David Whiteley
Partner

“I played one of the three kings in the school nativity play aged 5 and forgot my lines, despite only having to deliver one sentence. Never again!”

An introduction —
David joined CFL Horsfall Architects and Surveyors in Halifax in 1986 as an Assistant Surveyor and began studying ONC/HNC Building Studies at Leeds Building College/Leeds Metropolitan University between 1987 and 1992. David graduated in 1995 with BSc (Hons) in Building Surveying from De-Montfort University, Leicester.

During his early career David was involved in large scale industrial new build and refurbishment projects and a range of social housing projects including new build dwellings and special needs housing facilities.

David joined Arcus in Manchester in September 1995, qualified as a Chartered Building Surveyor in 1997 and has since gained further experience within the housing sector as Project Manager and Employers Agent. David increased his management responsibilities within the organisation, which included Manchester’s first estate stock transfer, and was duly recognised with promotion to Associate Partner in 2001 and Partner responsible for the Manchester office in 2008.

David is an experienced CDM Coordinator and qualified with the Association for Project Safety in 2008.

David is responsible for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyor’s (RICS) Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) Structured Training Programme practice-wide. He has worked for the RICS as an assessor since 2001 and now acts as a licensed chairman. David achieved his long term ambition by obtaining fellowship of the RICS in 2010.

David’s Q&A —

Describe yourself in three words.
Enthusiastic, hard working and loyal.

What are you most proud of?
Samuel and William my two gorgeous boys at 6 and 14 months old.

What is your favourite drink?
I like an occasional 15 year old Dalwhinnie, Scottish Classic Malt Whisky.

Where in the world would you love to retire?
A little farm in deepest France would be good, I love their way of life!

Have you ever been on stage?
I played one of the three kings in the school nativity play, aged 5 and forgot my lines, despite only being required to deliver one sentence. Never again!

What is your favourite Film?
‘Withnail and I’ - 1987 cult classic film with Richard E Grant and Paul McGann or ‘The Lost Boys’ - 1987 vampire film with Kiefer Sutherland.

I also love Gangster films, in particular ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ with Robert De Niro.

If you could be a superhero which one would you be?
XLR8 - Ben 10 superhero who resembles a semi-armoured velociraptor. He is able to reach speeds of 300mph in an instant and can climb up walls and run on water with relative ease. He can create tornadoes through centrifugal force by running in small circles. He has amazing reflexes which allows him to dodge attacks and has scissor-like claws to cut through objects.

Which popular sitcom character do you feel you are closest to?
Richard Wilson's - Victor Meldrew - ‘I don’t believe it!’ - but everyone else will!

If you were granted three wishes, what would you ask for?
Health, happiness and the long life of my two boys, Samuel and William.

Give one interesting fact about yourself.
I boxed for Yorkshire at 15 years old but decided on an academic career at 16, don’t think I was good enough to succeed at a higher level.