What's your background?
I was born, raised, and educated in Christchurch. In high school, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. What I did know is that I wanted to do a job that made a difference in my community and involved the environment.
Fast-forward to university, I did my undergraduate degree in environmental management which required doing papers in urban and environmental planning. I found it fascinating how planning influences placemaking, the identity of a city, the actions of people living in it, and the environment around us. This concept really sparked a passion inside of me, so much so that I went on and did a Master in Planning.
I am now fortunate enough to work for Aurecon, working with amazing clients and helping to make a difference across my community and across Australasia.
What's your job about?
I fall into the advisory side of the business. As a planner, my day-to-day tasks involve supporting clients in undertaking a project. This involves coordinating various disciplines, including engineers, surveyors, ecologists, archaeologists, cultural advisors, contaminated land specialists, and water scientists just to name a few, to understand what works may trigger the need for planning approvals, identify associated approval risks, and how these can be avoided or mitigated through construction methodology or design changes.
Following this, all the information is wrapped into an application for approval to undertake the development. From there, coordination continues between the client, different disciplines, and the council to achieve a quality project outcome for all parties involved.
I often think of us as being the connectors that bring people together to help achieve a common goal. We have to make sure a project is feasible from an effects standpoint on environmental, economic, societal, and cultural factors. Through this oversight, we work with the project team to put in place measures to appropriately manage those effects. As a result, we work together to achieve a quality outcome, something which is very satisfying when everything does come together.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes. There are many transferrable skills you can bring to the table from other jobs, life experience or qualifications. Some of the critical skills that you need include time management, coherency and succinctness in writing style, and the ability to communicate with different people. You should also learn to be a team player and take responsibility for your work and build relationships with the people you work with.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
The thing I enjoy most about my job is working with a great team of people from various disciplines to help achieve a positive project outcome for the client, community, and society as a whole. Every day, I am learning new things and facing new challenges to conquer. The diversity of work that we do at Aurecon means that no one day is the same and I am constantly growing as a professional.
What are the limitations of your job?
As a consultant, you do face a number of pressures to meet project outcomes including time pressures, budget constraints, client demands, managing difficult relationships with parties involved in the project, and facing unforeseen problems that stall project progress. Consequently, this means that the job can be stressful at times. It is important that during these periods, you lean on your team to provide the necessary support for you to effectively manage those pressures.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...
University is a place to explore, to find out what you like and what you don’t, so make the most of it. Find something that you are passionate about and pursue it. As the saying goes, “if you do what you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life”. Do what you want to do and what you are passionate about, rather than doing something that you ‘should do’ based on the expectations of others.