A MAN who has dedicated 57 years of his life to the construction industry was made an MBE in this year's New Year's honours list.
Barry Albert Haseltine, 75, from Crawley Down, described the achievement as an 'honour' upon hearing he had been recognised for his services to engineering consultancy at home and in Europe.
His efforts have seen him put on the same list as Olym
pic heroes Christine Ohuruogu, Ben Ainslie and Chris Hoy.
Barry said: "I'm absolutely delighted to receive this. I'm not a young man anymore. All the people around me seemed to be getting these things before me.
"I don't ever get these things my way and it's a great honour to have this. Occasionally I think why do I put this effort in but this makes it seem worth it."
His voluntary work with BSI British Standards, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and Department of Communities and Local Government, has seen him travel the world and earn high praise for his consultancy in the engineering and construction industry.
After being born in Horsham, he moved to Three Bridges before settling down at his home in Crawley Down where he has lived for the last 38 years with his wife Sylvia. He also has two children Richard and Susan.
He added: "I kind of just ended up in this job. You get involved in something and then it leads to something else and I ended up doing some work for European Standards.
"Although it's voluntary we are sponsored by companies in Britain to travel because it is in their interest for us to work on the standardisation of building materials.
"I've been very lucky to have travelled the world through my work and I am still doing some consultancy work.
"I could have retired at 65 but I like to keep a varied life. I do construction work still but I also like to play golf in Copthorne as well as various other things."
The European Standards body are responsible for the general standardisation of building materials across Europe. Barry's role was to act as a representative of Britain while consulting on various meetings across Europe, which also led to work for the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO).
He has been working on and off for structural and civil engineers firm Jenkins and Potter in London for the last 50 years, but was also employed by local construction company Sussex and Dorking Brickers which was originally based in Horsham.
After attending Collyer's College in Horsham, he left for London to study civil engineering at the Imperial College where his life in construction started.
Barry was invited to become a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1985 which was set up by Prince Charles to recognise the efforts of engineers throughout Britain.
The academy has only 1,200 members and was described by Barry as his 'proudest moment previous to receiving an MBE'.
"I deferred my national service until after university where I was a flying officer in the RAF on airfield construction.
"It was actually a huge advantage.
"My first job in construction lasted nine months and then I moved into Jenkinson Potter which took me on to various other things including CEN."
