“I would encourage the over 50s to consider ways that they can share their knowledge and skills. It’s certainly something that I am very pleased to have done and would recommend it to others.”
More about Kevin
When NTU Alum Kevin left school at 16 he became a yard hand at a builders merchant where a foreman took him under his wing and became his mentor. Kevin learnt all he could and was sent to Norwich City College once a week on the Building Studies course and from there went on to study BSc Construction Management at NTU, graduating in 1990. In Kevin’s words “I rather fell into the industry!”
After finishing his degree, Kevin worked towards starting his own company which he achieved four years later from his dining room. Focus Consultants is now a multi-disciplinary company with offices in Nottingham, Leicester and London.
After years of experience in construction, creating his company from the ground up and becoming an industry expert, Kevin decided to rejoin the NTU community this time from the other side of the classroom as a lecturer, teaching students across Construction Management and Quantity Surveying.
“I’ve really enjoyed passing on my experiences to the new construction generation, giving them real world experiences ‘warts and all’ as it were.”
Kevin’s career change in joining the teaching world has seen him achieve even more “I never thought I would become a published author or be part of a team that won an internationally significant award for an academic paper, but that’s what has happened as a result of taking on a teaching role at NTU.”
Kevin now talks of the benefits of finding this second career in his 50s after 30 years of working in industry “It feels good to be giving something back to help future generations and it’s also been extremely positive for me personally to have had a second career teaching in my 50s.”
“I would encourage the over 50s to consider ways that they can share their knowledge and skills. It’s certainly something that I am very pleased to have done and would recommend it to others.”
Kevin’s advice to students who are graduating in the coming years is to “believe in yourself, develop and maintain strong contact networks”, he also talks about the importance of learning from your mistakes and making continuous improvement whilst maintaining a good work life balance.
After recently joining the Alumni and Industry Fellowship Programme Kevin is looking forward to giving back to the NTU student community even further, utilising his knowledge from industry and his ‘second career’ in teaching to provide insight and support to the future of the industry.
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Adele Werner
Real EstateUnited States of America
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/study-and-courses/courses/our-students-stories/architecture-design-built-environment/adele-werner
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Aiden Munnelly
Online Construction Project ManagementIreland
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/study-and-courses/courses/our-students-stories/architecture-design-built-environment/aiden-munnelly
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Alec Lawrie
United Kingdom
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/study-and-courses/courses/our-students-stories/architecture-design-built-environment/alec-lawrie