Career view: Mark Tipping, Living Space Housing

April 16, 2021 / Keith Osborne
Career view: Mark Tipping, Living Space Housing

Mark Tipping tells us about the career path that has led to his current role as project manager for Living Space Housing.

Please tell us about your current role and what it involves.

Project manager is a more involved and wider role than a site manager. I am currently based at our new development in Moggerhanger, central Bedfordshire, delivering a mix of 36 private and affordable homes.

Day to day, my role involves programming and managing the whole supply chain, labour and materials – from starting on site to the point at which people move in. Ensuring everyone is safe and the quality of each element of work completed on site is to the highest standard is critical to this job. Once we start to handover homes on this site, there will be after-care duties too.

I continually liaise with the internal team, stakeholders and everyone who comes to work on site. It’s my responsibility to keep everything on track, and my 40 years in the job has given me the foresight to anticipate problems. If a delay is inevitable – such as a weather setback – I re-programme to ascertain how to recover time.

When did your construction career start and what inspired you?

My construction career started in 1978 as an apprentice carpenter for French Kier – now Kier Construction. I actively sought a career that would involve me being active and working outside. I felt learning a real skill would stand me in good stead, and it has.

Has it always been clear to you how your career would progress?

I was working as a carpenter for 15 years before becoming a site manager. The opportunity arose in 1993 when the country was in recession and carpentry work was scarce. While working as a site manager for McLean Homes North London (part of the Tarmac Housing Division), I obtained my CIOB Certificate and then my Diploma, and in the process I was put forward as Best Student of the Year by St Albans College.

In 1996 – while still with McLean Homes – I won my first NHBC Quality Award. In the following year, I won another Quality Award and a Seal of Excellence prize. I went on to win the 1997 NHBC Regional Award, so I could proudly say I had been recognised as one of the top seven site managers in the UK. Working on the tools for so long before becoming a site manager definitely gave me the insight and intuitiveness that you need to deliver exceptional quality and stand out.

Have you found notably helpful support and mentoring on the way?

Mick O’Farrell – who is now the regional managing director for Keepmoat Homes in the South of England – gave me invaluable support at McLean Homes and gave me the zest for working in this industry. As Mick’s career progressed, he enticed me to join his team four times! Construction is a people business and working relationships are so important.

I took this job at Living Space because of how I gelled with the people interviewing me. Our MD Steve Davies and customer service manager Phil Morgan were instrumental in me joining this young, but very ambitious company. The opportunities to have significant input and make a difference were clear from the outset.

Are there duties and achievements to site management that you particularly enjoy?

Without doubt the best part of this job is when people are thankful and appreciate how hard you have worked. Seeing people move in who are thrilled with their new home is so rewarding!

I also enjoy the technical problem solving aspect of this role. I was taught that if something goes wrong on site, go back to the root cause to correct it, which can often mean rectifying working drawings.

What’s your part in putting together the right team for a project?

I like to have a lot of input and I proactively recommend those who I know are right for the job. Putting together the people with the right skills on budget is always a juggling act, but I give my input into where cost savings could potentially be made. I’ve worked on sites with really talented young people in the early stages of their careers who I know can deliver a more cost-effective job than their competitors.

Meanwhile there are other aspects of construction where it pays in the long run to appoint the most experienced people. The vast storm water storage tank that we have recently installed here at Moggerhanger is a market-leading solution, which has been expertly installed by Carlow Concrete Ltd.

Has the process of starting a role like yours changed much?

The pace of building houses in the UK has never slowed down, but 26 weeks is now the typical build time for a house, and it used to be 13 weeks when I started my career! Design and sustainability factors contribute, as there is simply more that goes into today’s eco-friendly homes. But there is also far more administration to this role than there ever used to be. I can honestly say that all the technology we have nowadays sometimes slows the management on site.

Are you seeing increasing diversity in onsite and hands-on construction jobs?

Definitely. There were over 40 nationalities at some of the companies I’ve worked for, particularly on large construction sites in the South East.

There are also far more women in the construction industry now, especially in technical and commercial roles. I know one woman who started on the tools and progressed to a site manager. While there are more women in the industry than there were a decade ago, it is still not enough!

What could be the next step in your career?

Since I joined Living Space Housing last year, the management team has been actively seeking more land opportunities in the Cambridgeshire/Bedfordshire area, which is my local patch. There is scope to progress to a contracts manager as the business continues to grow at pace.

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