黑洞社区

The gap between the people who run the nation鈥檚 biggest companies and those at the coalface has never been greater. While once an industrious employee could start at the bottom and climb right to the top, today鈥檚 boardrooms are increasingly stuffed with people who started their careers with MBAs under their belts and a distinct lack of oil under their fingernails.

With this in mind, 黑洞社区 decided to find out whether it was possible to reconnect the manager with the workers on the ground, by asking a senior executive to do a few hours鈥� work on a busy building site. Would they learn more about their business? And would the site workers welcome the presence of a not-so-undercover boss?

Of those companies asked, Kier seemed by far the most keen to give the experiment a try. Graham Howe, managing director for its eastern region, volunteered to spend a day working on site in Norwich, on a teaching facility the contractor is building for the University of East Anglia (UEA). Howe was, Kier鈥檚 PR said, 鈥渦p for it鈥� and looking forward to the experience. So, how did he get on?

A model project

Norwich鈥檚 most famous fictional son, Alan Partridge, may be one cultural influence putting the city on the map in recent weeks with his film premier, but it is one of the East Anglian city鈥檚 real-life historical giants that provides the inspiration for the building Howe is to help build. While the structure is currently known as 黑洞社区 57, when open it will be named the Julian Study Centre, a reference to Julian of Norwich, a 14th-century female city resident, who apparently experienced a series of visions of Christ. Her account of her experiences is believed to be the oldest surviving text in the English language written by a woman.

It鈥檚 an unusual project. I want to get a better feel for how the components come together [and] I knew Adrian wouldn鈥檛 drop me in it

Graham Howe, Kier

Marrying historical allusion with contemporary concerns, the Julian Study Centre is intended to be a model of sustainable design. The building鈥檚 structure, erected in just eight weeks, is made from cross-laminate timber - the 12th project Howe鈥檚 division of Kier has built using the material. More unusually - Kier says it is a first in the UK - each floor is divided by TermoDeck concrete, which allows passive cooling of the building in summer. In the winter, says project manager Adrian Cooper, the entire four-storey building will be heated by just two domestic boilers. In short, it will be the greenest building on the UEA鈥檚 substantial campus.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an unusual project,鈥� Howe says, and one he was keen to see up close. 鈥淚 wanted to get a better feel for how the components come together. I鈥檝e also worked with Adrian for many years and I knew he wouldn鈥檛 drop me in it too badly, although he鈥檚 had a go.鈥�

On site

It is 1.30pm and, while 黑洞社区 has just arrived on site, it turns out that Howe has been in situ since 7.30am. While it鈥檚 hardly a secret that construction workers and journalists keep rather different hours, this comes as a surprise. After all, we had only asked Howe to give up an afternoon. To have already put in six hours, albeit with breaks to keep up with his emails, Howe had gone above and beyond the call of duty. 鈥淚鈥檝e been working with the plasterboarders and dryliners all morning,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檝e learned quite a lot about health and safety and how complicated and manual a lot of the jobs are. Ever since I graduated, my mantra has been, 鈥榙on鈥檛 ask people to do something you wouldn鈥檛 try to do yourself鈥�. You need to understand exactly what it is you鈥檙e asking people to do.鈥�

But enough of the morning - it鈥檚 time to see how Howe performs in the media spotlight, so we boot up and don high-visibility vests, hard-hats and goggles.

First up is a return to installing plasterboard, where Howe is placed under the direction of Dean Sutton, the foreman from subcontractor Great Yarmouth Ceilings, a specialist in drylining and ceiling installation. As Howe cuts the board neatly and efficiently and handles a power drill with ease, it soon becomes clear that this is an executive who doesn鈥檛 mind getting his hands dirty.

鈥淕raham is very hands on,鈥� says Sutton. 鈥淗e鈥檚 really willing to try things.鈥�

鈥淚 think I may have set the programme back by two weeks,鈥� says Howe, with a self-deprecating smile. 鈥淚鈥檓 not going to give up the day job.鈥�

Mucking in

In fact, this is not the first time Howe has got his hands dirty. He used to work as a labourer on construction sites when he was at college, before going on to do an engineering degree at Brunel, and rising through the ranks at Kier and gaining a directorship at Willmott Dixon at the age of 32. He re-joined Kier in the mid-noughties, rising to his current position about eight years ago.

Having a managerial position inevitably ties Howe to an office most of the time, though he has tried to keep up his interest in the practical side of the building trade, albeit in a domestic environment. 鈥淣ow we鈥檙e in a nine-month-old house, but we had a 250-year-old house before and it needed a lot of work,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 tend to get people in to do the work now that I鈥檝e got older, but I used to do everything myself. When you鈥檙e in the trade, you can鈥檛 help but see stuff that needs doing.鈥�

At this point Cooper announces that it鈥檚 time for Howe to move on to his next task. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to do some plumbing now,鈥� he says, before hesitating. 鈥淚 mean plumbing in its loosest sense - we don鈥檛 want any leaks.鈥� We move up a floor and Howe is placed under the tutelage of subbie Sean Clifford.

As Howe saws steel and builds up quite a collection of pipe brackets, the pair chat away like a couple of old mates. Clifford examines the work, as Howe downs tools. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all been done to a very good standard,鈥� he pronounces.

With that, the day is over, and Howe offers us a lift back to Norwich station in his Mercedes, still dressed in paint-splattered work jeans and a company branded polo-shirt. 鈥淭he most important thing about what I鈥檝e done today is understanding how hard it is for those guys to meet the standards we set,鈥� he says on the way. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been really good.鈥�

So Howe has benefited from his day on site - but what did his fellow workers think? Reflecting on the day 48 hours later, Cooper praises Howe鈥檚 performance and says he gained the respect of the workers. 鈥淭he feedback I got from the guys was that he was keen to do what he was asked to do. He didn鈥檛 refuse to do anything and did it in a competent manner.鈥�

Cooper also believes that Howe鈥檚 day on site did a lot to persuade subbies that their management understood the challenges asked of them. 鈥淭hey were impressed by the fact that a director could see the difficulties they have on site,鈥� he says. 鈥淎 manager can just sit in their office, divorced from the actual workings on site. It鈥檚 not that [this experience] will change anything, but it did open his eyes to what people have to put up with on site.鈥�

Given the mutual appreciation when management engages with tradespeople, perhaps it is something that should be encouraged more widely.