Read why this plumber made our shortlist to be a Building 2012 Hero for his work on the Olympic stadium

Over the last three months, Building has been searching for three Building 2012 Heroes. They can be people of all ages, job titles and professions within construction who have made a real difference on the Olympic project behind the scenes and have not been dominating the headlines - until now.

It’s not too late to put yourself forward, or someone you think should be nominated. We will be accepting nominations until 6 July. Simply fill in the form here.

This week we’ll be talking to some of the nominees ahead of Friday’s feature on the campaign. Today we hear from nominee Eugene Oppong-Kwarteng, who worked as a plumber on the main stadium.

Olympics

EUGENE OPPONG-KWARTENG

The 25-year-old from Newham is a trainee heating and ventilation engineer at Imtech Meica. Eugene worked as a plumber on the main Olympic stadium

I got involved with working on the Olympic park when I was looking for an apprenticeship in my gap year and came across Newham College. Because I am from Newham, an Olympic borough, they were interested in putting me forward for work on the park. I took an exam, and passed and then was offered a job working as a trainee plumber with Imtech Meica after two interviews.

I was working on several jobs at once doing plumbing and heating and ventilation work - everything from putting in toilets and showers to checking pipes and water pressures. I got to work in the changing rooms in the main stadium which was so exciting. I was thinking “this is stuff the athletes will be using - and it’s my work”.

I felt special, like I had a great opportunity in my hands and one I didn’t want to lose. That made me work hard. Now I have gone on to work on major hotel jobs like the Grosvenor on Park Lane.

I am still doing my apprenticeship and I will finish it next year. After that I would like to get enough experience to be a project manager. In that sort of role you get to see the whole job from start to finish and you talk to clients. Eventually I would like to run my own company or be the head of a big firm.

All of this has been made possible for me because of the Olympics. And it’s such an important scheme for the UK.

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