Job spotlight: Contracts manager, Morgan Ashurst

Name: David Goulden

Company: Morgan Ashurst

Job title: Contracts manager

Key qualifications: Hands-on experience

Seeing the bigger picture of the business unit as a whole. Contracts management gives you a diverse range of experiences. You can be in discussions with a prospective client in one instance or with a subcontractor the next, discussing a construction detail.

The challenges that come from managing multiple teams and projects and having the clarity of mind to be able to devote your full attention to one project at one minute then switch to another project the next. Also allowing your teams to make their own decisions and trying not to interfere too much.

Someone who is confident in their own ability and with a proven track record. You must be able to prioritise work load and understand the decisions that matter and the ones that are not so important. I think it is important to be able to have honest conversations with both your own team and clients.

The industry can be predominantly degree-orientated but this is not a requirement – I think having been there and done the jobs you are asking your teams to do is the most important qualification you can have.

We have a number of female staff working across the business in roles ranging from quantity surveying and health and safety to site management.

I try to be on site around 7am. I take a walk with the site manager to view progress and health and safety issues and a chat with the subcontractors. If I am not able to visit the site I talk to each of my project managers on the phone at least once a day. I try to let the sites run themselves and only step in if the site team need assistance. If I’m not on site I may be in the office looking at tenders with the pre-construction team or with potential clients. Unfortunately, as with most of us these the days, the dreaded e-mail can occupy large chunks of the day, but when on a site I will try not to open it and focus attention on the project at hand.

The best project has been the Royal Sussex County Hospital. This was my first job as a project manager and the largest within the company at the time. We had to build the largest Renal Dialysis Unit in the UK on top of a four-storey car park in the middle of the hospital campus. The job was great fun with a fantastic site team and client team - plus my office had a sea view!

Site manager or quantity surveyor responsible for the day-to-day running of a project or packages on a large scheme.

We sponsor sandwich course students during their degree. We are keen to bring them into the business with a grounding in site management before they move into the other areas of the business.

I joined the business as a site manager and moved up the ranks. We have opportunities for staff to move between disciplines, for example between site management and design management.