Age 33
Where are you based at the moment (who do you work for)?
I work for Turner & Townsend (Pty) Ltd and based in Cape Town.
In what year did you complete your honours degree?
2012
What path did you follow before ending up with your current company?
I worked for a Construction company (WBHO) in the Contracting industry as a Site Manager prior to moving into the Consultancy industry as a Project Manager for a large international company called ‘Mace Management Services’. I was lucky enough to be involved in the V&A Waterfront Silo Precinct Projects comprising of the following buildings and saw them from commencement to completion before moving on to Turner & Townsend.
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Car Park Phase 2 - New two level basement parking, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town (32 260 m²)
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District Sea Water Cooling, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town - R50,000,000.00 including VAT
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Silo Precinct Retail units –New white shell retail units, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town (1 450 m²)
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No 3 Silo - New 3 tower, eleven-storey, 79 luxury apartment building (12 700 m²)
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No 4 Silo – New Virgin Active Gym, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town (3800 m²)
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No 5 Silo – New five-storey commercial office building (including fit out for PWC and Werksmans) V&A Waterfront, Cape Town (17 300 m²)
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No 6 Silo - New 252 key Radisson Red Hotel, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town (12 350 m²)
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Grain Silo re-development (MOCAA Museum and Boutique Hotel), V&A Waterfront, Cape Town (16 700 m²)
What is your current position and what does the role entail?
Cape Town Regional Director.
My role involves overseeing and managing the day to day operations of the Cape Town office which has approximately 45 staff members at present. Turner & Townsend is a global consultancy, and the Cape Town office specialises in programme and project management (inception to close out), cost management and project advisory services across real estate, infrastructure and natural resources sectors.
What advice would you give a current construction management student?
Get us much work experience as you can during your varsity years. Obtaining a technical understanding will assist vastly in understanding the content of the subjects you will be studying and assist in your studies greatly. If you are wanting to go into Consulting I would recommend that you at least do a year working on site in the Contracting industry prior to moving into Consultancy as it provides you with an extremely good base for understanding timelines, construction processes and buildability. In addition to the above I urge you to put in the hard work up front and when entering the working world to take every opportunity given, put in the long hours in your formative years and don’t brush away the administrative tasks early on as these will give you the base required to grow your career.
What was your favourite module?
Doing my Treatise
Who was your favourite lecturer?
Prof. John Smallwood
What are your plans for the next 5 to 10 years?
Building a successful regional business in Cape Town that is well respected and ultimately becoming one of the youngest Partners in our Company.