Iain McAlpine, Commercial Director at Indeglas pays tribute to Tom Russell: "I’m sure that many of you will know that Tom Russell has permanently retired, although some may not know that this isn’t the first, or even second time he’s done so..."

His previous attempts at retirement came after the completion of our works at City of Glasgow College, a comeback to do “definitely my last project” at Forth Valley College and now, after working at the Research Hub site at the University of Glasgow Campus.

Comeback after comeback 

It would be great to think that it was the lure of working in the Indeglas team that tempted Tom back, or my near thirty-year friendship with him, but those who know him best will realise that his love for our industry and its people, coupled with his desire to see interesting and complex works coming together make it hard to resist getting his boots and hi-vis back on.

Tom has been pivotal in the life of many of his workmates, and his understanding of people and what motivates them is well known and appreciated.

I’m grateful to have had Tom on my side

I started working with Tom at the HCI Project nearly thirty years ago when I was a fresh-faced trainee, enthusiastic but pretty naïve, and certainly a little taken aback by the “nuts and bolts” world of sub-contracting. We’ve worked together all over Britain, flat shared in London and completed far too many projects to mention. All without falling out….much.

No one could have been more supportive, generous and genuinely interested in helping me and others keep going and become established. That has never changed, and retired or not, I’m sure that many of us will continue to turn to Tom for advice.

Supporting our Young Workforce.

Our industry continues to look closely at how we develop the young workforce and support the #nowrongpath movement, no doubt making us all a little reflective on what part we can play. I’m sure that many of us would love to say that their success is down to talent, determination, and hard work, but certainly in my case it’s a result of relationships and the support of others around me.

I have been fortunate to work with several people who have been strong role models; people who have shared their knowledge, given me their time freely and propped me up when I’ve been worried or stressed……. or just plainly wrong.

Tom Russell is the strongest of role models and it’s up to the rest of us to strive to meet these standards; particularly if we want to see the people in our industry succeed and be happy to go to work every day.

That’s why I’m hoping to do my “bit” to #developtheyoungworkforce.

Many others paid tribute to Tom and you can read the scores of comments here on my LinkedIn post: 

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tom-russell-retires-again-iain-mcalpine/