Peter Lewis, 54, from Richmond in North Yorkshire, gave up his job of 16 years running an international packaging company to pursue a long-held desire to become a surveyor. His dream was recently realised when he graduated with distinction from an MSc in surveying and construction (building surveying).

Peter completed his course at Northumbria University via distance learning and found the eLearning Portal – a virtual learning environment – very helpful and easy to use.

He says: “I’d always had it in my mind that I would have a change of career. I had got to the point that I needed a new challenge. I’d had 25 great years in the packaging business and decided that I wanted to do something completely different. I decided on surveying because I had so enjoyed restoring my own grade II listed manor house in North Yorkshire. My brother was already a chartered surveyor so we decided that we would go into business together.”

Peter has now set up Lewis Surveying Associates with his brother Paul and daughter Jennifer, 27, who is also studying for a degree in building surveying at Northumbria University.

For more information, contact www.northumbria.ac.uk