a wide variety of projects for the College, from constructing new buildings at White City to renovating existing spaces at South Kensington.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Before joining Imperial in 2019<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0I was a sponsored undergraduate student, working for international property and construction company Lendlease whi<\/span>le\u00a0<\/span>studying towards my undergraduate degree.\u00a0<\/span>However,<\/span>\u00a0upon moving to Imperial after my second year<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0I transferred to the University College of Estate Management (UCEM) to study my Construction Project Management degree part-time whil<\/span>e<\/span>\u00a0working.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I work as a Project Manager in the Projects Delivery team<\/span>\u00a0in the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Estates Division.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Our team works on a wide variety of projects for the College, from constructing new buildings at White City to renovating existing spaces at South Kensington. My role is\u00a0<\/span>focused<\/span>\u00a0on the management of some of our smaller projects, with values up to \u00a31m. I work with clients and stakeholders from across<\/span>\u00a0Imperial\u00a0<\/span>to ensure that projects get completed<\/span> on time, on budget and that they provide lasting value to Imperial<\/span>. Some of my current projects include RFID upgrade works for Library Services, access control upgrade works for Residential Services<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and fire prevention works for the Fire Office.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A<\/span>dapting<\/span>\u00a0to a purely virtual workload was difficult to begin with, but once we adapted our processes to deliver projects\u00a0<\/span>remotely<\/span>\u00a0it got a lot easier. The more projects we deliver virtually, the more we streamline the processes and implement<\/span>ation<\/span>\u00a0to improve projects in the future.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the toughest thing has been to adapt to not spending time with friends and colleagues. That quick 5<\/span>–<\/span>minute catch-up between meetings or a nice conversation over a coffee is\u00a0<\/span>what<\/span> I miss most, and though technology has been brilliant in allowing us to continue working during the pandemic, I<\/span>\u00a0am looking forward to getting those moments back.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alongside working at Imperial and studying at UCEM, I have a voluntary role with\u00a0<\/span>The Movember Foundation<\/span><\/a>\u00a0as a Community Ambassador which I am very passionate about.\u00a0<\/span>Movember<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>is<\/span>\u00a0a charity trying to change the face of\u00a0<\/span>m<\/span>en\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>h<\/span>ealth<\/span>\u00a0by<\/span>\u00a0raising funds and awareness for causes such as mental health<\/span>,<\/span> suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.\u00a0<\/span>My role with\u00a0<\/span>Movember<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>involves\u00a0<\/span>getting\u00a0<\/span>people<\/span>\u00a0talking about men’s health – whether\u00a0<\/span>through<\/span>\u00a0hosting (virtual) events<\/span>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/span>talking to the media<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Movember<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>offers\u00a0<\/span>good\u00a0<\/span>advice<\/span>\u00a0to help\u00a0<\/span>us\u00a0<\/span>reach out to friends and family and start conversations. The first of those is the acronym ALEC, standing for\u00a0<\/span>A<\/span><\/b>sk,\u00a0<\/span>L<\/span><\/b>isten,\u00a0<\/span>E<\/span><\/b>ncourage Action, and C<\/b>heck-in<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>This<\/span>\u00a0simple tool has helped me start chatting to friends when they\u2019ve been going through a rough patch and has helped them do the same with me! Another great tool\u00a0<\/span>is\u00a0<\/span>called<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u2018Movember Conversations\u2019<\/span><\/a>, which help<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0us<\/span> practice<\/span>\u00a0these conversations with friends or family who may be struggling.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Staying connected during COVID-19 is different from the world we were used to \u2013 the pandemic has blurred the lines of work and home<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0piling pressure on our mental health. It\u2019s so important to stay in touch with our loved ones and to have regular honest conversations about how we\u2019re doing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although working from home has\u00a0<\/span>been difficult, it has also been a blessing too.\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019m relishing the extra time that I have in my days from not commuting and I am\u00a0<\/span>not<\/span>\u00a0missing\u00a0<\/span>the two\u00a0<\/span>hours\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019d spend\u00a0<\/span>sitting on the\u00a0District\u00a0line<\/span>! I\u2019ve spent this time looking after myself by cooking and exercising more (I\u2019m a big fan of running now and working towards a half-marathon), as well as weekly movie nights with my family and virtually with my fianc\u00e9e. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOur team works on a wide variety of projects for the College, from constructing new buildings at White City to renovating existing spaces at South Kensington.\u201d\u00a0 Before joining Imperial in 2019,\u00a0I was a sponsored undergraduate student, working for international property and construction company Lendlease while\u00a0studying towards my undergraduate degree.\u00a0However,\u00a0upon moving to Imperial after my second […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1226,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[288073],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-support-staff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1121"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1123,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121\/revisions\/1123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}