It all started with some work experience on a Plymouth building site, but 27- years later Carl Heslop is in charge of his own £6million construction firm and working with global giants such as Mars and Princess Yachts.
The 44-year-old, from Plymstock, set up Plymouth-based Obedair Construction in 2015 after having begun his working live doing a stint of work experience with city firm Hill and Lang when he was 17.
He went on to complete a two-year course in building at City College Plymouth, later returning to do a three-year degree in the subject.
The courses were part-time meaning Mr Heslop worked four days a week for Hill and Lang, and later Morgan Sindall, and went to college one day a week.
Today his firm has just finished the £1.2million redevelopment of Plymotuh’s Pearn House, a listed building.
It is also working with global clients BD (Becton Dickinson) in Roborough, having finished a £3.5million job for the medical products giant in 2018 and now moving on to an extension to its warehouse.
Construction of a 40m by 12m extension on the side of BD’s Belliver Industrial Estate plant is the second phase of an expansion plan.
The 9m-high building is nearly all taken up with a vast tool room, its 7.5m high ceiling, the hight of three normal floors, means it will have an internal crane fitted inside it. A second storey will be offices.
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Obedair worked on the first phase of the four-phase expansion in 2018, which saw a new clean-room and manufacturing space created in the existing warehouse. Now it is creating a steel-framed extension, with will be covered in aluminium cladding.
The firm also makes client lounges for Princess Yachts and has carried out some internal alterations for the manufacturing spaces at Wrigleys, owned by Mars.
Me Heslop said: “At this stage of the business to be working for three global clients is great.”
He added: “We are essentially a principal contractor so we manage the whole process and do most of our work business to business. We generally work for companies who are looking to develop, expand and alter their existing business premises.
“We work for all the local authorities and there are three global clients that we’re working with. From a blank sheet of paper to where we are now, it’s grown quite rapidly.”
Before setting up Obedair, highlights of Mr Heslop’s career included being involved in the preparation of Plymouth’s Royal William Yard for its redevelopment between 1998 to 2001. He worked on completely refurbishing the New Cooperage, including re-roofing the Grade 1 listed building, its windows, surveying stonework and scaffolding every building.
Mr Heslop was just 17 when he had his first taste of construction: work experience during A Levels at Stoke Damerel Community College.
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He said: “I didn’t know anything about the industry but I enjoyed it, enjoyed the environment, and enjoyed the type of work I was doing.”
His plan had been to go to university but he spent the last year of his A Levels working for Hill and Lang - for free - every Friday, when he had no lectures. They asked him to stay, offering him an apprenticeship-type role.
He enrolled on City College’s ONC (Ordinary National Certificate) in building which he did one day a week for two years. He then did the Higher National Certificate (HNC) course at Exeter College and returned to Plymouth to read for a degree in building, again at City College.
He said: “I’m someone who likes to see the relevance of what I’m learning so the good thing about the course was that you’re learning your trade, you’re earning money and also seeing the relevance of what you’re learning at college.
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“Therefore you can relate the two and it really helped to get the academic knowledge alongside the practical knowledge as it complements each other.”
During his degree, Carl did some management modules and he later went into managerial roles and ran two businesses, eventually researching for a masters degree at the University of Warwick.
He added: “I probably wouldn’t have known about what management is, and that was my first taste of it at City College. It broadened my horizons to other disciplines within the industry rather than just the bubble I would have been in.”
He said: “There are many opportunities in the industry, particularly in construction, where doing your qualifications alongside experience is a bit of a golden ticket really.”
City College Plymouth has an open day on Friday, August 23.