In the next of our ‘Meet The Team’ series, we catch up with our dynamic, detail-driven Director Damian….
Tell us about your role here -I am a Director at BPL responsible for running the Leeds office as well as management of schemes nationally. I also am involved in the day-to-day running of the business as well as business development, staff training, and where possible organising staff days out to give us all a break from time to time.
Tell us about your goals when you joined here To become a Chartered Structural Engineer and progress up within the company. Director was always an aim but I knew I would have to work hard to get there. Luckily BPL always seemed a place I wanted to stay at so that has helped motivate me through the years.
How long have you been at BPL? Almost 18 years. I am sure other staff would say it feels like a lifetime though.
Tell us a bit about your background before joining I was a structural technician enrolled on a part-time HND in Civil Engineering at the time of joining the company. I left my previous company as I did not feel there was the right framework to allow me to progress in the industry and I wanted to be involved at a company that allowed staff to achieve their goals in a supported environment. I was also young and had hair.
What training and development have you had? I have been mentored and allowed to progress from a technician without a degree to becoming a degree-qualified chartered engineer and Director of the business. This has included completion of my university learning and also my post-graduation objectives and development to allow me to sit my formal Chartered interview and exams to become a Chartered Engineer.
How would you describe working here? Because we have a very collaborative approach to all our schemes with Director input on each project and because each office is always involved and in communication with the others, it feels as though you are one office even though we are operating at a national level. This means you always feel the right people are being involved on schemes and the right resources put in place to best deal with the work.
What do you like about what we do? Where to begin? BPL don’t focus on one area of engineering or on any particular size of scheme which is brilliant. We have several divisions such as Temporary Works, Latent Defects Auditing and permanent works Structural and civil engineering, which allows us all to continue learning on a daily basis. It also means that we can get a holistic view of construction rather than only viewing certain types of schemes and because we do small schemes ranging from single houses up to schemes in excess of £50m we are always able to be conscious of the market place as a whole and view solutions for schemes large and small.
What’s the best part of working here? The team spirit. We have a Teams call every week to openly discuss the work for the week ahead and share any bits of news any staff may have. This helps foster a sense of oneness and support for everyone.
How do you like to spend your spare time? I have 2 children so free time is at a premium. I enjoy running when I get chance as well as playing golf when the opportunity presents itself. Overall though, finding time to switch off and spend time with my kids is my favourite thing as I have no doubt that when the teenage years hit I will be relegated to a Taxi driver and cash machine role.
Tell us something that we wouldn’t know about you. I love the Christmas period. The snow, Santa Claus, the movies and basically everything “Christmassy”. I am a total child in December!