A COMMONWEALTH Games fencing gold medallist has been appointed by property consultancy Vail Williams as a building surveyor.

Calum Maynard has joined the Surrey regional team in the Woking office after six years at construction consultants Summers-Inman.

By day, Calum deals with building dilapidations and energy performance certificates. After work, he often dons a mask, breeches and protective equipment and steps on to the strip to lunge, parry and doublé in bouts with top fencers.

The international épée fencer was part of the England team that took gold in the 2018 Canberra, Australia, Commonwealth Games, narrowly beating the host nation in the final, and achieving an individual ninth place.

The 29-year-old, who lives in Woking, fences three or four nights a week, depending on work commitments.

“Being part of the gold medal winning team was an unforgettable moment for me, but now I am committed to providing a gold standard service for Vail Williams.”

At Summers-Inman, Calum gained practical experience of building surveying from its London office, specialising in damp and mould surveys, EPC assessments, and stock condition surveys, including more than 2,000 Ministry of Defence-owned dwellings.

He completed planned preventative maintenance reports on more than 200 dwellings owned by an Oxford University college and has acted as an independent monitoring surveyor to lenders on multiple projects.

His key skills areas and responsibilities at Vail Williams include schedules of condition, schedules of dilapidations, condition surveys, contract administration, employers’ agent, development monitoring, planned preventative maintenance and energy performance certificates (EPC).

Calum was inspired to take up fencing as a youngster after watching the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day, in which Pierce Brosnan battles it out with screen baddie Toby Stephens in a fictional gentlemen’s club.

He added: “I started off with a club, then someone suggested a local competition, then a regional one, then the next level up,” said Calum. “It didn’t seem too long before I was high enough in the rankings to be picked for England.”

“To make the national squad was obviously a huge highlight, as well as competing in places like Qatar, Bulgaria and Canada, but the reality of the sport is that it is as much a recreational activity for me as a search for glory.”