International carpenter Roy Bailie – HBPW’s newest graduate engineer – has finally given up the life of an international traveller in favour of a more sedentary life in the drizzly East Midlands!
Roy,34, who joined the firm earlier this year, left school at 16 and trained as a carpenter before beginning his life of adventure and embarking on a journey that took him to Santa Cruz in California, Australia, South East Asia and, eventually, Iceland.
A native of Newtownards, just outside Belfast in Northern Ireland, Roy, who graduated with a Masters in Structural Engineering with Architecture from Belfast’s prestigious Queens University, decided on a career change in his late 20’s.
“I served my time as a carpenter and, at the age of 21, went to visit my sister in Santa Cruz, California, where I ended up staying for 12 months before heading back to Northern Ireland. Six months later I was on my way to Australia which claimed me for the next 15 months!”
After that it was South East Asia, taking in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam before the sun got to him!
“I decided it was time for something a little cooler and, in my mid 20’s, somehow found myself applying for and getting a job as a carpenter in Iceland, a little bleaker than some of the places I’d visited previously but, nevertheless, another great life experience.!
Roy, who has a partner, Donna, and three children, has now settled north of Doncaster – where his fiance originates from – and is a structural engineer at HBPW.
“I decided to carve a new career when I was 29 and in the four years between 2010 and last year, completed my studies at both Greenwich University in London and Queens University. Without doubt my extensive ‘on site’ experience as a carpenter – I was never a bench joiner – has stood me in good stead and it is fantastic working with the highly experienced HBPW team.”
Roy is joined at HBPW by CAD technician Ben Daly from Rotherham. Ben, who studied biology at Hull University, spent 10 weeks on placement at HBPW during his time on Humberside, and re-joins the company as he begins his career in engineering.