Tracey cements her future

Mon, Jun 5th 2006, 11:00

Female assistant site manager Tracey Smith has scored top marks in a unique training and development programme designed to take her and colleagues to the next level with award winning house builder Redrow.

Tracey, who lives in Padiham, Lancs, was one of 10 Redrow employees to take part in the pilot of a course which is designed to ‘home grow’ a new generation of professional and competent site managers.

The Assistant Site Manager Development Programme culminates in the achievement of NVQ level 3 site supervision delivered by NHBC Training Services, combined with accreditation through Redrow’s own Site Management Certificate.

Tracey, 35, was the only woman on the course but certainly didn’t let that hold her back; she scored the highest marks of all the candidates.

Said Tracey: “Taking part has generally increased my awareness of issues that I would not normally be too involved with, such as the role of other departments, and it has improved my general knowledge of the industry and confidence in my own abilities.

“I’m really looking forward to taking the next step up to becoming a site manager as soon as the opportunity arises.”

Tracey joined Redrow Homes (Lancashire) three years ago. Previously she had a variety of roles in the construction industry after graduating in 1995 with a BSc (hons) degree in Building from John Moores University in her home city of Liverpool.

She added: “My degree course included a year-out on construction sites in Liverpool and Blackpool but after graduating I struggled for a while to get permanent positions on site. I tried a number of office based roles and even branched out into retail for a while, but something kept drawing me back to construction.

“Ever since I was a little girl I’ve had an obsession with drawing houses or building them out of Lego bricks. To actually be working on site and building houses for real is my dream job.

“I love the variety of being out on site. Every day is different, there are always new challenges and there’s never a chance to get bored. I can be looking at roofs and brickworks one day and dealing with the painting and decorating contractors the next, or handing over the finished property to customers.

“Generally speaking I don’t have any problems being a woman on site, once the guys realise I know my stuff they tend to give me respect and this qualification is further proof of my abilities.”

With Redrow, Tracey has had assistant site manager roles in Preston, Chorley and Bury and took over the final stages of build at Grane Mill, Haslingden. Whilst working at Buckshaw Village, near Chorley, she met her fiancé Ian Cowburn and the two will marry this summer.

Karen Jones, Redrow’s human resources director, comments: “We have developed this programme especially to create a career path for our assistant site managers. It will enable them to demonstrate the competence they are gaining from their role on-site and provides an element of formal training to support their learning experiences.

“This unique training and development programme is part of our commitment to raising the competency of our construction staff above the industry average and increasing employee retention and job satisfaction.”

The course focuses on all aspects of the build operation starting with lower risk areas such as finishing trades and working through to high risk ground works as the programme completes. It also requires those taking part to develop their presentation skills and to prove their ability to create a build programme from scratch.

Redrow’s development programme is designed to take nine months to complete but the first 10 candidates were hand-picked and put on a fast track programme over just six months. During that time they have successfully developed the management skills required to run a site in compliance with Redrow policies and procedures and are now set to be first in line for future site manager posts.

The NVQ level 3 element of the development programme was delivered and assessed by an NHBC team and Redrow was delighted by the flexibility of approach and level of support provided by NHBC.

Dave Gee, area training manager for NHBC South & West, said: “What Redrow has done is absolutely brilliant. The support, structure and guidance they are providing not just for the NVQ but for the whole development programme is superb. Redrow’s own modules fitted incredibly well with the NVQ level 3 work and vice versa.”

Following the success of its pilot scheme Redrow is now looking to run a couple of Assistant Site Manager Development Programmes each year with at least 12 people on each.

Redrow invests heavily in training at all levels and has its own purpose-built UK training centre, in Tamworth, Staffs, which delivers circa 4,000 training days per annum.