As the twenty-five year old Site Manager of Bradley Park, Mark Titley’s career is off to an outstanding start as he picks up an NHBC award for his first solo project for Barratt and David Wilson Homes.
Speaking to Premier Construction, Mark described the achievement as “absolutely great”, and told us “When I got the phone call telling me I’d won I could hardly believe it,” – unsurprising since it is rare to win so early on in a Site Manager’s career.
At the age of eighteen Mark was certain that he wanted to go into construction, but he was also set on getting a degree: “Initially I wanted to learn a trade – I enjoy practical work – but with all my friends going off to university I didn’t want to feel like I’d fallen behind academically by going straight into a job.”
Determined to push ahead, Mark found himself a five-year part-time degree course in Construction Management at Leeds Metropolitan University. He then found employment four days a week with Barratt’s as a Trainee Site Manager, spending one day a week studying at university.
Mark explained how he came to be given the job of Site Manager: “This is the first site I’ve taken from conception. The recession helped me out in some ways, as at the time when sales were really slowing down, they took the actual Site Manager off the project where I was an Assistant and left me to ‘babysit’. Then when things picked up again they accelerated the building process and suddenly the site was very busy.”
The experience of stepping in as effective Site Manager allowed Mark to manage a project from the very beginning and prove what he was capable of. He had no intention of aiming low: “The motivation and impression that you give on-site in the first weeks tends to be how the whole project pans out,” he said, “Whenever people come on site you have to show them high standards of health and safety and tidiness, leaving no doubt in their mind that I want to win a Pride In The Job award.”
Mark’s success also stems from his organisation of the site, as he explained: “It’s important to make sure you set up the site so that the workers can help themselves and get on with it. It is also important to delegate, so that I can concentrate on running the site. I want to be constantly identifying how each individual could be doing their job better. You also need to make sure everyone feels responsible for the work they’re producing.”
Mark hopes that the team appreciate how working with such focus has helped to raise their game and that working on an award-winning site has reflected well on them. He is pleased that his core on-site team has supported him and are delighted to have won the award.
The development at Bradley Park is a mixture of housing in traditional styles designed to complement the market town. Ranging from two to five- bedrooms, the homes each have spacious gardens and are built with family living in mind. Work continues on the site and, with the houses proving popular, David Wilson Homes have accelerated the project, setting a target completion date of June 2012 for the whole housing development.
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