Why did you choose construction as a career? I have wanted to be a developer ever since I witnessed the groundbreaking ceremony in the 1980s at Broadgate in the City, attended by the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who was at the controls of a JCB digger! What are you most proud of in your career to date? Acquiring the site of the Gherkin at 30 St Mary Axe for Swiss Re and playing a part in its subsequent development. It was particularly challenging because it involved the removal of the listed but bomb-damaged Baltic Exchange building. The brainchild of Swiss Re’s COO Sheree Whatley, whose board decided to proceed with construction in 2001 just after the 9/11 tragedy, it was the tallest building to be built in the City for over 30 years.