Meet the college principal riding off into the sunset with his love for construction intact

However, David Carter, a tutor of his who used to run after school woodworking classes at Oakbank Grammar, spotted that he had a knack for helping other students.

“He said ‘have you thought of a career in teaching, why don’t you go to university and come back as a teacher’,” Mr Whitehead says. “That is where the first seed was sown.”

He added: “I didn’t want to go to university because at that point I wasn’t that keen around academic studies.”

Instead, Mr Whitehead became an apprentice at Norman Hollins. He was at the business for a total of eight years with the firm being acquired halfway through his time there by JSD Hamilton.

Mr Whitehead got work on a variety of projects from shop fitting to building housing projects. He got to build bespoke staircases, windows and doors. As well as running projects as a site manager.

Eventually, the current principal and CEO at Leeds College of Building made the move into education. Despite this, Mr Whitehead doesn’t regret taking the more circuitous route into teaching.

“It really equipped me to be able to pass on those construction skills to potential students wanting to join the industry and apprentices who I trained,” he said.

His love for construction hadn’t waned. In fact, teaching was an opportunity to carry on doing something that he loved.

“What was really impressive about it was the variety of work,” he says. “Every day was more or less different.”

It also came down to his strong interpersonal skills, a trait that is evident today as Mr Whitehead walks around Leeds College of Building, greeting staff and students. “I just love working with individual groups of people and helping them develop,” he says.

Mr Whitehead started at Keighley College where he spent seven years. Before he left, Mr Whitehead was running the timber trades department.

He then moved to Bolton College to become a senior lecturer in timber trades and shortly after that was made head of the department for construction.

Eight years later, Mr Whitehead then moved back to Keighley College, where he spent a couple of years as head of faculty for construction and engineering, before he eventually landed at Leeds College of Building.

Joining first as deputy principal for curriculum and quality and then becoming principal and CEO, Mr Whitehead would always drum into his students that they were only as good as their last job and that it was important to ensure the customer was happy.

“You might do a hundred jobs perfectly and the customer is really happy about it but if you mess up on one job, that could supersede those hundred jobs that you’ve previously done and you get a poor reputation,” he says.

His message to young people considering a career in the construction industry is to “follow your dream”.

“The construction industry is a fantastic and rewarding industry to be involved in,” he added.

Mr Whitehead says his industry experience was “essential” when it came to equipping students with the necessary skills to succeed in construction.

It’s one of the reasons why he is concerned about the current funding pressures on further education colleges, which have seen staff pay flatline.

Maintaining good financial health has been a challenge in the current climate as has been staying on top of changes in the curriculum.

Over the past couple of years, the pandemic has also added to the challenges with staff and students having to isolate and missing work, as well as the lockdowns that led to periods where the college was shut and lessons moved online.

“Trying to keep all the plates spinning was really difficult,” Mr Whitehead says.

Following 37 years in education, Mr Whitehead is set to retire at the end of this academic year.

He always intended to call it quits by the time he reached 60 and with his wife also having retired a few years ago and an 11-month-old grandchild in their life, now was the time for Mr Whitehead to head into retirement. However, he won’t be saying goodbye completely to construction.

“What I’m looking at doing as well is going back to my roots and building an extension and helping my daughter do her house up,” Mr Whitehead says.

He concedes that he will miss the “thrills and spills” with students and also working with the staff at the college. Mr Whitehead says the prospect of saying goodbye to staff was “heart wrenching”.

“They’ve done a tremendous job over the 18 years that I’ve been at the college,” he added. “I couldn’t ask much more from them.”

As he prepares to say goodbye to the circa 6,000 students and 416 staff at Leeds College of Building, Mr Whitehead is seeking to assure staff that his departure will not affect their futures.

He says “this place will carry on” and has a “really good future” given the current skills shortages in the construction industry.

Signs of Mr Whitehead’s long and successful tenure in the industry were always there. Indeed some of the things that he produced in those after-school woodworking classes are still at his parents’ house.

“I made various pieces of furniture like a buffet, bedside cabinets and other things like that for home,” he says. “The tutor there always pushed me and challenged me. One example was a mahogany buffet that I made. Instead of just varnishing it, he made me French polish it, which is a completely different technique. That polish still shines through today.”

That’s not the only thing that shines through. He may be exiting the industry but his passion for construction remains undimmed. His message to his successor, who has yet to be appointed, is that the college is “a really welcoming place to work”.

“The college deserves to get to the next level,” he added. “I wish the new person well in their role to move it further forward.”

Curriculum vitae

Title: Principal and CEO of Leeds College of Building

Date of birth: May 25, 1962

Lives: Oakworth, Keighley, West Yorkshire.

Favourite holiday destination: Abroad, Caribbean Islands (St Lucia) / UK, Cornwall.

Last book read: Technical manuals

Favourite programme(s): Crime & detective thrillers.

Favourite song: Bat Out of Hell (Meat Loaf)

Car driven: Hybrid Lexus

Most proud of: Immediate family – Heather (spouse), daughters Rebecca, Jessica and son Alex and recent first grandchild, Arthur, together with wider family members. Work wise – Becoming Principal & CEO and leading such a fantastic talented team of staff and making a difference to thousands of students’ lives.

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James Mitchinson