It’s UK Construction Week, a period in which our colleagues are reflecting on their construction careers.

We start today with Tori Walker, one of our rising stars who works closely with our Solco brand – specialists in structural waterproofing, gas protection, and building chemical solutions for the construction and civil engineering markets. Known for its trusted technical expertise and design support, Solco helps contractors across the UK deliver with confidence.

Tori knew from a young age that construction was her future. Since completing her Construction A-level, she’s thrown herself into the industry – building a career full of passion, ambition, and promise.

“I was always fascinated with how buildings stay up” 
Construction has always been fascinating to me. I’ve got a curious mind and like to piece together how things work. As a child I was always intrigued with how a building stays up, wondering how windows could support the weight of the building above it. It was that curiosity that made me quite certain of my career path. 

It’s a vast sector of course and there are so many avenues to explore, from designing to building everything from residential to commercial projects. It quite literally shapes our world and covers a huge range of skills so there is something for everyone – it’s not just busy building sites and scaffolding! 

Life purpose
For me, the joy has always been about the technical drawing and putting on paper the specifics of how to create a building born from someone’s imagination. The intricacies of what is needed to achieve someone’s creative ambition and a blueprint to make it possible. 

I started at Bluebay earlier this year, and the range of projects we cover is really inspiring. I work closely with my colleagues Pete and Paul, who establish the initial needs of the client, however I really enjoy going on site too as it helps me to visualise the reality of what I’m drawing. Working on a computer is great, but there’s nothing like being on site to really understand real life challenges that you can only see first-hand. 
 
Being on site helps you appreciate the intricacies of what we do and how it takes so many people to accomplish a shared goal. That’s the reality of construction, we are all cogs in a huge wheel. 
 
Paving the way
I’ve always wanted to work in this industry so at age 14 I did a GSCE in construction; as the only girl in a class of 20 you’d think I’d be put off, but the technical drawing really appealed to me and gave me the chance to design buildings.

Then followed an A-level in construction, and my first entry level job and now Bluebay! My days here are spent drawing, creating a visual for our clients so they can see how our products achieve their desired results.
 
Bluebay is a great place to work – I’d been made redundant previously and within 48 hours, Lucy, our MD (a great advocate for women in this sector!) had contacted me and offered me a position which I didn’t hesitate to accept.

It’s a small sector so connections cross over and personal reputations count for a lot.  Construction is an industry that brings people together – no matter which area you specialise in, everyone is on the same team. At Bluebay there’s a real culture of trust and support which I’ve not experienced before – it’s this that makes it a breath of fresh air. 
 
I’m looking forward to getting stuck into more projects and testing myself with more complex projects. I wouldn’t want to work in any other industry.