Has been an academic since 1994 and was previously employed as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Teesside in the UK before migrating to Australia in 2002 Prior to his career in academia he has been involved with the UK construction industry since 1979  progressing from a trade background to senior construction management positions with a number of major UK construction organisations  gaining experience of a variety of commercial and domestic new build and refurbishment projects ranging in value from two hundred and fifty thousand pounds up to fifty million pounds