2009

• Amy Harrod, Environmental Engineer, Christchurch, New Zealand

Amy is the Programme Manager for Asburton District Council’s (ADC) Professional Services water engineering contract.  Amy has been project managing the programme, producing the monthly progress report, allocating work and co-ordinating the monthly billing.  At any one time there are approximately eight project managers working on the programme. A key part of what Amy does is scope and price additional work items (in conjunction with staff responsible for the work and project managers), she sets up projects and tasks in a co-ordinated manner to make billing and reporting simpler for all.

Amy pays particular attention to listening to the client’s needs and ensures that she understands the key client requirements.  In this way she is able to give clear directions to people carrying out the work, scopes and prices up with work properly and ensures that the client is kept happy by delivering what is requested.

Amy’s attitude to the team is very positive; she will always put up her hand to help even when she is under pressure with her own projects.

• Jeremy Rees, Assistant Engineer, Invercargill, New Zealand

Jeremy is a young engineer with a great career ahead of him. This year he has really stepped up and demonstrated he has ability and maturity beyond his years.

Jeremy has demonstrated he has many of the core competencies associated with project management and was selected to participate in the new Opus Project Management Programme.

• Sam Wiffen, Transpower Project Manager, Wellington, New Zealand

Sam Wiffen is a star performer. He continues to excel in all respects, demonstrating he lives and breathes the company values and is now mentoring others.

Sam has displayed values, performance attributes and a commitment to his job.  He is currently completing his last year of study for his degree in Building Science while maintaining a full time position with the Wellington Property Services Group.

Sam is the Project Manager – Transpower Capital Construction Contracts on the Transpower Southern North Island Facilities Management Contract. This position within the overall Transpower project is a very challenging role and requires someone with a great deal of enthusiasm, technical knowledge, commonsense and commitment to carry out the job successfully.

Sam is an excellent communicator with the ability to liaise and co-ordinate with a range of personnel including the sub-contractors and the client and they need to have to be able to anticipate problems early and identify solutions.

• Hugh Tait, Civil Engineer, Sydney, Australia

Hugh is a graduate engineer within our Infrastructure and Asset Management team and he has performed extraordinarily well in the three years he has been with us. He has clear leadership skills and is well respected by his peers and managers. He exhibits a quiet demeanour, consistently displays very professional attitudes to his work, and is a high achiever. 

Hugh has exhibited outstanding project management skills and has not been afraid to tackle projects ranging from those requiring extensive monotonous tasks through to planning and coordination of complex projects. Hugh has been vital to the preparation of many large scale bids within the Sydney office. He has developed excellent client relationships and led multiple projects to successful outcomes.

• Andrew Brown, Engineering Geologist, Nottingham, United Kingdom

Since starting at Opus, Andrew has developed into a young professional taking great pride in his employer. As a result Andrew encompasses the company core values and has adopted the ‘Opus way’ applying this philosophy in both a personal and professional sense.

Andrew has been working as a Project Manager on the Environment Agency framework agreement since 2009. Since then he has developed a close working relationship with key members of the client’s staff. Andrew has worked predominantly on the Tail Sluice Refurbishment Works scheme since February 2009 and has supervised site works, produced contract documents, and undertaken the actual management of the contract (under supervision of senior colleagues) executing contractually complex issues in accordance with the NEC3 contract.

Andrew now has the ability to transfer this contract knowledge to other projects and is a more rounded engineer for this experience. He has shown that he is adaptable and versatile and has produced comprehensive cost – benefit documents for the use of the client in order to secure funding for further projects.

• Simon Grundy, Project Engineer, Wellington, New Zealand

Simon has continued to show excellence in all aspects of his work. He is continuously responsible for developing excellent client relationships through his hard work, knowledge and eye for detail. Through 2009 Simon has stepped up to a number of challenges and excelled:

• Porirua City Council, Te Hiko Street Improvements: Simon has been involved with planning, design, consultation, and construction.
• Ontrack, Double Tracking: Simon was the site representative at the commencement of this project. He quickly developed an excellent relationship with the client, contractor and regional council.
• (NZTA) NZ Transport Agency, Muldoons Corner: Simon was pulled from the Double Tracking project so we could put our best team forward for this project for our major client.