At the age of seventeen he was articled to a firm of architects in South Shields while studying architecture at Armstrong College, Newcastle, where he was introduced to the work of Le Corbusier, Willem Marinus Dudok, Erich Mendelsohn and Berthold Lubetkin.
[1] Clavering's work at the time included the draughtsmanship or design of several cinemas in South Shields and Newcastle upon Tyne.
[2] Clavering was unhappy with the classical detailing that was required for the cinemas, however - feeling that such ostentatious decoration was inappropriate in poor areas and also presented practical problems when reproduced in terracotta or faience - and concluded that "the answer appeared to be the new architecture advocated by Le Corbusier and the Germans".
[6] In 1935 Clavering entered the only design competition ever held for direct entry into the professional class of H.M.Office of Works and was offered a post in Shanghai.
These included the Blue Streak Project at Spadeadam in Cumbria; the wind tunnels for the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough and Bedford, and the radio communication centre at Goonhilly Downs in Cornwall.