Return of the MAC: JOHN DENNIS INTERVIEW
Towards the end of last year, we interviewed Pete Siddall, Operations Lead for Fabrications at MAC Roofing & Contracting Ltd. Today we’re catching up with another MAC Man: roofing and cladding supervisor, John Dennis. We recently helped John achieve his NVQ Level 3 in Occupational Work Supervision.
Our chat with John begins with derelict hospitals in Ancoats and finishes with frenzied boxing stadia in Bangkok, and we’ve even managed to squeeze a few words about cladding and NVQ assessment in between.
Thanks for joining us today, John. You work as a supervisor for MAC Roofing & Contracting Ltd. Can you start by briefly talking us through your job role and the type of work you do?
We do cladding work and roofing works. We do a lot of apartments in Manchester and we’ve just finished working on the building that used to be Ancoats Dispensary. It’s the old hospital which has been derelict for about 25 years or so. There are 30 odd apartments in the building now. We put a lot of rainscreen cladding on that over the course of 16 weeks.
And you supervise a team of cladders, John? Do you work mainly in the Manchester area?
Yes. There’s three of us – sometimes it can be more but usually it’s just the three of us. We try and stay local but we can work all over. Before Ancoats, we were up in Scotland for a couple of weeks to help push a job on. I believe you assessed one of our guys, Nick Ashton in Scotland. Nick was running the job up there. I don’t think Ryan [John and Nick’s NVQ assessor] goes as far as Scotland but I could be wrong.
We do remote assessments sometimes when a learner is working away in a far-flung location or it’s not practical to visit them in their workplace. But with you being in Manchester, we’re guessing Ryan came out to see you in person, John?
Yes, Ryan came out to see me two, maybe three times. I spoke to him first on the phone and then he came out to do an induction.
We’ll come back to your NVQ assessment in a minute. We’d like to ask you a few more questions about your career first. How long have you worked in roofing and cladding?
I would say about 15 years. I left school at 16 and I worked in a factory making new UPVC windows for Safestyle. Then I did some casual labouring at a building company local to where we lived, and that’s when I got introduced to cladding.
We were just about to ask how you got into cladding.
It was through my mum’s husband. He introduced me to it when I was younger after I left the window place. I started working for his brother and I did four or five years, learned the trade and then I went out on my own. I’ve been at MAC now for just over two years – since November 2021.
At the end of last year you achieved your NVQ Level 3 in Occupational Work Supervision. What was your main reason for doing that qualification?
MAC asked me if I wanted to do the NVQ. Things change over time and you need certain qualifications to be running sites and doing supervision work. The lady in the office at MAC said it would be a good thing going forward if I got my NVQ. When I was offered the chance to do the course, I jumped on it.
It sounds like you felt confident about doing the qualification.
Yes, I was alright about it, once I’d spoken to Ryan – he was he was very approachable, and easy to talk to. He explained what was involved and what I had to do. He was easy to get hold of on Whatsapp and email, and he came out to see me on site at the Ancoats job a few times, and watched me working. Everything was really good, and I’ve got no complaints whatsoever!
How did you get on with the knowledge questions? Did you type up the answers yourself or did you do it verbally with Ryan?
We sat down for a few hours and did the questions verbally. He gave me the question pack during the induction and said “try not to worry about it too much.” The way it’s worded might throw you a little bit here and there, but just have a look at them for now,” and then he came back four weeks later and we went through them all.
Now that you’ve finished and you’ve got your certificate, what do you think are the main benefits of having your NVQ?
It’s another feather in my cap. You don’t know what kind of rules are going to come out [in future] with things like health and safety, so the more knowledge and qualifications I have, the better.
Do you plan on staying in this line of work – in cladding and roofing – or do you have any goals to move towards something different in future?
I plan to stick with it long-term, unless I win the lottery!
Winning the lottery is our Plan B as well.
Maybe when I get a bit older, I might go into the management side of things.
A lot of workers progress into supervision and then management. And if you do work towards a management position, you can look at progressing to NVQ Level 6 and doing your SMSTS.
Which is a five-day course. I’ve already started looking into the SMSTS.
We like to wrap up these interviews on a personal note. What do you like doing outside of work, John?
I’ve got two kids: I’ve got a boy and a girl. My little lad’s five and my daughter’s two in March. I like watching boxing and Thai boxing, but I’ve not done much myself for a long time.
You’re a Thai boxer?
Yes, from the age of 6.
When we first went to Bangkok, we went to the old Lumpinee Muay Thai Boxing Stadium in Bangkok. We stood right at the back with all the locals-
-and all the gambling!
Exactly! They were waving money about making bets, drinking beer, shouting, and a live band was playing music that matched the rhythm and speed of the fights. We’re pretty sure there were stray cats wandering about the stadium. The toilets were flooded with water. It was absolutely mad – it was brilliant! We better leave it there, John, or we’ll go off on one reminiscing about Bangkok. Thank you again for speaking to us, and please keep in touch.
No problem; cheers mate. Thanks for that. See you later.
John achieved his NVQ Level 3 in Occupational Work Supervision through skills funding provided by Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Level 3 Single Pot offer. This interview is based on a telephone conversation that took place on Monday 15th January, 2024.
To learn more about flexible onsite NVQ assessment with DMR Training and to check your eligibility for skills funding, contact us on 01942 673047 or get in touch with us through our contact page.