Never too late for a career change
Alumnus David Gerrard, BA (Hons) 2:1 Architecture, proves it's never too late to pursue your dreams. After retirement, David returned to study in his mid 70s and is now pursuing a career in architecture. David spoke to the LSBU Alumni Association about his life before, during and after studying at LSBU.
David is a prime example of how it is never too late for a career change, having spent his time in a career in engineering and raising a family, he decided at the age of 71 it was time to follow a long desired ambition to become an architect. As an artist, David always had an eye for design and passion for architecture, making the BA (Hons) Architecture course the perfect choice.
“There’s a huge body of people out there to whom we could make a huge difference. If we’re going to design cities in the future they need to cater for an older population as we’re all living longer.”
Reflecting on his life prior to studying at LSBU, David said:
“In your early twenties you’re very influenced by your parents and by teachers, it was also a time when architects struggled to find jobs (much like today!) so I was dissuaded to follow that career path. But one should never pay attention to that, if you’re passionate about something, then things like the recession shouldn’t matter. One has no idea what the economic climate may be 5-10 years down the line."
“I didn’t get into my architectural University of choice and I was young and impatient, so I decided to go into engineering, get a degree, apprenticeship, full-time job, then marriage, children and my own business followed.”
“I retired at the age of 65. At a dinner party a few years later, my sister in-law asked me how I was spending my time. After answering with ‘not doing very much’ I felt rather embarrassed. A light went on in my head and I thought why not do it now! There was still a lot of life left to live. Consequently, I wrote to London Southbank University and The Metropolitan enquiring about studying Architecture and only got a reply from Steve Bowkett, LSBU Senior Lecturer in Architecture. He invited me in for a chat, and said "bring your portfolio" - "What portfolio" I thought. So I took my paintings and after admiring them, he and Mary-Jane Rooney said "You’re in.”
David’s tutors had a lot of belief in his ability to do well on the course, so much so that they put him straight into the 2nd year of the course because of his career in engineering, but unfortunately he struggled:
"I just couldn’t hack it and didn’t understand a lot of the content, so I re-started in the 1st year. It was a lot of fun in the early years, but got harder towards the end of the course. I had some great tutors, including Mary-Jane Rooney and Seamus Ward who were determined to get me through it.”
“My final project was based around a ‘place of learning’ – you had to choose one of three sites in London to build your design on. Two of these were empty car parks and one already had an existing car park on it. I chose the one with the existing building and decided upon a regeneration project, to coincide with my regeneration as an engineer and businessman to architecture student and also the regeneration of my mind. On researching my chosen site, I discovered that it was designed by Richard Seifert (of Centre Point fame) so I was not going to demolish it. I decided to take myself as an example and design a place of learning for the older generation. I completed a lot of research regarding Universities specifically for older students around the world and discovered that currently there aren’t any, making my project very new and important territory.”
"It makes good political and intellectual sense to re-generate yourself after retirement. Good for yourself, good for the community and good for government policies."
When asked whether he had any problems settling into life at LSBU and making friends with fellow students, David happily explained:
“I settled very quickly and made some good friends. Everyone was very welcoming and I loved every minute of my time at LSBU. I still meet socially with several of our year, the age gap seems irrelevant."
For every student, getting to the finish line and walking across the stage to collect your certificate is a big moment, for David that was definitely the case:
“The real highlight was graduation day. In my ten seconds of fame, I got to the middle of the stage and put my thumbs up to the audience, I got a very big round of applause!”
Since graduating, David has been working as an assistant for a local architect:
“In the year leading up to my finals, I was lucky enough to find a local architect who gave me some tutorial help and was subsequently also able to offer me work in a large local project. I am now working independently for her, and also have a few small projects of my own. These projects have allowed me to apply a lot of what I’ve learnt at LSBU and also continue to learn new techniques and apply new ideas."
“I know that it is too late to become an established architect, however, I am very glad I pursued my dream.”
If you’re inspired by David’s story and would like to come back to study at LSBU, you can read about the courses on offer today.