Lucy Kiragu

Role: Project Manager

Myself
My name is Lucy and I have been a Project Manager with Schofield Lothian since 2004. I live in Braintree, Essex but was born and bred in Nairobi, Kenya. I’m mad about Kickboxing and do it two to three times a week – work permitting. I also attend many Jazz concerts – funds permitting.

I studied Business Law at London Guildhall and went straight into project management after leaving full time education. Initially I worked mainly on school refurbishments and PFI projects. What appealed to me was the constant change of roles in consulting, which means you are always acquiring new skills and facing new challenges.

Since I have been with Schofield’s I’ve further refined my project management skills across a number of projects, mainly in the Transportation sector and gained valuable experience in Transport Works Order’s and Compulsory Purchase of Land.

Schofield Lothian encouraged and paid for me to study for a MSc in Commercial Management at the University of Westminster and I found that I benefited from a great deal of help and advice from the company with my various course assignments and presentations.

My Role
Although I am a Project Manager, my roles and responsibilities vary depending on my assignment. Presently I am a Compensation Analyst preparing compensation claims for business tenants that have been displaced by the Olympic Regeneration Project. I am also working as Estates Project Manager at the Natural History Museum.

My Work
At the museum, I am involved in managing the delivery of a £7m portfolio of projects that includes the installation of a new fire alarm system throughout the Museums Estate. The stakeholder management is very challenging with a number of occupiers who are all affected by the works – including the dinosaurs.

As compensation manager, I have to make a monetary assessment of the impact of the disturbance to the client. Sometimes this impact is not easily identified as it has not taken place or it is unpredictable.

My role generally requires someone who can hit the ground running and juggle many balls. You also need to be able to find ingenious ways of solving problems to exceed the customer’s expectations.