September 2026
Extending construction careers through teaching and mentoring
An employee case study in protecting health, financial security and skills
Many experienced construction workers do not leave because they have stopped caring about the trade. They leave because the physical demands can become harder to sustain. When that happens before someone is financially ready, the consequences can follow them into later life.
CITB’s UK Construction Industry Picture 2026 reports that around 24% of construction workers were over 55 in 2023, compared with around 13% in 2000. It also highlights the need to retain workers for longer through different or more flexible work options, including less physically intensive roles and mentoring. Ade’s story shows what that can look like in practice.
This case study shows how one experienced tradesperson found a more sustainable role, and what employers can learn from that transition.
At a glance...
Challenge:
physical strain can shorten working lives and put financial security at risk.
Opportunity:
teaching and mentoring roles that use trade experience differently.
Benefits:
continued earnings, less exhaustion, purpose, status and support for younger workers.
Barriers:
confidence, paperwork, qualifications, classroom culture and lower pay.
Lesson:
experienced workers need a supported pathway, not a sudden leap.
Before: a trade career under physical strain
Ade Llewellyn spent 25 years working on site as a time-served carpenter before moving into teaching, special educational needs support and mentoring. He now works with VIY, helping young people gain construction skills through practical community refurbishment projects.
His move was partly driven by health. Ade had experienced site accidents, arthritis in both knees and a serious car accident that left him unable to do physical work for several months. He also described the long-term impact of working in construction when heavy manual handling was simply part of the job.
In the 1980s, he said, “If you wanted timber, you wanted trusses, you wanted joist, you had to pick them up and you had to carry them.”
For workers like Ade, the risk is not only pain or injury. It is the possibility that physical strain forces them to reduce hours, leave site work or exit the sector earlier than planned.
"It is the possibility that physical strain forces them to reduce hours, leave site work or exit the sector earlier than planned."
During: trying a different role
Ade did not see himself as a teacher at first. The shift happened only after he tried it.
Working part-time with young people, he saw a learner grasp something because of the way he had explained it. That moment changed how he saw the role.
“Something just clicked,” he said. “I looked around one day and thought, this is working. This just feels really good.”
Teaching and mentoring reduced the physical strain, but it did not mean leaving construction behind. Ade found a role that combined his site experience, practical skills and ability to connect with young people.
“It suits me really,” he said. “With my experience in teaching and mentoring, and my experience on sites and my practical skills, this is almost like a perfect crossover for me.”
During: the barriers are real
Teaching and mentoring are not easy alternatives to “real work”. They are skilled roles with pressures of their own.
Ade found that moving away from site work reduced the physical demands, but increased the paperwork, meetings, reports, risk assessments and education requirements. As someone with dyslexia, he found the academic and administrative side particularly difficult.
“Physically it’s got better,” he said. “Academically it got potentially worse.”
Shane Mitchell, who spent more than 30 years in roofing before moving off the tools, described a similar challenge after trying a technical training role.
“There was no support for that sort of transition,” Shane said. “It was: you were paid to do a job, now go teach.”
Money is another major barrier. Shane had looked at local teaching roles but found the wages too low compared with what he could earn as an experienced roofer. David Mallory, who moved from roofing into teaching at Leeds College of Building, made the same point. For some trades, he suggested the difference in annual salary could be around £20,000.
That figure matters, but it should not be read in isolation. It does not include pension provision, paid holidays, more predictable hours, warmer working conditions or more time for family life. Nor does the transition have to mean a complete move from site to classroom. A blended role combining site work with teaching, training, assessing or mentoring may be more realistic and result in a lower drop in pay.
The longer-term financial picture matters too. Reducing the physical demands of work may help some experienced workers stay economically active for longer, continue contributing to their pension and avoid leaving the sector earlier than planned.
After: health, purpose and continued contribution
For Ade, the biggest change was “not being completely and utterly exhausted” at the end of the working day. After years of site work, having energy left for life outside work mattered.
The second benefit was purpose. Teaching and mentoring allowed him to remain useful, respected and connected to construction. He was not starting again from scratch. He was using knowledge built over decades.
Ade described the satisfaction of passing on skills in the same person-to-person way he had learned them himself.
“Just seeing people be able to grasp it and seeing something click was very enjoyable,” he said.
"He was not starting again from scratch. He was using knowledge built over decades."
What employers can learn
Employers should not wait until a worker is physically struggling before starting the conversation.
The starting point is to identify people who already show natural mentoring behaviours: workers others go to for advice, people who explain tasks clearly, model safe practice, help apprentices, stay calm under pressure and take pride in passing on standards.
The conversation must be framed positively. The message should not be “you are slowing down”. It should be: your experience is valuable, you are good at helping others learn, and there may be ways to use that strength more deliberately.
This is the space ConstructED is designed to address: the point before an experienced worker leaves, when a different mix of duties, support and confidence-building could keep their knowledge in the sector.
Employer takeaway
Do not wait until experienced workers are forced off the tools. Identify natural mentors earlier, let them try teaching or mentoring, support the unfamiliar parts of the role, and be honest about the financial trade-offs.
The key message
Teaching and mentoring will not be right for every construction worker. Some may move into supervision, quality control, sales, health and safety, assessing or other less physical roles.
But the choice should not be between staying on the tools until the body gives out or leaving construction earlier than planned.
The lesson from Ade’s story is simple: experience should not disappear from construction because the work becomes too physically demanding. With the right support, it can become the foundation for a new role — one that protects health, supports financial security, strengthens the sector and helps the next generation learn from someone who has done the job.
About VIY
VIY operates a cross-sector partnership approach. The organisation brings together partners from across the public, private and third sectors, from UK Government/public sector programmes like the Youth Guarantee Trailblazer and UK Shared Prosperity Fund, to private sector partners including Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall, Wates, Travis Perkins, Toolstation and Dulux, and grant-givers like Impetus, The National Lottery and Postcode Lottery Innovation Fund. These partnerships help create opportunities for experienced tradespeople to pass on their skills and knowledge while supporting young people to gain practical experience and City & Guilds accreditations. The approach has enabled VIY to deliver more than 1,000 community refurbishment projects since 2011, working with over 18,000 young people and engaging partners from across the public, private and voluntary sectors. Use the link to read VIY's Impact Report for 2024-25.
About ProAge
ProAge is a charity working to make workplaces more age-inclusive and better equipped for multigenerational working. We support employers to recognise the value of experience, challenge age-related barriers and design practical approaches that help people contribute, develop and remain in work for longer. Through the ConstructED project, ProAge is exploring how flexible roles, mentoring and knowledge-sharing can help the construction sector retain experienced workers while supporting the next generation of talent.