Tom Barton was instrumental in the establishment of the Get It Right Initiative, and held the position of executive director from the organisation’s launch at the beginning of 2017 until his untimely death in October 2020.

A Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Tom had behind him more than 40 years’ experience in the construction industry; he was a director at John Mowlem & Co, before moving to Sir Robert McAlpine as deputy regional manager for the London & South East region. He remained at Sir Robert McAlpine for 18 years, working on major projects in the UK.

Tom started his career as project engineer on the Nat West Tower in London, and managed construction of some of London’s major projects including the Millennium Footbridge and Croydon Tramlink. Overseas he delivered multiple projects in Riyadh as well as a new airport in Kazan, Russia.

Tom’s involvement with GIRI began when he was recruited in 2015 by Ed McCann – at the time the chair of the ICE’s best practice group – to head up a team researching the cost of avoidable error in the construction industry. His reputation as a highly-trusted member of the contracting community made him the perfect candidate.

Although Tom was officially retired at the time, he was immediately galvanised by the proposal, and in particular the fact that he might be able to do something to address the shocking levels of error and rework that he himself had witnessed in the industry.

He was not only able to leverage cooperation and sponsorship from a range of industry organisations; when the results of the research project were made public, and the report A Strategy for Change was published, Tom persuaded them to come together in the Get It Right Initiative in pursuit of fundamental change.

Tom had a passion for getting it right and he believed that GIRI presented a real opportunity for the industry to turn things round and collectively improve its productivity and, more importantly, its reputation.