Get the low-down on different careers in construction: site engineer, architect, painter and decorator, land buyer, health and safety officer.

My name is John Cousins, I'm a site engineer and I'm working for First Build. I set out the foundations for various buildings and make sure they get built how they should, on the drawings. I spend about a quarter of the day in the office and the rest of it out on site. When I'm in the office, I'm checking drawings and filling in paperwork for the checks that I've taken out on site. Most of the time when I'm out on site I'll be just checking people's work. Any information they require I can give it them there and then while I'm on site.

I left school when I was 16 and I became a butcher. I did that for about six months and it didn't quite work out. I left butchering and went on to do metalwork and woodworking. I did that for a few years, then left that and became a labourer on a building site. I did that for another year or so, and the site management team were happy with the way I performed over that year and they decided between themselves to take me on as a trainee engineer.

There's loads of different work on site that people can do. Forklift driving for instance, electrical work, plumbing work, plastering work, painting work. We've got site foremen, supervisors, site engineers like myself, site managers making sure everything goes fine, ground workers ... the list's endless.

My name is Eleanor Mayfield; I'm a Part 2 assistant architect and I work for Edward Cullen Architects. My role as a Part 2 assistant architect is really assisting the design team on a different range of projects, depending on what projects we're on, all the way through from the sort of very early stages, which can be talking to the clients, all the way through designing and detailing the building, up to construction and working on site.

I did about nine GCSEs and then I went on to do three A levels in English, maths and history, and that's when I decided, when I was about 17, that I was going to do architecture. I did my degree in architecture at an art college, which was quite a different move, there aren't that many architectural courses at art colleges, and then I studied my diploma at the same art college.

Team working is fundamental to architecture because you're working within a design team, so with other architects, but you're also working with your client. You're working with consultants, you're working with the public. And that's the bit that I most enjoy, that you're always working with other people. You have to be good at working by yourself and getting on with jobs, but you have to be really good at communicating ideas and working with others.

My name is Robert Sutherland and I work for Chantry Builders as a painter and decorator.

Generally at the building firm I work for, once the building's completed, we go in - we paint it if it wants painting. If it wants paper, we paper it, and generally do that kind of work. Preparation work has to be spot on. If it's not right then obviously the decorating isn't going to look good. The thing I get out of it is seeing the finished product at the end of the day, once the job's done and it just looks nice. You can stand back and look at it and see what you've achieved at the end of it.

You go to college and get the proper training. I didn't go to college, so it took me longer to learn. College is the best way to get proper training.

I'm Gemma Hurst and I'm assistant land buyer for Strata. My job involves buying the land for the construction department to build the houses on. I did all my GCSEs at school and then I moved on to college for a year where I did secretarial skills such as typing and customer service NVQ and administration. Obviously the customer service NVQ that I did is still a big thing that I use. Obviously it taught you how to deal with people, talk to people and communicate, so I still use that a lot. Also the typing skills I use for typing letters to agents, clients and vendors, so I am still using skills that I learned at college and school within my job now.

I'm Beau Bridges. I'm Chantry Builders' health and safety officer and environmental officer. To do my job you need to thoroughly understand all the applicable laws, Health & Safety at Work Act, all that sort of stuff. You also need to understand how the people who do the jobs, do them. You've got to understand a bit about bricklaying, you've got to know a bit about painting and decorating. You've got to appreciate their jobs so that you can do your job better. Training for my job has only been quite recent, within the last 18 months. I've done an EBOSH National Certificate. I'm currently doing an EBOSH National Diploma and loads of other courses: ROSPA, Abrasive Wheels. I'm also doing a BTEC in construction at college, which has helped me appreciate what everyone else does on the building site.

What I enjoy about my job is looking after people - making sure they all go home safe at the end of the day. I always think if it was my brother, my sister, how would I feel if they had an accident at work. So I see it as my job to make sure that everyone goes home safe.

John Cousins
I enjoy my job basically so that I can see a building grow from ground up, and I can stand back and look at it and say ‘I‘ve done that' every time I pass it I can say ‘I‘ve done that'.