Gerard taught construction economics in the School of the Built Environment at the University of Technology Sydney from 1992 to 2020, and at the Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management at University College London from 2014 to 2020.

Before becoming an academic he worked for the Australian Stock Exchange, the Property Council of Australia, and the NSW Royal Commission into Productivity in the Building Industry. He has done research for Australian State and Commonwealth Governments and for industry associations. His books include the three volume Building in Value series as co-editor: Pre-design Issues; Design and Construction; and Workplace Strategies and Facilities Management, and he edited Modern Construction Economics: Theory and Application. His latest book on technological change and the construction industry is Creative Destruction and Constructing the Built Environment: From the first industrial revolution to the fourth.