What's your job about?
Turner & Townsend provides consultancy services to clients in the Real Estate, Infrastructure and Natural Resources sectors, in particular Project Management and Cost Management Services. I work within the Project Management division in Real Estate in Melbourne. I am responsible for overseeing a number of our projects and responsible for winning work in our Health and Education Sectors (within Real Estate) as well as being a Line Manager for a number of employees.
The way I like to explain project management is that if you were a client with some money and a desire to develop a building, you could appoint us, we would then arrange for an architect and other designers, manage them in preparing the design, then appoint a builder for the project and manage their role during the build. All the client would need to do is pay relevant project invoices and provide direction regarding what you require from the project/building.
What's your background?
I grew up on a farm in Glenrowan, North East Victoria.
After Primary School in Glenrowan, I went to High School in Wangaratta. At the end of High School I didn’t really know what I wanted to do but knew the subjects I enjoyed so ended up selecting a Double Degree in Engineering and Business. I didn’t get my first University preference originally but received my second choice, being Swinburne. In the second round, I was offered a place for my first preference however by that time I was committed to Swinburne and didn’t want to change. This is something I am very grateful for. Through the Industry Based Learning programme at Swinburne, I received a role for one year at Turner & Townsend Thinc and I have been with the company ever since. After the one year role, I went part-time whilst finishing my degree and when I graduated I moved to Brisbane for work. In late 2008 I moved to London and spent some time in the small London office working on some amazing projects such as the Westminster Abbey Chapter House and Dover Castle, as well as spending time on projects in the Netherlands and in Libya. At the start of 2011, I moved back to Australia and worked in our Adelaide office for four years, working on the $350m Adelaide Convention Centre Expansion.
Towards the end of 2014, I decided I wanted to move back home to be closer to my family so I transferred to the Melbourne office where I have worked since. I received a promotion from Associate to Associate Director in November 2016, and whilst there was a change in my title, my day to day role is largely unchanged.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes, it is really about communication and organisation, anyone with an interest in design and construction could do it.
As above, communication and soft skills are key.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
I love seeing the finished product, walking past a project that I worked on and saying, I built that!
What are the limitations of your job?
My job can be quite stressful, there is a lot of time pressure which means we do sometimes work long hours and on weekends. Our Clients can be very demanding and we often have to juggle a number of them, therefore it requires prioritisation to undertake the most critical tasks first.
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