CASL Group of Companies

Company Information

PARTNERS :-

LANCE SAUNDERS BA FCIOB MInstCES MCMI MICE
BERNIE McDONALD MSc MAPM MCMI MIScT ACIOB

Lance Saunders

Lance has a background in the construction industry having trained as a Mine Surveyor before moving into Civil Engineering and qualifying as a Chartered Builder. His career has covered both building and civils and following an invitation to join the teaching team at University of Wales College Newport, taught construction management for both CIOB and RICS final year students. He left Education as Head of Department to join the Construction Industry Training Board as an advisor to companies on training and grant support.
During the time with the CITB he was part of a team to develop a partnership with a major housebuilder to train & qualify around 200 NVQ Level 4 Managers
Lance currently represents the Chartered Institute of Building on the Joint Awarding Body Partnership of Edexcel, Chartered Institute of Building and the Institution of Civil Engineers and is currently chairing this Joint Awarding Body. He has been involved in developing NVQs for Supervisors and Managers for many years and during that period established CASL Management Training as a major centre for assessment implementing new ideas and current thinking into the assessment process.
During 2002 he was invited to visit China on behalf of CIOB to develop the NVQ system for their Construction Managers as a way of benchmarking the industry on joining the World Trade Organisation, this work being funded by the British Council.
Lance also represents the CIOB on the Construction Industry Council Standards Panel and is an External Verifier for Edexcel.
In his role as consultant he frequently advises Government and Industry on Management training and NVQs in particular.

Bernie McDonald

Bernie has a background in Geotechnical Site Investigation and Education. She gained a BSc (Hons) Soils and the Environment with Microbiology at Reading University in 1994 and completed a Masters degree at The University of Surrey in 2000 after developing a training programme for Construction Site Managers in the environmental effects and considerations for construction activities on the environment as part of her dissertation.
She worked for five years at the Chartered Institute of Building as a Senior Manager and was involved in the development and approval of the Construction Management level NVQs. She chaired the Joint Awarding Body (Edexcel, Chartered Institute of Building, and the Institution of Civil Engineers) for Construction NVQs during 2000 and was a member of the Construction Industry Council Standards Committee, which monitors and approves Construction Management qualifications, undertakes research in the area, and advises Government departments on the qualifications for the industry.
She represented the CIOB on the first training partnership with a major housebuilder to ensure that all their site and technical staff were qualified through the NVQ route, which also allowed membership of the CIOB.
She has also written successful funding bids for construction training, and been part of the management team for the CIOB to gain Investors in People.

Both partners were closely involved in the development of the Awarding Body primarily to ensure that the standards of the industry and the Professional Institutions were considered and maintained.

CASL Management Training was formed in 2002 and approved by Edexcel to offer Construction Management and Supervision NVQs at Levels 3, 4 and 5. Since then more NVQs have been added to the original portfolio, and in November 2003 was the first centre to be awarded approval to offer NVQ Level 5 Construction Project Management. See the qualifications list for more information

Annual External Verification visits by Edexcel have awarded the CASL Management Training centre an ‘A’ grade for Assessment, Internal verification and centre management (2005). The company also employs part-time Assessors and Internal Verifiers.

The company received Chartered Building Consultancy status from the CIOB in July 2005.

David Robertson

After graduating in civil engineering from Nottingham University, David has gained wide experience working for both public and private employers in the construction industry. He has designed dock and river improvement schemes and has been responsible for the construction of roads, bridges, river improvements, sewage works and harbour walls.

For 25 years, he worked for one of the major national contractors, initially as Contracts Manager and then had a variety of roles in the fields of technical support, quality management, health, safety and environmental management, completing his employment as national Business Improvement Manager for the Group’s building and civil engineering businesses.

He is a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Chartered Institution of water and Environmental Management, the Chartered Quality Institute and the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. David is also a professional Reviewer for the Institution of Civil Engineers and has recently retired as Chairman of Constructing Excellence, Bristol Club.