‘I like looking at process, and forward planning’

I set up Ottaway & Associates in 1992, and during the 10 years before that I had two main career paths. First, I worked in the NHS for six years as assistant chief engineer at the London Hospital, Whitechapel, and then as district design engineer for Islington Health Authority. 

Following that, after I’d qualified as a chartered engineer, I worked at Hackney Council for three years as a mechanical group engineer, before joining Kent County Council as head of maintenance for the mid-Kent area.

It really wasn’t what I wanted to do. I became very frustrated working in the public sector and I realised I needed to set up my own business because I could no longer take instructions from people who were, in my opinion, basically just playing the system. I used to say that to survive in a local authority meant making sure the last memo on file is yours and it ends in a question!

I decided I would set up my own business. With BS 5750 taking off, I saw it as a great area to focus on initially, along with other construction-related areas. In 1992 Ottaway & Associates was born.

We are a management consultancy for companies in the construction industry. We provide quality, environmental and safety services, as well as general management and consultancy advice. 

We’ve also got a CDM division where we advise principal contractors, act as principal designers and provide general CDM consultancy.

As I said, I set up my consultancy to help with quality assurance (QA) issues. But after a few years, QA became rather supplanted by health and safety, which became embedded in management systems across the UK – with QA becoming the poor relation.

It made sense to keep up with the climate and switch our primary focus, and it actually suited me well because I found I liked pre-construction work. I like looking at process, and forward planning, which were services we’d been offering through our quality assurance work.

We’re just a small consultancy these days, so only four employees. We were up to 10 employees at one stage a few years ago. Nowadays, if I need some extra help, I bring in associates.

I do asbestos awareness training – I’m registered with UKATA (the UK Asbestos Training Association) – but we don’t get involved with asbestos removal.

There’s some debate in the sector at the moment about the best way to deal with asbestos – whether to remove it or work round it and make it safe. 

My view is that the UK is a forward-thinker and policy leader regarding the management of asbestos-containing material. However, I do have some concerns about the people dealing with asbestos in the domestic market. I think many are a bit behind the curve, and I’m not convinced the HSE has enough inspectors to deal with the problem.

That means no one’s really checking on the builders taking asbestos out of houses. Unlike with non-domestic property, homeowners don’t have to produce an asbestos register. And because so many homeowners don’t want to pay for an asbestos survey, there’s a real weakness in the whole system.

Probably one where I’m out visiting a client looking after their quality, safety and environmental systems, maybe their third-party certification too. It’s pretty well the role of a specialist non-exec director.

If I can, I’ll get to the gym at 6.30am and work out for an hour. I find I do a lot of my best thinking when I’m there. If I’m not visiting a client, I’m at my desk by 8am for what’s usually a busy round of online meetings throughout the day.

There’s one that still gives me a buzz when I look back on it. In the early 1990s, I was invited to go on a trade mission, with Michael Heseltine MP [then secretary of state for trade and industry] to Australia. 

While I was out there I met a guy from Tasmania who was working as a marketing agent for the Australian government agent and we got on really well. Ten months later, completely out of the blue, he called and asked if I’d be interested in tendering for a role that involved overseeing a massive aquacultural design, install and maintain contract in Hong Kong.

Of course, I said yes, and Ottaway got it. It was all very exciting. I was working for an Australian company and I flew out to Tasmania every six weeks to oversee designs and the manufacturing process. And then I had to go to Hong Kong regularly to oversee the installation. 

I persuaded the Australian company to also get Ottaway carrying out the role of certifying the quality and environmental aspects of the project.

It became a real flagship project for us, and gave us a great marketing boost. And it was all down to striking up a conversation with someone I’d never met before in a country on the other side of the world.

As well as helping members get to grips with the Building Safety Act, I’m keen to look at potential new income streams. We’ll be discussing some thoughts I’ve put together in a paper at the next board meeting.

I was very pleased when I discovered APS some years ago, and I’ve taken lots of their courses over the years. So when the opportunity arose last year to apply to be a director, I thought: that’s right up my street. I applied and was delighted when I got it.

APS has grown considerably in recent times and, for me, where it really showed its worth was during Covid, where everyone was looking for an excuse not to do anything – and APS was putting on webinars every week. I thought they put a few other institutes to shame.

Don’t get conned into thinking you’ve got to go to university. So many people come out of university with qualifications that they’re never going to use in an industry they’re never going to visit. What a waste of time.

Consider an apprenticeship. That way, you do your education part-time and you’re far better off in the long run because you have so much more practical experience than a standard university graduate – plus, you improve your personal skills by being in the workplace.

Oh, and take up golf as early as possible – don’t leave it until you’re 40!