Putting the ‘art’ into one’s career is not often discussed. If you’re a portrait artist by definition your role is 100% creative but in the end many professions couldn’t be further from that.

As a trained Quantity Surveyor only part of what you deliver involves looking at plans and working with numbers to formulate budgets. It came as a surprise to me in 1999 whilst working with Alan Yau on his new London restaurant Hakkansan that in fact Quantity Surveying can be a creative endeavor.

The design team met at the empty basement location with what was a basic shell & core ready to receive a fit out. There were no drawings but a written brief containing ‘covers’, wall paneling from china, feature fountain wall, chefs kitchen size etc. I was then instructed as a PQS to produce a detailed budget estimate out of thin air right down to cutlery.

When the budget was finally issued, without reference to drawings but with many assumptions, I felt a sense of achievement and recognized that actually a QS role is creative. That creative process has stuck with me throughout my career. Either choosing to work closely with designers but also looking to elevate creativity in how I structure businesses.

What I personally recognized early on, is that every role has a creative aspect to it, and businesses operate better when there is a healthy balance of innovation and implementation.

IDB delivers fully integrated, end to end design build solutions for retail, commercial and residential clients that allow creative processes to be front and centre.