Over the last 10 years, Natalie Finnigan has journeyed from Senior Quantity Surveyor to Associate Director, championing collaboration, nurturing client relationships, and delivering projects that make a real difference. Her influence extends far beyond her day to day role, as a STEM Ambassador, committed mentor, and proud Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) member, Natalie has helped inspire the next generation of construction professionals. In this interview, she shares how her time at Concertus has shaped her career and how she, in turn, has helped shape the careers of many others.

You started back in 2016 as a Senior Quantity Surveyor. Tell us about your journey and how you found it changing from main contracting to a multi-disciplinary consultancy?
I’d worked for a tier one contractor for about 13 years. I was incredibly nervous when I came to Concertus because it was so different from what I’d been used to. My manager was Annett Thompson, and she was really supportive of me, helped me grow as a person, and made that transition easy. Her belief in me was what kick-started my career.

One of the first opportunities I was given was to lead the project management team. This helped broaden my horizons from the pure quantity surveying work that I’ve been doing previously. Leading the team helped me have a deeper understanding of all the different disciplines and how they come together to make the project successful. It also gave me a good opportunity to lead a team, which really laid the foundation for where I took my career next.

Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to work with the property management team. That’s been great for my development, because it’s the next step in understanding how occupancy challenges can be addressed in design to make life easier for our clients moving forward. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunities to grow and learn about the various aspects of the business we have.

You have taken on many roles within the industry. Talk to us about your time as Vice Chair of the CIOB Ipswich Hub and what part your role at Concertus played in this?
I had been a member of the CIOB for so long, so I wanted to give back. I was worried about how I would balance my commitments as a local committee member with my work, but Concertus were so flexible and supportive of this opportunity. It just so happened that they then wanted the Vice Chair, so I threw my hat in the ring and was fortunate to be chosen for the role. It’s allowed me to get involved in local CPD engagement events, reach out to the local construction industry and support the ‘Tomorrow Leaders’ initiative.

I’m also the Assist ambassador, which is the CIOB charity. They help support members and people in the construction industry with mental health issues and those who find themselves in financial difficulty. I have really enjoyed supporting this. After my time as Vice Chair, I will then step into the Chair role and get to meet all the Chairs from the different committees across the world, which have hubs in Africa, Asia and the Americas. It is going to be a fantastic opportunity to see not only how we do it nationally, but also how we do it across the world. I’m really looking forward to that.

What is one of your favourite projects to work on and why?
My favourite project to have worked on is The Bridge School. On paper, it should have been the worst project ever, given many factors. We had changes in end users and it was right in the middle of COVID-19. The end-users’ needs changed during the project, leading to last-minute design changes. We encountered unforeseen ground conditions, but it was my favourite project because everyone on that team came together to make it a success.

There was excellent communication throughout. We couldn’t give everyone everything they wanted, but we engaged with the engineers and clients to understand their priorities. By the end of the project, we had delivered this fantastic school. It was a special educational needs and disabilities school, so it was much needed in the community. The students absolutely loved the new facilities. It was bright, it was colourful, it was delivered on time, and within 1% of the budget, which, considering all the challenges we had, was amazing.

In 2024, you were named “One to Watch” in Construction Management. What did they see in your story that you’re most proud of?
The thing I’m most proud of is that they wanted me to do the story in the first place. Going from being anonymous to progressing through Concertus and all the things I’ve achieved here, to being recognised, was very flattering and humbling. I hope to inspire other people to join the CIOB or get involved in construction. A few people from the business have either completed their membership or are in the process of doing so since the article was shared. It’s nice that you can influence the industry in some small way.

Tell us about being a STEM ambassador and why businesses need to have ambassadors.
Construction still has a very negative perception out there, especially with people that aren’t involved in the industry. Having ambassadors who can provide information on STEM subjects, which are often the subjects people don’t see where they can lead, is so important.

Quite often, when you talk to people about careers and construction, they still think back to the traditional trades. The bricklaying, the carpentry, the groundworks and those trades are essential because, of course, we can’t build things without the skills and the trades. But there are also many other professional career opportunities within the industry. So, it’s nice to have the chance to get people enthusiastic about construction and the career opportunities it offers.

What work are you doing to help bridge the skills gap?
Aside from the STEM work, I’ve helped promote the T-level programme here at Concertus. It’s where we support local colleges and the learners taking part in T-levels, as they need a lot of work experience to complete their course. I have this view that if we want to inspire people into the industry, we need to bridge the skills gap. If we’re going to have these positive people working in our businesses in the future, we need to support them and show them what it’s like to work in a professional environment.

