Hello and welcome to a very specialB1M video where i'm joined by
Rebecca Thompson who is president of the Chartered Institute of Building which many
of you will know as the CIOB. Thank you so much for being with us Rebecca.
There are literally loads of things I want to ask you but I suppose really we should start at the beginning
and find out a bit about your background: how did you go from from starting out to being president of the CIOB?
Gosh I think like a awful lot of people I came into construction completely by accident
so with the student Trident work experience scheme at school I ended up
working on reception in a building surveyors office. I was pretty bored from day one and
asked if I could take my homework in I was quite quite a good studious student and they said "yes of course".
I took in some technical drawing and they said would you like to use our drawing boards and from there it was
a case of "you're actually quite good at this have you thought about being an
architect or a building surveyor" and I said "well what what do they do" and they
really took me under their wing, showed me the ropes of building surveying and I
absolutely loved it, so I went back all through my student holidays, volunteering really,
they used to pay my bus fare and my lunch money and did that
through my a-levels and decided to go to university to do building surveying but
then after my A-levels I went across to America to do Camp America - rang my dad,
we didn't have mobile phones then, and said "I'm in South Carolina and going to go to Florida,
Dad it's going to be great" and he said "no, you've got a job get yourself home."
And Paul Shepherd of Shepherd Construction had heard about
this girl in York that liked building and they contacted my dad and basically
said look there's a job here if she wants. Rather than going to university we'll put her through college
So I did. And of course Paul Shepherd and the Sir Peter Shepherd are past presidents from York.
So there's quite a nice lineage there of where I ended up.
So I know as well that you have a heritage background.
You've worked in the Heritage sector for much of your career, and I know that a key
objective of your presidency is to raise the profile of that of that sector.
Can you tell us a bit more about your your plans in that area.
I can because I'm rid of a convert to heritage really, I started out in the commercial construction side like
I said with Shepherd Construction and did many roles within the commercial business.
But then led a team of archaeologists at a company called EC Harris,
and really really enjoyed the history and the archaeology which got me
really interested in that sector. I then did an Open University degree that led
me into the heritage side with archaeology, cultural heritage, and wanted
to find a job that led me in that direction and that's where the job at
York Minster came up. And of course then I mean talk about a dream job for
somebody with a commercial construction background leading the biggest Heritage
Lottery Fund project in the country at the time. But realising the difference
and the need of the heritage buildings compared with the new commercial technological side.
Twenty five per cent of the buildings are historic building stock,
so we need to have those skills even in just maintaining the buildings that
we've already got, as well as obviously the new buildings.
And you can incorporate new technologies into older buildings it's just you've got to
respect and understand the significance, both culturally and architecturally and aesthetically.
So it's a really complex part of the industry that I absolutely
love and I think it might encourage a different and more diverse group of
people into the industry as well and we have got a skill shortage.
just on that point, we do have a skill shortage in the UK industry,
we're also faced with that long-standing issue about the industry image and we're
facing challenges in terms of gender balance diversity and attracting the
best young talent, I wonder do you see those issues as being interlinked and
if so what can we do to address them.
You're right the industry has got a bit of a poor image and there is a gender
imbalance but there's a massive diversity imbalance it's not just
about gender but I think to make it acceptable and invite the right people in
we've got to make it a great industry to work in now that's already starting
with the health and safety improvements that we've got and the
well-being that we're looking at now and compared to sort of 20 years ago when I
started on building sites we actually have toilets for girls too which is
great, but it's bigger than that and we need to be looking outside of the
standard pool of people coming through with just sort of physics and maths
and that sort of engineering talent. To say "look anybody can do this and there
are so many opportunities within the industry." That you know looking at
heritage and the arts and the archaeology background or even the
transference of skills from from retired Army veterans that are being retired
because of disability. And that's a campaign that CIOB has had.
So I would say just come and come and talk to us because it's a fantastic industry to be.
Just finally what would you say to a young boy or a young girl who's considering a career in construction?
I do, and I would, say "find out all you can about the industry", and we've got a great website with the CIOB
and there's thing like minecraft, and we're actually aiming things that at the younger age group.
Because it's at that stage that they've got to find out and
be interested in the career what I would say it's a great career opportunity
we've got a massive skills gap so if you're looking for a fantastic career in construction then go for it
and it can cover a whole range of skills and take you to some incredible places throughout the world.
So it's a massive opportunity and I would really encourage anybody to join us.
Rebecca Thompson, thank you so much for talking to us.
Thank you
We hope you enjoyed that video and don't forget if you'd like to get more from the definitive
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