A SCUBA diving Portsmouth fan who works as a building site manager in Petersfield is urging teenagers to join a housebuilding training scheme.

Jamie O’Leary, based at Bovis Homes’ Beaumont Place site off The Causeway, wants construction workers to follow in his footsteps by taking part in a trainee assistant site manager programme.

Mr O’Leary, 36, who lives near Yapton with his wife Kelly, 16-year-old son Josh and 12-year-old daughter Isabelle, said: “The trainee assistant site manager programme is a wonderful course and without it I wouldn’t have become a site manager.”

Josh is already working in housebuilding and his father believes the course will help him aim for the top.

He said: “I’m encouraging my son to do it – to get that knowledge and responsibility and thrive in the industry.”

Mr O’Leary has spent his whole career in construction. He was a bricklayer for ten years, worked on building extensions, took the trainee programme and then became an assistant site manager before starting his current role in October.

Diving has been part of his life for eight years. He does it regularly off the Egyptian coast, does rescue diving and is training to be a dive master.

He said: “It’s important to unwind and have a passion outside of work and I tell that to my kids.

“Diving is very important to me and I have been lucky enough to dive in some great places.”

Beaumont Place is set within the countryside of the South Downs National Park but has excellent transport links to Petersfield town centre.

Mr O’Leary put Beaumont Place’s success down to the quality of houses at the site and his relationship with both the area build manager and his team.

He said: “Beaumont Place is a lovely location. There are lots of people moving out of the city to live here and we have home owners of all ages, from young couples to families to the elderly.”

Bovis Homes’ portfolio ranges from one and two-bedroom apartments to five and six-bedroom detached family homes.

The designs of its homes and construction techniques aim to blend tradition with innovation to create well-built homes with modern living standards.

The company was founded in London in 1885 and has since expanded its operations across England.

It can help customers buy a house through assistance schemes, including the government-backed Help to Buy – Equity Loan, part exchange packages and shared ownership schemes.

For details of Beaumont Place and the two, three, four and five-bedroom homes available, visit www.bovishomes.co.uk