As part of Armed Forces Week 2023, we spoke to a number of our Armed Forces personnel across Morgan Sindall Construction. In this interview we spoke to John Charles, technical manager for Wales and the South West.
John has been with the business for 29 years and served 42 ½ years in The Army Reserves. In his role for Morgan Sindall Construction, he works at the early stage of a project (pre-construction) to undertake site investigations which might include surveys and desk-based research from open-source information into our prospective sites. This information is compiled into reports and findings when the team are submitting bids and tenders for construction projects.
Day to day, John is the one digging through archives and open source intelligence, often on specialist subject matters he’s had a lot of experience in, such as water and sewage, to ensure our teams know as much as they need to know about the history of a site before a spade even goes into the ground.
“That’s the really challenging, but interesting part of the job, some projects you’ll find are very similar – they might just vary in scale. But the support and expertise you can offer the team to uncover unforeseen problems below ground or solutions to complex refurbishments or temporary works is where you can add real value.”
John has utilised these problem-solving skills as part of his role in the Reserves, as a SO2 Watchkeeper in 160 Brigade’s Resilience Support Team. He has been involved in planning and logistics management, preparing combat roads, railway construction, bridging; understanding the need for traffic management and large vehicles access to challenging sites.
Much like his technical role for Morgan Sindall, John will prepare information that gives the team an appreciation of the location they’re entering. John jokes… “Of course, in construction we do not like to liken our competitors to enemies! But when it comes to preparing a site investigation in construction or the armed forces, we’re engaging in a battle to win. In both scenarios it’s about helping your team with quality information to understand the surroundings they’re going into and giving them a competitive advantage over the other party.”
“Effective resource management, such as managing time, money and people is a skill that’s used in both roles - understanding and apportioning tasks and responsibilities amongst a team, to remain efficient and eliminate silo working is crucial to ensuring a project in construction or a mission in the Armed Forces runs smoothly.”
John works from our office in Cardiff, covering Wales and the South West and this has seen him work not only on projects such as schools and hospitals in the region, but also projects within the Armed Forces due to his experience and security clearance. This has included HMS Cambria, a new training facility for Maritime Reserves in Cardiff Bay and works at RAF Fairford & Welford.
In his role in Construction and as a Reservist, John feels he’s been able to utilise his skills to experience the best of both worlds. Using what he’s learnt during his career in Construction to be supportive to the countries defence objectives too.
Throughout his career John has also supported others and organisations local to him and post-retirement he intends to continue this work. He sits on the Welsh Reserves Board, chairs the Wales Reserve and Cadets Force – which grants adventure training for all three services in Wales. He’s also Secretary of the Glamorgan Fun for the Army benevolent fund, Vice chairman of Scouts and his Regiments Museum. He supports those in the business with their CIOB (Chartered Institute of Building) chartership applications and has mentored both experience and graduate members via the organisation too.
Would he recommend a career in the Reserves?
Yes. “It’s a chance to grow in confidence outside of your line management or business supervision. It’s a challenge in a structured way – and will see you develop skills to cope easily with problem solving, dealing with situations outside of your comfort zone and develop leadership skills. They’re all skills that are utilised in construction, but for some who like structure or a hands-on experience, it’s a great way to build them further.”
Find out more about Armed Forces careers
Jack's interview and others can be found in our Armed Forces booklet. Which also includes some of the advice compiled from our team for Armed Forces personnel seeking roles in the Construction industry.