Josh Turner 300 X 300Px

From Student to Project Manager

How Josh Turner returned to college to lead the way.

My name is Josh Turner, and I am a Project Manager working for Lodestone Projects which is based in Leeds. I have worked here for the last two and a half years and conducted several commercial refurbishments on their behalf.

I started my career as an Apprentice Joiner, working on domestic properties. I did this through Leeds College of Building on a day-release basis, until I qualified and achieved my Level 3 in Site Carpentry and Joinery. After I had qualified, I continued doing this for a while but then decided to branch out into commercial refurbishment. I worked at a company for a year doing commercial work and then they asked me if I would like to do a Site Management course. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity! Once I passed, I began to run small projects in a working foreman capacity (leading and managing teams of construction workers, ensuring projects were completed on time and to a high standard).

A few years later, the company I worked for decided to cease trading, and closed the doors. This left me at a crossroads, deciding whether to pursue full-time management or get back to my routes and continue as a joiner. I decided to go down the full-time management route and began my career as a full-time Site Manager, delivering projects of a much larger scale than I had ever been used to.

I enjoyed Site Management and learnt a lot along the way, although I needed a new challenge. From here, I applied for a job as a Project Manager and with some on-the-job training, I continued in this role. I then applied for a job at Lodestone as a Project Manager and have worked here ever since.

To do these job roles, I have a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) Level 6 in Construction Management and a Prince2.

My job role can be vast at times, but most of the time I am overseeing multiple projects, providing support to site managers and being the project lead from a client’s point of view. I report against the programme and write and present progress reports to the client and their team. Ensuring my sites run as smoothly, safely, and efficiently as possible.

Typically, my approach to a project would be when an enquiry comes into the business, my team work together and reviews the tender information, and our estimator would price the work. If our bid is successful, and we win the project, then it is down to me to ensure all statutory health and safety documentation is in place, as well as ensuring subcontractor orders are sent out. I must do this so the work can be booked in and co-ordinated in line with the programme. My job is to digest all the tender information and understand the requirements of the project to aid a successful delivery and completion.

I have worked on many different projects from fit-out, refurbishment, educational, food and hygiene and industrial. I would say my biggest challenge with managing a project would be working to tight timescales, whilst ensuring all the work is completed within the project programme. I need to manage subcontractors and lead times to ensure we meet programme deadlines. A difficult project I have worked on would be in an airport, which was hard logistically. I have also worked on listed buildings, conducting heavy demolition work while the building remained lived-in and occupied – that was quite the challenge!

If I could have picked a project to work on, it would have been nice to be a part of something that had a significant impact on Leeds as a city. A large shopping centre, for example, something like Victoria Gate. That way I could have visited afterwards in years to come. I also liked the idea of refurbishing a historic building within Leeds, which I was lucky enough to do when working on the Majestic Building. It was however a massive privilege to deliver a project* at Leeds College of Building! It was very satisfying and had a great nostalgic feeling to it. 

I love how diverse my job role can be, and how no two projects are ever the same! It is also nice having the balance of being out on site, tackling problems head-on but basing myself in an office. It is the best of both worlds.

If I could give anyone wanting to get into this field of work some advice it would be to try to develop a broad understanding of construction. The role manages all aspects of construction work, rather than trade-specific, so it really helps to grasp how a project comes together and the sequence in which things should happen. Having good people and communication skills is also necessary.

*Read more about the project Josh was involved in here.