This year marks 150 years since the first edition of
Construction News was published in 1871. To help mark the anniversary, three long-serving industry leaders tell
Lem Bingley how the industry has transformed in their own lifetimes
Trad Group chief executive Des Moore believes construction remains an entrepreneurial sector where people can “make it to a position that matches their ability”, irrespective of their starting point.
Trad, founded in 1971, is 50 years old this year. Moore left school the same year and got his first job, aged 15, as a labourer at a scaffolding firm called Mills. He worked on the initial stretch of the M11, where he was “given a hammer and a box of nails” and set to work on timber shoring. “You couldn’t start any [closer] to the bottom than that.”