4 minute read
CIOB backs new digital platform
One to watch
Craig Shaw, director/senior building surveyor/project manager at Academy Estate Consultants and vice-chair for the CIOB Chelmsford Hub Committee
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Why did you choose construction? I always enjoyed helping my dad undertake various DIY tasks – I liked the sense of accomplishment that came at the end. As a teenager I also liked the idea of working with my hands so I trained as a carpenter when I left school and the rest is history.
You’ve made rapid progress in your career: MCIOB and vice chair of Chelmsford Hub in a short space of time. What are your goals for your career? I am very fortunate to have been surrounded by team members that inspire me. I made a decision very early on in my career that I would make the most of opportunities put in front of me and take it as far as I can.
Since becoming chartered, I have thought long term about fellowship as well as being in a position where I can implement positive change. Right now I am focused on my role at a regional level but I hope one day to help the profession at a national and maybe, international level.
What do you love about this industry and what would you change if you could? I love that no day is the same. Projects I run vary in size and complexity, and it keeps me wanting to continuously challenge myself and grow as an individual.
What frustrates me is some people’s attitude towards the training and mentoring of the next generation. When I started, my outlook on the industry was formed by those people around me. I think it is so important that those responsible for the training and mentoring of apprentices and graduates not only remember what it was like to be in their position but to also be the person they would have wanted teaching them when they started out.
What do you do in your spare time? I spend a great deal of my own time involved in one way shape or form within the industry. However, I also make time to attend the gym four to five times a week. I competed at a regional body building competition in 2019 (prior to Covid-19) and would like to compete again in the near future.
CIOB backs new community project platform
Worker Feedback Club aims to use tech to make sites better workplaces
CIOB is supporting a new platform
that helps to build a community around a construction project.
Worker Feedback Club is the brainchild of Harrison Moore, a former electrician and design student whose final year research explored what makes a building site a great place to work.
“I wanted to use technology to help make sites better workplaces,” said, “and came up with the idea for a digital platform that brings the benefits of employee engagement to a dispersed and disconnected construction workforce.”
The platform is being used on a number of projects including a large mixed-use commercial and residential complex that required recladding following the Grenfell Tower disaster.
It is a high-profile project for the main contractor and many third parties are involved in signing off the work. This means regular site visits and more pressure on the site team to be on top of everything happening on site.
Worker Feedback Club’s updates feature enables the site team to let workers know if important visitors are expected and which parts of the site they’ll access.
It also means that they can get messages and reports directly from workers if they have a problem, so the site team can demonstrate that they are on top of every detail of the job.
Moore has raised venture funding from social impact investors including the Resolution Foundation, and signed Willmott Dixon and Laing O’Rourke as its first customers and is in advanced discussions with other major contractors. ●
Harrison Moore, Worker Feedback Club
Obituary: Lance Saunders
CIOB fellow, educator and rugby enthusiast will be missed
Lance Godfrey Saunders died on 28 May 2022 at St David’s Hospice, Newport, aged 78.
Lance, a CIOB fellow for more than 30 years and chair of the Western Branch from 1995-98, died after a lengthy period living with myeloma cancer.
His career progressed from working as a surveyor underground in his native Gwent valley, to various construction jobs, leading a European project linking universities across the continent and further afield, an adviser role for the Construction Industry Training Board, and, for the past 20 years, running his own business training construction managers.
Caroline Gumble, chief executive at the CIOB, said: “Lance was a great advocate for vocational education and had the ability to support and coach people through their learning.”
Away from work, rugby was another lifelong passion. He was a proud Welshman to the end, though a knee injury cut short his playing days.
Lance is survived by his wife Christine, children Kathryn and Mark, stepchildren Andrew and Rebecca, and nine grandchildren.
