Hear from Ryan Forshaw

Tell us about Standards, Innovation and Research

Standards, Innovation and Research, or SIR, sits in the operations area of the business.

There are four distinct teams within the department, and the first area I'll talk about is the Standards team.

So an NHBC provides updated versions of the technical standards each year, and the standards team are responsible for developing and implementing these changes.

Now, with challenging, new home targets set by the government, many house builders are looking to MMC or modern methods of construction to increase the supply. This may include panelised or modular systems.

The innovation team within SIR carry out assessments of these schemes to check for compliance with an NHBC technical requirements.

The third area, the department is a Technical Research team who are responsible for horizon scanning for industry changes, such as amendments to the building regulations.

Finally, the newest area of SIR is Technical Competence Team that I manage. Essentially, the team was set up to support NHBC staff through the new regulatory changes. That means our staff undertaking building control activities will need to register with the building safety regulator and evidence that they have the necessary competency to carry out such work.

Tell us about your career journey at NHBC

So I joined NHBC back in 2006 as part of the Academy Trainee Building Inspector programme. In 2008, during the economic downturn, I had the opportunity to move from inspection to the claims department as a claim handler.

In 2014, I secured a role within our training department, which was a fantastic honour. Within the training team, I was responsible for a number of internal initiatives, which eventually led to me becoming a principal trainer within the team.

After a short period of being the principal trainer, I took over responsibility for managing the Academy training team.

Working at this level was a steep learning curve, but it did mean that I had to adapt my mindset to become more strategic in my thinking, which has been a great asset to help me secure the role I currently work within SIR.

What do you enjoy most about working at NHBC?

Firstly, there are great people throughout the business who are always happy to support each other.

Next, it's quite a progressive organisation so there are always new challenges to meet which can lead to great job satisfaction.

Finally, and I think most importantly to me, is the chance to develop myself and help others to develop and I've been lucky enough to work here in a number of areas where about the opportunity to do this.