“I like a puzzle – something I can get my head into and fix”
Today’s team spotlight falls on one of our newest team members, Darren Edwards, who chats to us about his love for water, problem solving and Everton FC…
Hi Darren, what do you do at Trust?
I’m a project manager and a water and works planner. I only joined Trust back in February, so I’ve spent the last three months getting up to speed with the team and getting to know how Trust do things. It’s a big change from my last role, but I’m settled in now and there’s lots to do.
I’ve come in as project manager on the new Severn Trent contract we’ve won, and I’ve been helping to get that set up and develop the services we’re going to provide for them.
Now those jobs are starting to come in – and there are a lot of them! So we’re putting in designs for bringing water onto sites with digging and laying, as well as laying water on new developments. We’re also getting a lot of commercial sites, and remedial work where other firms have missed valves, hydrants or laid the wrong-sized pipe, and they need us to come in and fix it.
I’ve been involved in water for a long time, and I spent a lot of it at Severn Trent, so I know the background, I speak their language and I’ve worked with a lot of the people before. I’m using that experience to give them really great support and help them see Trust as their go-to team. I know what standards they expect, because that’s how I was trained, so I’m making sure we mirror that.
What did you do in your previous roles?
I started out at Severn Trent as a leakage technician, then moved into BOPs (bursts on private), then into repairs and maintenance. So I’ve worked on all aspects of the Severn Trent network, finding and fixing leaks, dealing with bursts and doing meter renewals.
From there, I went to a company called Moorlands, where I got fully trained in gas, and then on to Murphy’s where I did water, gas, electric, main laying and service laying. When Murphy’s started to move away from that kind of work after Covid, I decided to move on. The only real part of the water industry I hadn’t experienced was pressure testing, so I decided I’d like to explore that.
I joined a company called Pipe Testing Services Ltd and after a year they made me their work supervisor and planner, looking after both clean water and rising mains dirty water. Then just before Christmas last year I felt I was ready for a change and opened up my LinkedIn profile.
Liam, Trust’s MD, got in touch and said he’d seen what I’d done and would I be interested in a chat. We had a good conversation, but then I didn’t hear anything over Christmas, so I dropped him a message and he offered me the job.
I’d never heard of Trust before Liam reached out, but his ambition really pulled me in – the way he was and the way he spoke. He’s why I joined the business.
“I’d never heard of Trust before Liam reached out, but his ambition really pulled me in – the way he was and the way he spoke”
What does a typical day look like for you?
I’m hybrid working at the moment, so sometimes I’m desk-based from home, sometimes I’m in the Trust office for meetings, sometimes I’m sitting down with clients at Severn Trent and sometimes I’m out looking at jobs on site.
So this morning I’ve been out to look at two jobs in Coventry and I’ll be building a picture of what needs doing. Usually I’ll sit down with Liam to build the job and sort out the pricing, then when everyone’s happy, we’ll get all the fittings and I’ll start planning. I’ll make sure we get our people there, line up our reinstatement team, then bring it all together to deliver what the client needs.
On top of that, I’m working with my colleague Dan Bailey on developer services. He looks after the electric and gas side of it, and because of my background, I go out and look at the water side.
So I could be over near where I live in Shrewsbury or up in Chester, or I could be in Wales, or over in Coventry, Birmingham, Derby, Nottingham or Leicester. It really varies across the whole Severn Trent network.
What do you love about your job and working at Trust?
I like a challenge, which is great because what I’m working on at the moment is all about challenges! You’ll go out and look at a job as best you can, but until you open up the tarmac, you don’t know what you’re getting. But I like a puzzle – something I can get my head into and fix. I enjoy that side of things.
Although I’ve done gas and electric, I always come back to water because I’ve always loved it. I was lucky to be trained by some great people and soak up a lot of learning. Because with water you’ve got to be able to react to it – to know what to do with things like bursts. It’s about staying calm and not panicking.
There’s a lot more variety to working with water than people might think. Every job’s different. Some are lovely and straightforward and some are anything but. There’s a lot to doing the job properly, meeting the right standards and being clean, because at the end of the day, people are drinking it. If you’re not clean in what you do, people are going to get ill.
What would you say to someone thinking of joining the Trust team?
Jump in and come along. Like I said, Liam was the main factor for me, his drive and ambition. It helps that we’re both Everton fans too! I’d tell anyone who’s interested to just meet him, because as soon as you speak to Liam, you want to be part of it. I’ll be with him all the way. My ambition right now is to do the best I can for Trust and keep everyone happy.
When you’re not at work, how do you like to spend your time?
I’m Everton mad, so whenever I get the chance, I’ll go and watch them. I play a lot of golf too, and I’ve done a lot of coaching and football related stuff. Shrewsbury Up & Comers is the biggest club in Shropshire and it’s right where I live, so I’ve been involved in their adult teams and their development teams. Next year I’m going to be assisting the first team.
When I’m not doing that, I like to spend time with my family. My oldest leaves school this year and my youngest is just starting junior school. Luckily my wife’s pretty understanding. She knows I can’t sit still at the weekend, I’ve got to keep busy and get out in the fresh air!
If you’ve been inspired by Darren’s story. You can find out how you can join us here.
