Work experience - Craig Fotheringham, development surveyor, EDI Group

Kate Allen, Regeneration & Renewal, 25 January 2008

What has been your most beneficial career experience to date? My work in Craigmillar takes some beating in terms of variety. I manage projects to design and build residential schemes and industrial units, and am masterplanning the town centre. Having a say on all aspects of the design process and working with talented teams is a great learning experience.

What's the best advice you've ever been given? My dad always insisted that fortune favours the well-prepared.

What's the best training you've had? After university I trained as a general practice surveyor, and I was working in a really good situation: employed by a big firm, but based in a small office. There was a good training programme and I was able to work on a range of jobs. The try-before-you-buy approach helped me to decide what I wanted to specialise in later on.

What book would you recommend? Andrew Marr's A History of Modern Britain covers the period from the Second World War to the present, looking at events such as the rebuilding of cities after the war. It's interesting to understand the pressures that drove the development of many of the housing estates which have resulted in modern social problems.

What do you wish you'd known when you started out? Learning doesn't stop when you leave university, or even when you pass your professional qualifications. I don't think there ever comes a point when you can know everything about your job. This is particularly true in development, where the policy framework is always changing, every site is different and the construction, rental and sale markets are in constant flux.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2001: Graduates from Aberdeen University with an MSc in land economy.

2003: Passes the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' Assessment of Professional Competence qualification, while working for property consultancy Atisreal in Edinburgh.

2004: Joins real estate consultancy DTZ to work on regeneration masterplanning, business plans and feasibility studies.

2006: Moves to EDI Group.