In this Team TPS spotlight, we have Saffron, who has recently been promoted to Principal Consultant and also recently returned following maternity leave.
Find out more about Saffron and her role with us at TPS…
What is your role at TPS and how long have you been here?
I recently got a promotion to Principal consultant, having started in January 2020 as a Graduate! Since starting, I think I’ve had a hand in pretty much every bit of work that TPS do, but residential travel planning has been a constant since I arrived. We have a growing number of projects in this area so my role is increasingly focussed on managing these projects and managing our little resi TP team, alongside John Hacker. I also help out with some of our Strategic Travel Planning projects in the higher education sector.
What do you get up to on a typical day at work?
I’ve recently returned from maternity leave, so my day-to-day is just starting to normalise again after spending some time getting up to speed! Having said that, my typical day kind of depends on what time of year it is, and what deadlines we have coming up. Most of the residential projects run on annual cycles and our work in the higher education sector tends to fall at specific times in the year. You can usually find things such as checking a report, quoting for new work, liaising with councils, analysing survey results and making sure various aspects of our residential travel planning are running on time, somewhere on my to do list!
Tell us something that your connections might be interested to know about you?
My undergraduate degree was in Maths and Physics, so I’m definitely a bit of a nerd and love all things numbers related! While I could definitely no longer explain quantum mechanics or solve differential equations, I do seem to have become the go to person at TPS for any data analysis or carbon assessment related questions… and there’s no complaints from me about that!
Outside of work, I’m a (very) novice potter and have made quite a few mugs, bowls, vases, and trinket dishes that now clutter my home — and my friends’ and family’s homes as well! So far, I’ve only really managed small flat white sized mugs, so my current project is trying to create some larger mugs, hopefully in time for big Christmas hot chocolates!
What’s your favourite thing to have worked on in the last month?
Through our residential travel planning, there are quite a lot of developments where we administer different travel vouchers as incentives for new residents to try out sustainable travel modes in the local area. Since returning from maternity leave, I’ve sort of made it my mission to streamline our processes and make sure we’re working as smoothly as possible in managing these offers, since we’re now working on more sites than ever before!
I’m finding the problem-solving element of this to be really rewarding and knowing I’m working on something that will hopefully make life a little easier for our team is really good motivation.
How do you wind down out of work?
While I was on maternity leave we renovated a house and whilst we moved in a few months ago now, I’m currently spending a lot of time trying to actually finish the job and tick off all the little annoying tasks that are still hanging around! Between the house and the carnage of a baby that’s now well and truly on the move, there’s not a great deal of free time available, but we live right on the edge of the peak district and love getting out to one of the local reservoirs for a dog walk. I also love a camping trip, and regularly visit the Lake District.
More day-to-day, and outside of pottery, I find tending to an ever-growing collection of house plants to be quite relaxing and despite the best efforts of the British weather I’ve also been trying to add some life to our new garden. When time allows, me and my partner can often be found playing board games too.