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Phil Wallis
Technical Manager
Phillip is a technical manager, and his area of expertise is pitched roofing – in particular, the technical governance of all aspects of roofing, from the battens up, including roof tiles, solar panels and accessories. He also has extensive knowledge of weatherboard cladding. He has been working in the construction industry since he left school. He started at a builder’s merchant, spent some time at a groundworks company and then worked as a ductwork engineer before starting a role as an estimator at Marley in 2001. In his first role at Marley, Phillip focused on providing estimates for customers. He says that starting in that role, which involved doing measurements, making plans and carrying out calculations, gave him the fundamental training he needed for his career in roofing. After about three years, he became a technical advisor, broadening his scope to include specifications and customer enquiries. He stayed in that role for nine years before moving into a team leader role. He then moved into site services, which saw him travelling around the country to investigate and report on roof problems. In 2016, he returned to the technical department as a technical manager and has been in that role ever since. As a technical manager, Phillip focuses on technical governance. He oversees technical information within the company and looks at product innovations and projects. He also works with legal representatives to ensure that documentation such as terms and conditions of sale and product guarantees are correct. “I make sure that the quality of information Marley promotes is accurate and meets standards,” he explains. He has been heavily involved in getting the company’s weatherboarding, SolarTile and Roof Defence products ready for market, compiling technical information and understanding what the business needed to do to sell and market the products. “I take pride in knowing that colleagues look to me for trustworthy information and giving knowledge and skills to others,” he adds. Phillip is regularly involved with professional bodies in the roofing industry and sits on several committees, including the Roof Tile Association (RTA) and the British Standards Institute (BSI). He’s on the technical committee for BSI 5534, the code of practice for installing slates and tiles to new-build pitched roofs and vertical cladding, and has also contributed to BS 8000-6 Part 6, the code of practice for Slating and tiling of roofs and walls. He has contributed to the Code for Construction Product Information (CCPI), and he sits on a working group of the Builders Merchant Federation (BMF) that compiles a database of information. He is also involved in the working groups on the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) standard, focusing on solar. He says he enjoys his work at Marley because his role is so diverse; he’s constantly learning about new developments and technologies, as well as changes in legislation and standards. “There's an opportunity to do some good; provide better solutions and ways of doing things. By having a finger on the pulse of innovation, I can help improve the roofing process,” he says. He also likes that, with the introduction of integrated solar panels, such as the Marley SolarTile, the concept of what a roof can be has expanded. “For so long, roofing was very specific things – battens, underlays, tiles. But integrated solar is a massive move forward, and I’m proud to have been involved in a project that revolutionised the industry.”