Five years and counting as CIOB CEO

This month marks five years since I joined CIOB. It doesn’t seem like five years - in some ways, perhaps due to the interruptions to normal service because of the pandemic, it seems like longer. But in many ways it feels like it’s only been a few minutes and I have loved so many of the site and university visits, which provide opportunities to meet our members (and prospective members) and to share in, help celebrate and raise the profile of their many impressive accomplishments.

I also hope that, in turn, many of these things have helped encourage new talent into our industry.

As a personal summary of what I take from the last five years, seeing what our members achieve and, through that, understanding the positive difference built environment professionals can - and do - make in the world is what’s had the greatest impact. 

Of all the experiences I have had in this role, there are three main things that have truly brought home to me the importance of what we do and what we can achieve as a community.

Taking things in chronological order, my first CIOB graduation ceremony was in 2019 in Belfast, with around 50 excited – and sometimes a little emotional – new CIOB members. I don’t think I’d quite realised until then how significant gaining chartered status is to so many people. I spoke to almost everyone there that day and it was clear that for those who worked their way up through the industry, perhaps not having educational opportunities available to them earlier in life, to be acknowledged as having achieved something equivalent to a degree is a milestone that’s incredibly meaningful to them and their families.

Since that day, I have hugely valued the pride and the celebrations that characterise our graduation ceremonies; they really do have a special place in my heart.

One of the other occasions that changed the way I view the construction community came in 2022. I was humbled to visit Vrygrond, just outside Cape Town, an “informal” settlement which covers a relatively small area (just 1 km x 1 km) but is estimated to house close to 90,000 people. This community has developed and grown over the years, without official government or private sector intervention, and the unplanned, almost spontaneous, nature of the resulting community means there is poor quality housing and a lack of infrastructure.

This is a concern for many reasons but chief among them is the need for childcare and nursery schooling for the thousands of children who live there.

The focus of the visit was the community pulling together to provide for the preschool children, to keep them safe during the day and make sure they’re fed and have some access to early years education, while their parents worked.

I visited one school which was established and operational and another that was being built. Given the lack of official support for these settlements, it’s largely volunteers – including some of our Tomorrows’ Leaders - who help with construction and maintenance. They deserve so much credit, both for the work they do and for trying to raise awareness of the needs of the settlement.

It’s clear that our Tomorrow’s Leaders are absolutely walking the walk and living up to their name and I was - and remain - inspired by them.

I also felt a lot of pride in CIOB’s recent achievement of the Gold IiP (Investors in People) award, which verifies and demonstrates the positive transformation of the internal organisation. My ambition is for staff to be empowered to use their talents for the benefit of society, our institute and our members, supporting them, as they support all of us in the creation of a high-quality built environment.

I am blessed to be supported by high-performing leadership team, able to offer examples of how to be a modern professional in each of their roles.

I will also add a recent reflection, following this year’s CIOB Assist AGM. It has been hugely rewarding to be a Trustee of CIOB Assist and I am glad we are able to provide some support to our members who might need a helping hand. I am also constantly reminded how powerful our community of members is, as it’s their generous donations and other contributions which enable us to support members when they need it.

To reiterate something I wrote in my blog earlier this year, I recognise that I hold the privilege of being a custodian of this organisation, with its purpose, positive influence and long record of setting the standard in this important industry.