Armed forces veterans take up new roles with South West's largest housebuilder Barratt Homes

By Nicky Godding

11 October 2021

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Merlin Gate Monday 27 September 2021, PHOTO:PAUL GILLIS / paulgillisphoto.com

A female military police reservist is one of six new armed forces recruits starting roles this month with the South West's largest housebuilder, Barratt Homes.

Pamela Joseph, 27, from Gloucester, has become the trainee assistant site manager at Merlin Gate, a new development in the Forest of Dean, currently being built by Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes. As well as overseeing the construction across the site, Pamela will be involved in signing off the new show homes on the development, which are due to open on Sunday 11 October.

Pamela has been in the Military Police Reserves for nine years, which is a part time role that she will continue alongside her new job. As a military police reservist she provides support to the British Army, covering everything from incident control to arrest and restraint. Her one year traineeship with Barratt and David Wilson Homes will allow her to spend time following her passion for design and construction, as well as develop her career.

She begins her role at Merlin Gate this month and will shadow the assistant site manager, Trevor Hopkins, also an ex forces veteran, with a 20 year military career. Pamela's role is one of up to 700 new jobs supported through Merlin Gate's construction.

Pamela said: "I believe the military has provided me with the perfect foundation to grow into my career in construction. Teaching weapon training and managing a site might sound very different, but it's all about communication and managing relationships between individuals from a variety of backgrounds. David Wilson Homes offers great career development opportunities and I'm excited to see where my role takes me."

Barratt Developments runs a range of schemes to support ex armed forces personnel into a career in housebuilding. Many of the skills and experience gained during a military career are directly transferable to the construction industry including leadership, drive and project management.

Harlan Bevis, construction director for Barratt David Wilson Homes South West, said: "We are delighted to welcome Pamela and her colleagues to the Barratt David Wilson team and to our new development at Merlin Gate, Newent. We know that those who have worked in the armed forces bring great skills, expertise and experience which are invaluable in building not only homes, but communities too."

Merlin Gate will offer a range of two, three, four and five-bedroom homes, along with two new play areas and large areas of public open space. 100 new trees are also being planted on and around the site.

New roads on the development will also all be named after birds of prey, following Barratt and David Wilson Homes' sponsorship of a merlin at the Newest-based International Centre for Birds of Prey last year. As well as providing new homes for the area, the project will support up to 700 new jobs, including Pamela's.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.