Building Manager (Assistant) - Chris Mccarthy

Chris Mccarthy,
Age 28

Qualifications
BSc Hons Construction Management

What were you doing before you joined the industry?
After my A level's I took two years out and did various job before I committed to doing something in the Construction Industry, because it's not something that a lot of women do! I then went on to do a degree covering Quantity Surveying and then moved on to Engineering.

What do you do day-to-day?
Everyday is very different, but I'm in charge of the quality of the site, so I over see aspects such as Health and Safety, the co-ordination of different contractors on site, whilst trying to keep costs down and the project on time!”

Can you give an example of any recent projects you have been working on?
At the moment I'm working on Henbury High School in Macclesfield, it's a steel cladded structure, with a project budget of £15 million.
You get used to the large figures and to be honest I prefer to work on bigger projects, I find them more interesting and challenging.

Good bits and bad bits about your job?
It's tough because sometimes the bad bits are also the good bits, like the time pressures of deadlines can be a real buzz when things come together.
But then when it's raining and you have to travel, doing long hours with the time pressures on top that's the down side.

Then it's absolutely brilliant when you see a structure finished and you've been involved in building it! Every day is different and you are always working with new people as contractors change and projects change - you certainly never get bored - I couldn't imagine doing anything else now.”

Where would you like to take your career in the future?
My next goal is to manage my own sites, but I need a bit more experience before I could go on to run the bigger projects I'm used to. There are so many opportunities and I could move on from building management, but I'd like to stay in a role on site rather than moving into an office.”