On his very first day as an apprentice gas engineer at British Gas in 1984, Steve Petrie encountered a lesson that would shape the rest of his career. The company chairman arrived at the Calton Road Training Centre in Edinburgh, pulled two tins of Kiwi shoe polish from his pockets, and explained how a simple redesign had eliminated a frustrating flaw. “That’s innovation,” he told the young apprentices, giving them permission to challenge poor processes and find better ways of working.

For Petrie, that moment was transformative. “I took him literally,” he recalls. “I’ve spent my whole career looking at things that don’t work well and thinking about better ways of doing it. I was doing change and transformation before it was a thing.”

Learning from other sectors

Across utilities, contracting, consultancy and now commercial transformation, Petrie has consistently applied that mindset. He argues that construction has much to learn from other industries, particularly when it comes to collaboration.

“Construction is still very contractual, often unnecessarily so,” he says. “In logistics and wealth management, they don’t talk about contractors – they talk about partners. Proper partners. If you make employees feel like a million dollars, they’ll make customers feel like a million dollars. Construction could learn a lot from that.”

His career has been marked by deliberately seeking out lessons from elsewhere – whether shadowing John Lewis’s logistics team or attending oil and gas project management conferences to observe how collaboration and openness drive success. He points to the oil and gas sector’s culture of analysing failures and learning from them as a model that construction could emulate.

Embracing digital transformation

Digital transformation has been another recurring theme. Petrie rejects the idea that construction workers are resistant to technology. “I once took a photo of nine operatives on HS2 all on their mobile phones at lunch,” he says. “People say the workforce doesn’t like technology – that’s just an excuse.”

For him, the biggest barrier is fear: fear of losing jobs or not understanding new systems. But he insists that technology, and AI in particular, should be seen as an enabler. “AI will massively enhance how architects design, how lawyers review contracts. It augments what people do – it doesn’t replace them. As long as technology improves the experience and makes the job easier, we should embrace it.”

He believes that the industry must lean into technology rather than shy away from it, stressing that digital tools can simplify processes, improve safety, and free up professionals to focus on higher‑value tasks.

Championing skills and apprenticeships

Petrie has long been a champion of apprenticeships and workforce development. As a former chair of Developing the Young Workforce North East Scotland and a Fellow of the 5% Club, he continues to advocate for skills pathways that give young people opportunities to thrive.

“I’ll always be banging the drum for apprenticeships,” he says. “They give you learning from day one and make you productive straight away. That benefits both the individual and the employer.”

He also stresses the importance of industry and academia working hand in hand. As a Visiting Professor at the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture & Built Environment at Robert Gordon University, he helps ensure that teaching remains relevant to employers. “I never just complain about things – I go and do something about it. That’s why I work closely with the university, to make sure students are learning what industry actually needs.”

His work with the 5% Club further reinforces this mission, bringing employers, educators and policymakers together to align skills development with real‑world demand. He highlights initiatives such as the Wood Foundation’s Excelerate programme, which embeds workplace learning into schools, as examples of how collaboration can inspire the next generation.

Harvard and leadership lessons

In 2003, Petrie completed a postgraduate leadership programme at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government – an experience he describes as life‑changing. “Harvard taught me how to think differently. It gave me confidence. I didn’t think people like me went to Harvard, but it changed the way I approach problems.”

Asked what advice he would give to apprentices aspiring to leadership, he offers three simple rules: “Surround yourself with the best people you can find. Go and seek opportunities – nobody’s coming to save you. And never be late.”

As for how he would like to be remembered, Petrie’s answer is clear and heartfelt: “Helping young people in construction to be as lucky as I’ve been.”