INTERVIEW: PART N
2
ew beginnings
In part two of an interview with John Mercer, RCI’s Holly Miles talks to him about his career highlights,
interesting sights and working at height
Holly Miles: What, in your
opinion still needs to be
improved in the pitched
roofing sector?
John Mercer: One of the
problems that we have is that there
is a massive gap between the asdesigned
performance and the as-built
performance. Pace of change is very
slow (snail’s pace in fact!) but one of the
problems is that once a builder puts in
for planning permission and then lays
the foundations, the builder can wait
several years before building the house
and the law allows the house to be built
to the code in force at the time planning
permission was sought. This means
there can be a long time-lag between
a regulation becoming law and being
enforced. One of the other areas that I
think is crying out for improvement is
service in the industry. Wienerberger
developed its online tools that has
revolutionised the way people deal with
the company, and now more than half
of its clients are dealt with online. In
terms of service, Wienerberger moves
right though from an architect taking
details and developing his or her project
through to the end-user ordering the
tiles and moving them to site.
HM: You must have seen some
interesting sights in your
career – any that really stick
in your mind?
JM: I once went to a site and went
up onto the roof and the roofer was
jumping from house to house as they
were so close together. Even though
I was only in my 20s, I said: “I’m
not doing that!” I’ve also been on
scaffolding which feels like I’m on a
ship as it is moving around all over the
place. We also once supplied tiles to
York Race Course for a huge five-storey
grand stand. The tiles kept coming off,
so we erected a tower stand and I asked
the clerk of works how we were going to
get up? He said we had to climb up the
outside, and I said: “I’m not doing that.”
The architect then said: “Well I’m glad
you’ve said that because I’m not right
keen on that either!” Luckily times have
moved on immensely in terms of health
and safety!
HM: It sounds like you were
years ahead of your time!
JM: When I started I was a young
man, but I was never afraid to speak my
mind. When I was first sent to a commit-
John Mercer
is retiring as
technical
manager of
Wienerberger
and striking
out on his own
as a roofing
consultant
tee meeting of the Clay Roof Tile Council,
the boardroom had a beautiful shiny
old table and when we went in they said
to us: “Please don’t put your bags on the
table because it’s a new table.” A guy
from one of the other manufacturers
came in late, waltzed in and banged his
bag down on the table and nobody said
a word! I thought to myself: that’s how
I want to be – at a point in my career
where nobody wants to tell me off. You
get confidence with age and experience.
HM: What was a high point in
your career?
JM: I actually feel that I’ve been really
privileged working with Sandtoft and
Wienerberger to be given the opportunity
to develop some fabulous products
and services. One of the things that
fills me with pride more than anything
is that when I look out of the window
at Sandtoft and see a truck going out
of the yard, piled high with stuff that
I developed. I was privileged that the
directors gave me the opportunity and
creative freedom to do that. I like being
innovative and coming up with ideas.
Sometimes I’ve even had an idea, gone
home, made a model of it and wandered
into my director’s office and said: “What
do you think of this?” and he has said:
“Yes let’s do it.”
HM: What has been the
best thing about working in
construction?
JM: For me, the most rewarding aspect
is the drive to innovate and improve
standards. Standards have improved
significantly, and I’ve been a part of
that. I’ve always been interested in
architecture and the materials that we
use, and so for me it’s working in an
industry that is a part of everyone’s
lives. The other great thing is the
people. I’ve been in this industry 40
years now, and there are people that I
met at the beginning of my career that
are still in the business. That’s amazing
and a tribute to the industry that people
stay in it for so long.
HM: What are your plans for
retirement?
JM: I did bill it as retirement but as
soon as I let it be known I was going to
leave Wienerberger I’ve had lots of offers
of consultancy work, so I’m going to carry
on as a part-time consultant. I’m very
excited about the prospect of working
for myself. I want to take long holidays
with my wife – we have a condo in Florida,
which we want to go to more often
and I’ve got six grandchildren who will
need entertaining by grandad. I also
build guitars as a hobby, so I want to do
more of that as well.
John has had a long and interesting
career and amassed lots of knowledge,
which makes him a very well-respected
figure in the roofing industry.
I know that John doesn’t think that
he is at that point just yet, but I have
a feeling that if he “waltzed in” to
the Roof Tile Association and put his
bag down on an expensive table, then
nobody would say anything.
The roofing industry isn’t losing him
just yet and John will be one of the judges
at the RCI Pitched Roofing Awards in
November. So, until then John.
You can read the full interview on the
RCI website at rcimag.co.uk.
94 www.rcimag.co.uk July 2018
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