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Applying land and property management skills in the heart of the city - Emily secures 2022 Buccleuch Prize

Posted 13 June 2022

A student who found herself using her land and property management skills and knowledge in the heart of the city has secured the 2022 Buccleuch Prize for her placement work.

Emily Houghton, a BSc (Hons) Rural Enterprise and Land Management student from Hope in North Wales, was named the winner of the prize at the Harper Adams Placement awards.

The prize – which is awarded to the top performing Land Management placement student - went to Emily for her work with Grosvenor.

Following that success, Emily is now set to take up her first graduate job this September with Strutt and Parker in their Chester office – and believes her course has equipped her with enterprise and management skills that she can apply equally in a rural or urban setting.

Describing her placement, she said: “I was working with the Eaton Estate in Chester – I was based at the estate office, where I was helping with residential, commercial and agricultural tenants.

“I thoroughly enjoyed it – I got to see a lot, do a lot, and have a lot of responsibility.

“You might think ‘how lovely, how quaint’ about some of the cottages – but there are big commercial properties in the centre of cities like Chester that require as much attention as some of those rural properties.

“Whichever one you are doing though, when you are speaking with tenants it is so lovely to have that personal touch. You do build up such a relationship with the people you work with – and I think that’s what I loved so much about my placement. You get to see lots of lovely places – and meet such amazing people.

“Because of that, I didn’t really see my placement as a ‘job’ – so to get an award for it felt amazing!”

The prize is sponsored by the Duke of Buccleuch – who, on receiving an Honorary Degree from the University in 2017, spoke warmly of the calibre of its ‘most excellent graduates'.

Emily added: “I think with the Buccleuch prize, you do get a sense of achievement – that is a very well-known estate, recognising the work you have put into placement.

“It’s all about showing willing – and that was something I really enjoyed.”

Emily admits she wasn’t quite certain which course she wanted to study when she began looking at higher education – but having found herself drawn to Harper, she soon found her home on the Rural Enterprise and Land Management Course.

She said: “I came here on an Open Day, and I’d been to another university the week before - there was no question that Harper was more impressive. The campus was so lovely and it was somewhere where you could see yourself living and making friends.

“I am not from a particularly agricultural background, and I was new to the course.

“However, the course just seemed to bring together all the things I was interested in – they had property, law and some agricultural aspects.

“Every module has been so relevant, and I found them all really interesting. Even after you graduate, you have got your Assessment of Professional Competence for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to do – so you’ve always got something to work for.

“It is exciting – you don’t have to think rural with this degree, as long as you have got the right skills, you can apply them to anything – you can go from here and work in the middle of a city like Chester. Estates like Grosvenor will have properties in cities which need management – the course can take you anywhere!”