We speak to Wavensmere Homes technical director Ben Clarke about the path to his career success.
Please tell us about your current role and what it entails.
I am the technical director at Wavensmere Homes and have been with the company for just over three years. Being an opportunity-driven developer, every site that we look at starts with a blank piece of paper, where we review local market needs and design a completely bespoke product to fit the bill. My role as technical director begins upon identification of a new potential acquisition, where we review the constraints and opportunities of the site to give an appropriate brief to one of our architects for the initial feasibility design work to start. From there, our in-house technical team will appoint a full specialist consultant design team, oversee the planning design and application process, the full detailed design process, and then ensure coherent information is issued to our on-site project team for construction. In essence, we manage the whole design process throughout the lifecycle of the development.
What led to your first step into the construction/housebuilding sector?
I left Solihull Sixth Form College in 2010, with A Levels in Accounting, Economics and Media Studies, with the pipedream of becoming an architect. At the time, the £3,000 per annum cap on university tuition fees was being reviewed and a new £9,000 per annum cap was being touted. Faced with potentially £10,000s of student debt over a seven-year qualification period, I decided it was the right time to re-consider my options, and I stumbled across a newspaper advert for a ‘technical apprenticeship’ with Barratt Developments. Whilst not truly knowing what exactly a ‘technical apprentice’ at a housebuilding company did, I applied, was interviewed, and out of 40 or so candidates, was lucky enough to be offered a position.
Did you have a fixed career goal, or have there been unexpected opportunities to progress?
Throughout my career, I have always tried to challenge myself and gain exposure to various types of residential-led development. I began my career with Barratt Developments, which was all about volume, quality, and consistency. As they were the largest HBF 5-star housebuilder in the country, there was no better business to start out with.
From there, I moved to Cala Homes and then Berkeley Group to learn all about bespoke, design-led product and a variety of medium- to high-rise buildings. This first decade of my career gave me a real platform to try and soak up a wide-ranging knowledge base, and crucially to try and understand which direction I wanted my career to progress in.
Has there been a key project or decision that you are most proud of?
I think the most successful decision I have made in my career was moving from a traditional ‘PLC’ housebuilder to Wavensmere Homes, which is an SME. The nature of working for a much smaller, privately owned business goes hand-in-hand with my personality of wanting to get involved at the core of the decision-making process. It’s at this point that we can shape our developments to be truly unique and community focused places that will stand the test of time, as opposed to just another ‘housing estate’.
Have there been mentors or inspiring people along the way?
As a fresh-faced 18-year-old, coming into the industry with no relevant experience, I have been lucky enough to work with so many experienced individuals along my career.
The notable mentors that spring to mind are from the beginning of my career at Barratt Developments – Ian Sadler was my first technical director, who brought me into the industry and gave me my first opportunity as an apprentice, and Paul Smith, my second technical director, who gave me my first development to run and trusted me to make and learn from my own mistakes!
In the current stage of my career, James Dickens, the founder of Wavensmere, has been a real inspiration. He formed the business almost 20 years ago from scratch, and we now have a range of award-winning developments all over the country. There is a really strong in-house team that sits at the core of Wavensmere, and James’ vision puts the creative wheels in motion.
As you’ve risen up the career ladder, has it been easy to find the right people and create the teams you’ve wanted to?
Absolutely not – I think most people within our sector would agree that our part of the wider construction industry is not very well known amongst 16- to 21-year-olds. Consequently, if our sector fails to get on the radar of enough 16- to 21-year-olds, then we simply will not solve the skills shortage that we have at the moment. Finding the right people, with the right mentality, that can ‘bring something else’ to the table is incredibly difficult – it takes time, patience and sometimes just a bit of luck!
