Graduate Quantity Surveyor

Greater Manchester, United Kingdom (On-site)

Trending

• Job Identification 101981
• Job Category Commercial
• Posting Date 01/26/2026, 10:08 AM
• Degree Level University
• Locations WA5 3LP M22 5TG (On-site)
• Contract Type Permanent
• Driving Required Yes
• Security Clearance Required No

Costain have won extensive work across the water sector to support the AMP 8 investment cycle.

We have been appointed by United Utilities as one of 7 partners to the Enterprise, delivering £5.5bn of projects in the Asset Management Period 8 (AMP8) between 2025 - 2030, and AMP 9 (2030 - 2035). Our scope is to provide project management, design, construction and commissioning services on design and build schemes throughout the North West and Cumbria region covered by United Utilities. Projects vary in value, covering both infrastructure and non-infrastructure assets on water and wastewater sites with wider Enterprise partners.

We are now seeking expressions of interest from candidates wishing to develop their careers in the water sector and join our growing delivery team.

Graduate Development Programme

The programme will focus on helping you to grow your personal and leadership skills, alongside business and of course, the technical skills you will learn day to day on the job. The programme is delivered in a variety of formats throughout the 2 years and will allow you to establish a network of contacts that will help and support you through your first 2 years and beyond.

We expect some of our graduates to rotate after a period of 8 12 months, to another project/sector of the business to fully understand the depth and breadth of the services offered by the company.

Our line managers are fully supportive of the Graduate Development Programme and will be involved in helping you along the way. In addition to the programme, we offer mentoring and support in every area of work, as well as a structured training programme to enable graduates to work towards achieving Chartership.

Graduates may have the opportunity to work on a number of exciting and progressive projects around the UK during the 2-year period, in sectors including nuclear, highways, rail, water, airports and tunnels.

Key Responsibilities

• Prepare enquiries, analyse tenders, negotiate, and manage allocated accounts including orders, payments & final accounts, and close outs in accordance with customer or company procedures.
• Assist in the preparation and agreement of applications for payment or the assessment & preparation of payment certificates.
• Play a key role in capturing, managing, and communicating change and risk on the project in accordance with the Contract.
• Assist in the preparation of the Project Control Reporting including project cost & value / EVA reports, budgets, and forecasts.
• Report to Line Management when contractual notices and correspondence with both customer and sub-contractors are required in accordance with the Contract.
• Assisting with the reporting of the Project Budget / Cost Report.
• Undertake record-keeping including but not limited to collating site records, the preparation of meeting packs, meeting invites, and taking meeting minutes.
• Carry out supply chain performance reviews on allocated packages.
• Contribute to Value management / value engineering
• Understanding the implications of health and safety regulations
• Ensure all health, safety and environmental risk situations are brought to the attention of ContractLeader / Project Manager

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

• Be proactive in self-development and professional qualification
• Will have understanding or experience of business systems, spreadsheet development, cost analysis, programme evaluation and development, compensation event and/or variations assessment and evaluation.
• Increasing knowledge of a variety of forms & options of contracts.
• Have experience or appreciation of the risk management process for both schedule and cost and the use of Earned Value Management.
• Due to the locations of United Utilities sites a Full UK Driving Licence is required
• Have experience or appreciation of company policies, procedures & controls, operating office management systems including filing systems and document control and distribution and assist in the drafting of contractual correspondence on behalf of the project and project manager.

• Holds or working towards an RICS/CICES accredited degree, with relevant experience.
• Enrolled and working towards Full Membership of either RICS or CICES

Costain helps to improve people's lives with integrated, leading edge, smart infrastructure solutions across the UK's energy, water, transportation and defence markets. We help our clients improve their business performance by increasing capacity, improving customer service, safeguarding security, enhancing resilience, decarbonising and delivering increased efficiency. Our vision is to be the UK's leading smart infrastructure solutions company. We will achieve this by focusing on blue chip clients whose major spending plans are underpinned by strategic national needs, regulatory commitments, legislation or essential performance requirements. We offer our clients leading edge solutions that are digitally optimised through the following five services which cover the whole lifecycle of their assets: future shaping strategic consultancy; consultancy and advisory; digital technology solutions; asset optimisation and complex programme delivery. Our culture and values underpin everything we do.

Costain appreciate the time and effort taken when applying for one of our positions but, due to the high volume of responses, we are unable to provide individual feedback on candidates at application phase. We do share individual feedback following an interview.

A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that disclose they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer.

It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people.

For more details please go to the Disability Confident website: