Our Construction Director, Dan Ford, gives an insight into his journey into construction and his varied role at Thames & Newcastle.
When and how did your construction career start – and was it your plan to always work in the industry?
My father has always worked in construction, so I’ve been around construction sites since I was small. While at college, I got a job as a site engineers assistant during the holidays. It was an intentional move that set me on the path to construction. After a couple of months, the company offered to send me to college on day release to study construction management, so I switched and haven’t looked back.
What piece of advice would you give yourself at the start of your career?
Take all the advice you’re given but carve out time to independently build your own knowledge too. If you’re open to listening, you can learn something from every single person you meet on site. But you do need to verify what you’re told. Some people are more equipped to give accurate advice than others.
Can you describe a typical day?
My days are varied and could involve anything from site supervision and monitoring project quality through to drawing joinery units or designing waterproofing for our basement jobs.
Generally, I try and split my time equally between being on site and in the office. When on site, I’ll usually be checking our construction programmes and what information we need for the next tasks or milestones. When I’m in the office, I spend time talking to the commercial team about matters such as payments, valuations and project profitability. I can also be found producing and monitoring project programs as well as creating project reports.
What has been your career highlight – or your most memorable project?
In my mid 20s, I worked in the Caribbean for a few years building 5-star condos right on the beach. I’ve since worked on some incredible jobs with Thames & Newcastle but spending your working day in the Caribbean is a tough act to follow!
What do you like most about working for Thames & Newcastle?
We genuinely take pride in what we do and that’s reflected in the quality of the work. We strive to give the best possible advice to our clients and deliver the best project we can, which makes work rewarding. I also enjoy the bespoke nature of our projects. This requires us to spend time working through the finer details to ensure the best outcome and is an area we really excel at.
What would you say are the biggest trends / changes / challenges affecting the construction industry?
The skills shortage continues to be the biggest challenge for our industry and is an issue that’s getting worse. Finding the right people is an uphill struggle, particularly for more complex projects that require more specialist skills. As an industry, we all have a role to play in tackling this by investing in apprentices and ongoing training, including the pathways provided by the CIOB.