‘The hardest thing was admitting I had a problem with my mental health’

Considerate Constructors Scheme’s Desiree Blamey shared good practices for tackling mental health and highlighted the progress being made across the industry.

Mark Swanborough MCIOB

The hardest thing was admitting I had a problem with my mental health. Currently, I am undergoing therapy, which is helping. I have good days and bad days. The worst symptom is the broken sleep pattern. If I am lucky, I get three hours before I wake up, then it’s every couple of hours.

I am currently signed off for a month. My one bit of advice is ask for help – don’t wait, thinking it will pass. It will only get worse, trust me. I made the mistake of ignoring the symptoms.

As an industry, we need to address this as a matter of urgency. I don’t mean just putting up some posters: there needs to be a total rethink on programmes, working hours and workload. We need a management style that actually cares about its workforce. If we don’t take action, the rate of people taking their own lives will increase.

Dame Judith Hackitt said during a Lords’ inquiry into the Building Safety Regulator that some of the Gateway 2 applications are being rejected because they lack basic information. She also suggested implementing a ‘Gateway 2.5’ to ease the building control bottleneck.

Steve King FCIOB

I have a tiny role in lots of different buildings. On my company’s books at the moment are about 10 higher-risk buildings (HRBs) and each of them is stuck in Gateway 2, some since last summer.

A split review seems like a critical step. Perhaps everything in the ground, then everything else. This is not just down to the submission quality. It is taking months even to hear back the first time with any queries.

Email address supplied FCIOB

An HRB application for a hospital project I’ve been working on has taken nine months to approve. Fire evaluation in a managed 24-hour/365-day building is a lot different to a higher-risk residential building, and yet the process is no different.

This one-size-fits-all approach, together with the application delays, is preventing hospitals from improving and saving lives. In this instance, it is a backwards step.

Max Muncaster

Very sensible for the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) to move out of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). It is an essential step in reducing some of the muddle.

May I also suggest that the principal designer (PD) and principal contractor (PC) Building Safety Act dutyholder roles should be renamed to reduce other muddles, and make them more clearly distinct from the CDM dutyholder roles.

For the PD, I think the industry should take more note of the role of design managers (DM) working within the PC organisations. Thinking of DM competency, they actually take responsibility for most, if not all, of the processes needed for the progression of design information – including getting approvals and making sure the decisions are recorded accurately and appropriately – as now needed for the golden thread of digital information.

Unfortunately, the professional bodies and the universities seem to be slow in recognising the centrality of the DM role. Big opportunity here for CIOB.

Lisa Anne

I remember the very first time I ever met Charlotte, 29 years ago in the back of a car on the way to a festival somewhere… And I remember the very last time I spoke to her, just outside her house, where we were musing over her campervan and chatting about the love of her life, North Sea Lee.

She seemed happy and content. How wonderful to hear some beautiful words spoken about an amazing woman.