Our people

When and why did you join?
I joined Berkeley in July 2006. What attracted me initially about the firm was the quality of the people I met along the way, and the distinctive offer that Berkeley seemed to have in the market place.

Personal development?
My capabilities have really moved on, I think, in the last 5 years. I think I had a good set of technical consulting skills when I joined Berkeley, in terms of programme planning and management and all that stuff, but where I think I’ve really moved on is my influencing abilities, my understanding of soft skills and how to move programmes forward through developing the right relationships, and managing the client environment more effectively.

How are we different?
So the biggest difference for me is that it’s a partnership, a true partnership. That allows us, and the culture allows us, to take a long term view in the development of our client relationships. That frees us up to always do the right thing and make the right decisions, even when in the short term that’s not always in the best commercial interest of Berkeley.

Most satisfying project?
The most satisfying project for me was certainly delivering Loxford Polyclinic, project managing the delivery of Loxford Polyclinic, which was basically a small hospital without A&E and theatres in an area of east London which had historically been underserved in terms of its health needs. So that involved a whole range of interesting activities that I hadn’t done before. I managed the guys who were doing the construction of the three storey building, about the size of a Sainsbury’s; brought in a GP practice; brought in 23 or 24 consultant specialists from local hospitals; community services; a pharmacy; a café; designed the processes; brought all the equipment; designed the IT and made it all happen. It was a really great project in terms of its breadth and scope and the people that I worked with.

Work/life balance?
I mean there are some simple things around the fact that I’ve worked in London, or in one case just outside the M25, for the past 5 years – that helps a lot, rather than being away a number of nights a week. There are some interesting travels, so I’ve been over to the States a couple of times, but that’s really on a more exceptional basis, unless you want to do a lot of travel, in which case there are good opportunities; you know, people in Hong Kong at the moment, or in New York at the moment, so there’s that aspect. The hours are, you know, they’re consulting hours, but they’re not horrific, except sometimes in short bursts, which is fine. We have an outputs culture, rather than a clock watching culture so that’s great. I think the other thing about work/life balance is that I like the people at Berkeley and I like socialising with them, so that allows me to have a lot more fun at work which means that I’m not always so keen to get out of work, if that makes sense?

Highlights?
The big work highlights were delivering a Polyclinic, which is a small hospital. Project Managing a small hospital was fantastic. And also working as an Interim Planning and Performance Manager for a lady who ran a big chunk, globally, of a systems trading estate for a big oil major. Socially, we do loads of fun stuff at Berkeley, and you can do as much or as little as you want. Personally, I play in the Berkeley band – there are seven of us who play in the band, we can string a tune together, and we played a charity gig at The 100 Club on New Oxford Street, where about 300 people came along to it; clients, and friends and family and these sorts of things, so that was brilliant.

Any advice?
If you’re a very capable Senior Consultant and you’re interested in continuing to build your consulting skills, you will enjoy working in an environment where you get a range of challenges; in a place where you can make a real difference to the fabric of the organisation, in a place where you can act solely in the interest of your client; then Berkeley is the place for you.