First class people skills are fundamental to Aisling McStravick’s role at Radius Housing.
Here’s how she became Director of Assets at Radius Housing
Give a brief outline of your career to date.
I’m currently the Director of Assets for Radius Housing. We’ve built and manage over 12,000 homes for over 30,000 tenants including families, the elderly, those requiring specialist care and the vulnerable. It’s a hugely demanding yet satisfying role and we play a major part in making sure that people in Northern Ireland can access what are fundamental needs: first-class housing and world-class care. We’ve an ambitious maintenance and development programme in the coming years which will see us spend millions of pounds upgrading existing properties and building hundreds more homes across the region.
Before I worked in the Housing Sector, I worked in the Parliamentary Estates Department for the House of Commons. In that job I worked on projects in the Palace of Westminster and wider parliamentary estate. This was a hugely exciting and interesting role where we maintained and enhanced one of the world’s most famous buildings which acts not only as the UK Parliament, but also an office building, a ceremonial building and includes many of the normal day-to-day operations you’d see on a typical high street including bars, cafes and even its own post office!
What was your favourite subject at school?
My favourite subject was Geography. On my first day at school I painted a picture of an erupting volcano and ever since I’ve had a fascination with the physical features of the earth. A big part of my job today is understanding how we interact with the physical environment around us.
Did you go on to further/ higher education, if so what did you study and where?
I completed a BSc Hons in Quantity Surveying followed by a MSc in Construction Project Management, both at Ulster University. After that I qualified as a Chartered Member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
How did you get into your area of work?
I’ve always been interested in buildings and construction and especially in managing construction projects – what are we building? How do we do it? Who is responsible? After I qualified with the RICS I was very lucky to get a job working for a leading Project Management company who are widely respected in the field. In that job I managed a team of professionals and took the lead in delivering major construction projects.
My role at the House of Commons, which is a hugely complex organisation, had many competing demands and I realised that the job was first and foremost about building strong human connections with the people in my team. These bonds meant that management became much easier and I learned that success in this field is not solely about having strong technical abilities.
Is this what you always wanted to do?
I had ambitions to become a journalist and at one stage thought I might be the next Kate Adie. A week of work experience in my local newspaper when I was 16 helped me to understand that the world of journalism was not for me.
Were there any particular essential qualifications or experience needed?
Asset Management is a particularly complex field which requires detailed knowledge and understanding of construction, procurement, contracts and programme delivery. It’s important to develop early experience in at least one of those and to be constantly pushing yourself, through different roles or training, to build knowledge in each of the other areas.
As the director of a team of 66 staff and a service provider to over 30,000 customers it is also important to have first-class people skills, including customer service.
Are there alternative routes into the job?
At Radius we have established a Higher Level Apprenticeship for Trainee Asset Officers which is our first professional apprenticeship. The opportunity is open to post A-level applicants and offers a two year fixed term paid post while the candidate completes a HNC in Construction. Our next apprentice opportunity will open in August 2020. This is a highly specialist role and qualification which can act as a springboard to all manner of jobs in the building and asset management sectors.
What are the main personal skills your job requires?
To listen, to be supportive, challenging and fair.
What does a typical day entail?
The Assets Department is a dynamic and fast-paced working environment where we are managing and delivering multi-million pound maintenance programmes across all our properties, which are home to thousands of people and where hundreds of people work. From simple repairs to complete overhauls, from managing large scale contracts to dealing with small queries, no two days are the same.
What are the best and most challenging aspects of the job?
With more than 12,000 properties to manage and maintain, there is a lot to keep us busy – our role is to provide and maintain high-quality homes and that’s what we’re focused on every day. We don’t think of it as providing roofs over people’s heads, it’s about supporting and enhancing the lives of those people who are living under our roofs. At times a particular challenge can be dealing with bureaucracy in some fields but it’s one our team is adept at dealing with and making sure it doesn’t cause unnecessary delays.
Why is what you do important?
This year alone we are investing £20million to improve Radius’ homes right across Northern Ireland. That means we are making a clear and positive impact on the lives of our tenants, and this work will help to improve each person’s health, wellbeing and comfort, as well as increasing energy efficiency in these homes, and reducing our carbon footprint. So it’s good for people and it’s good for the environment.
What advice would you give anyone looking to follow a similar career path?
Construction is an exciting industry with growing opportunities and for anyone who wants to pair the skills they have developed in a construction environment with a role which delivers true job satisfaction will find that in the social housing sector. There is a true and clear purpose to what we do – it isn’t just about bricks and mortar, we are helping to develop and grow communities across Northern Ireland.
If you weren’t doing this what would you like to do?
I would like to be helping to improve opportunity for vocational professional employment and further education at post-primary school.
What is the one piece of advice you would give to yourself on your first day?
Smile and take each challenge one step at a time.
Describe your ideal day off.
My ideal day off is taking the family for a nice walk in the outdoors.
And finally, what’s the key to any successful job search?
Understand what drives you, what inspires you and look for the job where every day is a school day – there’s nothing worse than boredom or clock-watching at work.
Radius Housing is recruiting!
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