• Skip to content
  • Skip to footer
  • Accessibility options
University of Brighton
  • About us
  • Business and
    employers
  • Alumni and
    supporters
  • For
    students
  • For
    staff
  • Accessibility
    options
Open menu
Home
Home
  • Close
  • Study here
    • Get to know us
    • Why choose Brighton?
    • Explore our prospectus
    • Chat to our students
    • Ask us a question
    • Meet us
    • Open days and visits
    • Virtual tours
    • Applicant days
    • Meet us in your country
    • Campuses
    • Our campuses
    • Our city
    • Accommodation options
    • Our halls
    • Helping you find a home
    • What you can study
    • Find a course
    • Full A-Z course list
    • Explore our subjects
    • Our academic departments
    • How to apply
    • Undergraduate application process
    • Postgraduate application process
    • International student application process
    • Apprenticeships
    • Transfer from another university
    • International students
    • Clearing
    • Funding your time at uni
    • Fees and financial support
    • What's included in your fees
    • Brighton Boost – extra financial help
    • Advice and guidance
    • Advice for students
    • Guide for offer holders
    • Advice for parents and carers
    • Advice for schools and colleges
    • Supporting you
    • Your academic experience
    • Your wellbeing
    • Your career and employability
  • Research
    • Research and knowledge exchange
    • Research and knowledge exchange organisation
    • The Global Challenges
    • Centres of Research Excellence (COREs)
    • Research Excellence Groups (REGs)
    • Our research database
    • Information for business
    • Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP)
    • Postgraduate research degrees
    • PhD research disciplines and programmes
    • PhD funding opportunities and studentships
    • How to apply for your PhD
    • Research environment
    • Investing in research careers
    • Strategic plan
    • Research concordat
    • News, events, publications and films
    • Featured research and knowledge exchange projects
    • Research and knowledge exchange news
    • Inaugural lectures
    • Research and knowledge exchange publications and films
    • Academic staff search
  • About us
  • Business and employers
  • Alumni, supporters and giving
  • Current students
  • Staff
  • Accessibility
Search our site
Image of checkland building falmer campus
About us
  • About us
  • Your university
  • Governance and structure
  • Working with us
  • Statistics and legal
  • News and events
  • Contact us
  • News and events
  • News
  • 2019
  • Meet the Brighton graduate behind the Big Build

Meet the Brighton graduate behind the Big Build

A Brighton graduate is playing an instrumental role in delivering a major component of the university’s Moulsecoomb campus development.

1 July 2019

Clayton Parsons, who graduated in Project Management for Construction in 2014, is Envelope and External Works Manager for the Big Build, part of his wider position as a site manager at major construction company Bouygues UK.

Bouygues UK is delivering student accommodation, Students’ Union and fitness facilities, which will be completed in 2021 for development partner Uliving.

After undertaking a placement year at Bouygues during his time at the University, Clayton joined the company’s graduate scheme and then became a full-time employee. He has since worked on a number of large-scale developments.

In a reversal of roles, Clayton was part of the interview panel recruiting Project Management for Construction students at Brighton to act as assistant managers on a placement at Bouygues UK.

Clayton said it was a “strange experience” to be an employer hiring students from his former university, and that the questions he asked them in the interview were “based on my own experience of the course”.

Of his time at Brighton, Clayton said: “I have fond memories of the university. It was a nice place to be and I had a good time studying. My course was eye-opening – you don’t realise how much of it you can use until you actually start working in the industry.”

Clayton added that the “practical” nature of the degree had helped him in his career so far. “You learn to manage a process in your time at university, you learn the theory of project management,” he said. “You learn how to do things right, and good leadership is doing the right thing. By virtue of learning the first part, you then go out in the world and learn the second part.”

There is an “endless list of positives” in working for a global construction company like Bouygues, according to Clayton. 

He said: “They employ 130,000 people across 90 countries, so the opportunity for international mobility is always there – you can always experience something new and meet new people, and that knowledge base is there when you need it.”

Bouygues UK is one of the country’s leading construction companies. Through its construction teams and its development businesses known as Linkcity and Uliving, Bouygues UK operates across the North, Midlands, South West and Wales as well as London and the South East, and is behind some of the UK’s most significant projects.

Clayton Parsons

Clayton Parsons

Back to top
  • Facebook
  • X logo
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn icon

Contact us

University of Brighton
Mithras House
Lewes Road
Brighton
BN2 4AT

Main switchboard 01273 600900

Course enquiries

Sign up for updates

University contacts

Report a problem with this page

Quick links Quick links

  • Courses
  • Open days
  • Explore our prospectus
  • Academic departments
  • Academic staff
  • Professional services departments
  • Jobs
  • Privacy and cookie policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Libraries
  • Term dates
  • Maps
  • Graduation
  • Site information
  • Online shop
  • The Student Contract

Information for Information for

  • Current students
  • International students
  • Media/press
  • Careers advisers/teachers
  • Parents/carers
  • Business/employers
  • Alumni/supporters
  • Suppliers
  • Local residents