May 27, 2026
A big thanks to our most recent work experience student for their hard work with our archaeology and heritage team last week! They did a great job, and the townscape map they made is surprisingly close to the real Conservation Area Appraisal for Exeter’s Riverside area. It looks very professional!
We asked them to write a short blog about the week and to show some of the work they were learning about. You can read what they had to say below.
Work Experience Blog
I started out my work experience with little to no knowledge of what heritage and planning consultation entailed, but thanks to Avalon, I have been talked through, informed of, and tried out for myself, a few aspects work in the office. All the staff were incredibly friendly and approachable, making me feel extremely comfortable and able to ask questions during my time here. I have had many different tasks and opportunities such as attending meetings, designing marketing posters, listening to a webinar about the conservation and salvaging of sunken ships and an informative historic walk around Exeter Quayside.
In the week that I spent at Avalon I have somewhat learnt what it is like to be a heritage consultant, writing long extensive reports on sites, ensuring historic buildings and sites are conserved during developments, and being a planning consultant, helping clients applying to be granted permission for building projects from local councils. Both send lots of emails!
One thing I had to do was annotate a map of Exeter Quayside with the century the buildings were built, which ones were listed and roughly grade how attractive they are. Displaying the age of buildings helps us understand how an area has changed over time and which areas may need more attention whereas knowing how good a building looks helps an understanding of how an area can be made more attractive.
