01/11/2026
I wrote this article for RICS Modus in November 2015, when I was Director of Works at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Reading it now, I recognise a lot of how I coach today.
I was Director of Works at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, responsible for setting the direction for the care of its historic estate – an estate that covered 23,000 locations and in over 150 countries. An incredible job, and some of the work I’m still most proud of ever doing.
When I joined there was a strong tradition of keeping everything pristine. But as the estate aged, we needed to think carefully about how we cared for the original stone and craftsmanship.
Sometimes that meant repairing rather than replacing. Sometimes it meant leaving evidence of history, such as Second World War shrapnel damage on a First World War memorial.
And sometimes intervention was essential. The names had to be legible. That purpose remained fundamental.
Helping bring about that shift felt a bit like steering a tanker.
It took conversations, specialist advice, demonstrations and hands-on training. Skilled people needed to understand why we were asking them to reconsider methods they’d used, with genuine care, for years.
Reading the article now, I recognise something of how I approach coaching.
I want to understand what someone brings with them: their experience, what they enjoy, what they find difficult and what they want to keep doing.
Then we work out how to support that.
Of course, bodies and stone are very different.
One of the wonderful things about exercise is that we can develop new strength and capacity.
But that interest in the long term has stayed with me.
At 51, I think about it for myself too. What do I want to be able to get on with in ten or twenty years? And what can I do now to help make that possible?
What’s something you enjoy now that you want to be able to keep doing for years to come?
