Follow this Fellow

On my 33rd birthday, I applied for Fellowship and was turned down. They said I needed to be over 35. How disappointing. I was competent enough. Apart from helping to build a nuclear submarine base at Faslane, I’d done a PhD on behavioural safety. What more did they want? What difference would two years make?

But I wasn’t bitter. When I turned 35 I reapplied and realised my dream. At 35 years, 4 months and 22 days of age, I was a Fellow of the CIOB.

Fortunately, the CIOB has now dropped the age limit. You don’t even have to have been MCIOB for five years anymore. This should be great news for all the “youngsters” out there because Fellowship is not only a great boost to your career, it’s good for the industry and the public at large to have more construction professionals at Fellowship standard.

My journey to Fellowship seemed quite natural (apart from the irritating two-year delay). I gained a BSc in Building in the late 1980s, and worked with Monk Construction and Trafalgar House at the Clyde Submarine Base, Faslane, where I was a site engineer, section engineer, and finally senior engineer on a range of large structures servicing the nuclear fleet. I was responsible for temporary works, project planning, and subcontractor coordination.

I became MCIOB in 1994 and in the same year joined Glasgow Caledonian University as a lecturer in construction management, having recently gained an MSc in Construction Management. In 1995, I was appointed Programme Organiser for the BSc course, effectively becoming leader of the course I graduated from earlier. In 1999, I was awarded a PhD from UMIST for a thesis on behavioural safety based on field work with John Laing.

I was invited to join the CIOB’s Safety, Health, and Welfare Group and I got involved with the West of Scotland Centre of CIOB, holding several roles, including chairman.

I was proud to be a Fellow, but even a few years ago it was associated with age. I had all my own hair and it wasn’t even grey, so I could see people thinking that I’d made up the letters when I used them.

I see many “youngster” members talk themselves down when it comes to Fellowship. But so many are unsung heroes, too busy delivering cutting edge projects – or “routine” ones, on difficult sites with tight budgets and limited staff – to think about their achievements.

It’ll be good for your career. Why? Recruitment agents and senior executives acknowledge Fellowship as a good indicator of employee worth. I think it signifies a step change in thinking, from a competent employee who works in a specialism to a more rounded professional who can embrace initiatives such as Considerate Constructors, Change in Our Sites, and integrated team working. And for them, it’s not just theory. I think Fellows can devise practical initiatives to add value to the project. They maintain a mental picture that goes beyond the site, or whatever one’s own area of expertise might be.

The industry is embracing new forms of procurement that demand close working with clients to deliver an asset – not just a building – so people need to look beyond the contract and acknowledge user needs and whole life costs. I think a Fellow is one who can make that transition.

My advice is, write the report and get some feedback from a Fellow you know. If you don’t know one, contact your regional CIOB Director. Also, attend the branch meetings. Get involved. Organise a talk. And don’t wait until your 35th birthday!