Why do you think the T-level programme has been so successful at Concertus?
As a multidisciplinary consultancy, we are about to give our T-level learners a wide range of professional opportunities. It’s hard to know what you want to do with the rest of your life when you’re 16, so by allowing people to rotate through our different departments, they can see what a structural engineer does, compared to a Quantity Surveyor and compare it with an Architect, so that they can make informed choices about their future pathway. We’ve also used it to give our own people experience in mentoring, interview skills and internal training, allowing them to upskill as part of their role.

This means we are giving them an excellent opportunity to spend a decent amount of time in each department, so they can understand what it actually means to be a building surveyor, what that would mean for them as a career, and whether they enjoy it.

Giving them these opportunities to experience it for themselves means they can approach their T-levels and potentially their degree with a reasonable amount of confidence that this is the career they want. Of course, this also means that we get exposure to some great future employees.

At what point did you know Concertus was where you wanted to build your long-term career?
One of my earliest memories at Concertus was on a dress-down day, and I was about to go on holiday, so I didn’t have the standard of clothes I would typically wear. I was waiting all day for someone to pick me up on the fact that I wasn’t dressed to the expected standard.

Halfway through the day, along walks one of our Directors, Mat Self. He dropped his voice and said, “Natalie, I just want to have a word with you”. And I thought, okay, here we go. Ready with the excuses. But he looked at me and said, “I just wanted to thank you for the work you did for us that was really appreciated.”

My jaw dropped and it must have been about 2 or 3 seconds before I said, “Thank you”. It was that appreciation, the fact that one of the senior leaders in the business had taken time out of his day to talk to a senior quantity surveyor who hadn’t been with the company for very long, to recognise the work that they’d done. The culture was just so different from what I’m used to. And I thought, yeah, I could really enjoy working here.

What do you enjoy about working with our clients?
The range of clients and roles that are needed. Although we are a multidisciplinary company, many clients choose to use our services in that way because of the efficiencies it provides. We also work as standalone service providers so that a client can choose single or bespoke services. This allows our teams to work with different clients and other consultants, meaning every job is unique, with its own challenges, personalities, and client needs. I really enjoy working with the variety of people that we meet and adapting to ensure our clients’ needs are met. We can really get involved in how the client needs us to support them and their projects. So that means you get great satisfaction from what you do, because you know you’re looking after the client and giving them what they need.

When budgets tighten, what’s your advice to clients on prioritising scope for long‑term value, and where does early QS input make the most significant difference?
I always go back to my ‘must go’ principles with clients when budgets are tight. This focuses on what you need to make this project successful. What are the things you should have to make it successful? What are the things you could have, and what are the things that you want? The things you don’t get aren’t a big deal.

If you can get people to focus on where their priorities are and what’s most important to them, you can really start drilling down into where you should be focusing the money and the budgets they have, especially in the public sector, where budgets are so tight.

Unfortunately, you can’t always provide everything everyone would like, but as a quantity surveyor, our focus is often on cost management. We can support changes to the design or to procurement routes and provide real cost and programme benefits.

An example of our client support is a project I worked on, where I was informed by an external party that there was only one provider capable of supporting the specialist equipment needed to deliver the project. I didn’t think that was right, so I did some research and found three local companies that could provide this specialist equipment. Therefore, I sent the client the information that enabled him to make better procurement choices, which ultimately saved about 6 weeks on the programme and about £300,000. On that occasion, we also managed to shorten the procurement period, allowing us to start on site sooner. When you can provide all of those benefits to your clients, you get absolute satisfaction because you know you’ve earned your fee.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received at Concertus, and who gave it to you?
Mat Self gave me the best advice. I can’t remember what was going on, but I remember it was quite a tough time, and he reminded me to stay true to myself. Reminded me that my skill set was different from others in the team, but that’s what made us a good team. So I had to stay true to myself, true to my beliefs and not be afraid to challenge when needed, positively, of course. Just because my viewpoint can differ from others’, it is a good thing, not a bad thing and is valid even if it’s different.

If your 10-year-old self were reading this, what would you tell her about the journey ahead?
I would say to her, the easy roads are not always the best. I would say that things can be tough, but you don’t give up, you keep moving forward. And that if you’re willing to put in the work, make those hard decisions, it can lead you to a good place.