Assistant Construction Manager
Bovis Lend Lease

Scott D

00:00:02 My name’s Scott D and I’m an Assistant Construction Manager. Working as Assistant Construction Manager is organising buildings from start to finish. But that encompasses everything within the building – so that’s the drainage, all the power, all the utilities that come into the building. You as a Construction Manager have to get involved and have a basic knowledge of what’s going on.

00:01:00 Funnily enough I’ve always enjoyed sciences at school, and was interested in those subjects, but it wasn’t me passion. In actual fact me passion was more creative in doing like artistic subjects and subjects around that nature. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do at school. And the focus for me was – because I didn’t know – was to carry on with me education. And I progressed to doing A-Levels. And still at A-Level I – the careers advice I got was to actually just pick subjects you like. I chose Art-related subjects, and I actually did Classics, and I did History and things like that. Which didn’t automatically lend itself to construction where I found myself. I completed me A-Levels and I was destined to go to University, but I decided not to go, and I actually ended up starting work. At that moment in time in my life I needed to earn money, and I wanted to be independent. I actually became a Market Trader and owned my own business. And I did that for a number of years. It was good, I enjoyed it. For that period of time it was good for where I was, but I didn’t – I always had a hunger for something else. And I don’t know if it was a hunger for education, or a hunger to move on, and inevitably that’s what I did.

00:01:32 I then made a decision to actually go travelling. So I actually packed me bags and I went back-packing in Australia. It enabled me to really be independent, but also a good life experience. Good qualities meeting people, seeing a new country, a different culture. So I took a lot from me time in Australia. Whilst I was travelling I was doing a lot of construction work. I knew from those jobs that I actually enjoyed this kind of work, I enjoyed the environment, I didn’t mind the weather, I didn’t mind being outside. The problems, the camaraderie, you know, those were the things that that experience actually gave me.

00:03:30 When I came back I needed – I’d got myself into a situation where I needed to earn money, so what I decided to do was go and be a black cab driver. So I ended up driving black cabs for a number of years when I came back from Australia. It was a means to an end for me, because I needed the money. But at the same time, I always had this hankering to do something. I didn’t know necessarily what I needed to do, but when I did focus in, I sat in the cab one day and thought – Actually I want to develop a career, and I want to move into a field where, you know, it was challenging. Actually thought about construction. I thought this is – that was the time when I was at me happiest, and I really enjoyed it. And that’s when I did me research into the degrees that were necessary to get me on the courses. Once I’d started the research it became quite clear that, you know, construction management was available for me. And because I’d done the A-Levels I was in a very fortunate position, because I didn’t have to do any additional studying, I could just apply. I filled in the application form, and I knew that, very quickly, that I would be accepted or not, and I got on to the course and I started straight away. Delving back into learning experience was quite a shock because you’ve got to learn how to take notes, and listen, and know when to take notes down and when to ignore things. But it was just the learning process. The first year is there to help you, and I found the people I was dealing with on the course and the tutors were more than helpful to what I wanted. The University I went to had a semester basis where you get four months off every summer. So in the summer I put myself out there and approached different construction companies to actually get summer placements, so I could get that experience whilst I was studying. Once I got on site I realised I’d definitely made the right decision, and it just confirmed everything I thought about the job and the role.

00:03:51 The nature of construction is is that it’s very diverse, and that there are a number of different roles that are within the industry that you can go into. I don’t see myself doing this role for the rest of my career, but I do see myself working within construction. I – you know, we go through life – and I went through life – thinking that there are barriers in your way to certain roles, and maybe certain jobs. But the only barriers that are there are the ones you make yourself. In actual fact if you, you know, apply yourself and do the hard work, then in reality there’s nothing that you can’t achieve.

ENDS