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John Holland

4.3
  • #1 in Construction & property services
  • 1,000 - 50,000 employees

Kip McCauley-Wassell

I like to take some time to reflect on any achievements and engage with mentors or continue to develop my skills.

What discipline and cohort (i.e. 2018 or 2019) are you in?

Infrastructure, 2018

Provide an overview of all your rotations to date: 

QLD/NT/NZ Corporate HSEQS, Brisbane QLD

Ichthys LNG Civil Works, Darwin NT

Long Term Recycled Water Release Plan (Stage 1), Gold Coast QLD

What does your typical workday look like?

At the current stage of the project, construction is underway in my scope on a 23m shaft. This will give access to the Tunnel Boring Machine to be removed, once it reaches South Stradbroke Island in a few months. (It needs to travel 1.3 km under the Broadwater first).

I start my day catching the transport boat to my office on the island.

My superintendent and I check the work fronts are organised for the works that day, then I will typically spend the morning planning, forecasting, and sequencing upcoming works.

On any given day there is a variety of different activities occurring, and my role as an engineer is to comply with John Holland’s expectations, and those of the customer – the City of Gold Coast. In collaboration with our delivery partners, we chair meetings regularly to check on progress, develop safe work methodologies and ensure the works adhere with quality and budgetary constraints.

The afternoon is typically spent reviewing works planned for the following day, recording milestones and updating the program. I also like to take some time to reflect on any achievements and engage with mentors or continue to develop my skills. Currently, I’m working on improving my sketching and formatting in AutoCad.

What has been the most interesting thing about your job?

Gaining insight to the lifecycle of a project, from ideation to commissioning, and the intricate relationships and skills required, has been the most interesting thing about my job. Through touchpoints in my rotation at each stage of a project timeline, it has been fascinating to understand the complete operating process of a tier 1 contractor, and by extension the future of infrastructure in Australia. Witnessing these landmark energy and transportation projects become realised is just the cherry on top.

What are the limitations of your role?

Every day presents a new set of challenges, so I never have the luxury of becoming comfortable or generic in my responsibilities. Learning to be agile in my thinking and adapt and problem solve on the go requires a good understanding of the processes, and great relationship skills to draw on the right expertise to achieve the optimal outcome.

Plus being so remote, I can’t rely on takeaway for lunch and need to plan my meals in advance.

What is something you wish you knew before you started?

Asking questions is not annoying, it shows interest and is sometimes the only way to learn.

How did you prepare for starting on the Graduate Program?

Bought some comfortable socks for my steel caps and got a haircut. I was nervous I would be out of my depth when I arrived on site, but the John Holland team welcomed me and explained everything to me so well, no prior preparation was needed.