March 2020

Contractor’s Qs
“IT IS VITAL TO BUILD TRUST”
Marc Bell is Branch Manager at Avonside Edinburgh. We put the questions to Marc on all things
roofing, including his path into the sector, the tools he couldn’t do without and the issues that
are affecting the sector today...
10
questions for Marc Bell:
TC: What was your path into roofing and
to your current position?
MB: My path into roofing began just before my
16th birthday; an older friend had begun an
apprenticeship earlier that year with a wellestablished
national roofing contractor and a
further job was available to start immediately. I
had always wanted a career within the housebuilding
industry and agreed with my parents that
if/when an opportunity presented itself that I
would take it. Following some informal discussion
and brief interview, I started the following
Monday, four days after my 16th birthday. After a
move to Southwest Roofing one year later, I
“Listen, learn and soak
up as much knowledge
from the experienced
people around you, as
this will come in useful
one day”
quickly settled and went on to complete my
apprenticeship. I began running my own sites as
a tradesman for a few years, still learning,
developing knowledge and understanding of the
role every day, then took the opportunity to
become a Supervisor firstly with Southwest
“The most satisfying part of my job is always
looking at the finished product, especially where
the project has either been technically
demanding or labour intensive”
L-R: NFRC President Steve Revell, Marc Bell, Chris McLean,
Avonside Group Scotland Area Director, and Carol Smillie at
the NFRC Scottish Roofing Contractor Awards 2019.
Roofing, before moving on to Avonside Roofing
Edinburgh to further my career. I worked in a
Supervisory role for approximately one further
year before being promoted to Contract Manager
and eventually further promoted to Branch
Manager (designate) five years later.
TC: If you had one piece of advice about
working and progressing in the roofing
sector, what would it be?
MB: My one piece of advice to younger people
starting out in the roofing industry is that every
day is a school day. Listen, learn and soak up as
much knowledge from the experienced people
around you, as this will come in useful one day.
TC: Tell us about a current project you’re
working on…
Henderson House
MB: One of my current projects is for Cala Homes
(East) at Marine Rise in Gullane. This is a mixture
of new build housing, flats and the refurbishment
of an existing building (previous Marine Hotel and
Scottish Fire Training College). This project stands
out to me as we recently won the NFRC Scottish
Award for Roof Slating 2019 for our work on it.
TC: You must have worked on some
difficult projects over the years. Does one
in particular stand out?
MB: There have been a few challenging projects
26 TC MARCH 2020