Moving On

At the end of July this year I finished up working with Arup after 12 years.?

Having always worked for consultancies before taking a 4 and half year role in quasi government as the Technical Director of City North Infrastructure, I was ready to return to consulting.? ?During that time at CNI, I was privileged to work opposite a number of great people from a variety of really strong consultancy firms. When I was ready to reenter the consulting game, I chose Arup having worked opposite them on Airport Link and being so impressed in what they achieved on their design of that project and how smart and assured they were in meetings.

Throughout my Arup career I have been extremely lucky as there have been so many great people I worked with throughout this journey.? This has included a number of people who I have worked for that collectively shaped how I thought about and approached industry.? They enabled me to be my best rather than stifling my personal idiosyncrasies. They provided subtle guidance and prodding that provided enough freedom married with enough structure for us to collectively succeed.?

Working closely with so many of my leadership peers that assisted me in my growth.? The guidance I received from people who feel comfortable enough to tell the truth even when it hurts your feelings is critical to self-growth.? They steered me through how I approached Arup, people, process and project delivery and made me reflect deeply on what I was striving to achieve.

My most cherished group of work friends and the ones I will miss the most from Arup are the people that were in the delivery trenches with me.? This is a broad group and contains the people that helped lead these projects and the people of the delivery teams that suffered through my endless jokes, demands, requests, emotions and coffees.

It is traditional in these posts to reference all the achievements and milestones that I have achieved in my time at Arup.? Without trying to be arrogant there have been so many great teams, projects and milestones that I can’t list them all in a post.? To all the people that were part of my journey I value and cherish what you did for me and the time we got to spend together. If you were part of the best project/team ever, and you know if you were, I don’t need to tell you about it as you already know. ?

The success of these achievements should include everyone positively reflecting on them in a collective conscious. So it is no surprising I prefer “Moments and Celebrations”.? Like changing John Sibthorpe 's picture, having a room for just Mission Chips, playing Team Bingo in Melbourne, drinking beers in treasury’s office in the exec building, having Christmas lunch with the team, fixing scale bars in the middle of a flood, watching the rocket man fire rockets, looking at screens, leading mutinies against poor behavior, boxing day drinks where Liam O'Donohue drank my whole cellar and TMN.??????????????????????????

During my time at Arup I have interacted with so many good people, too many to name, through projects and tenders. These people extend beyond Arup to my design and contracting partners and to my clients. I have told many people once you are in my circle you are always in my heart and that remains as true today as whenever I emotionally told you this.

The people of TMN Owen Francis , Tamas Nyiregyhazi , Bruce Dandie , Sam Gorle , Argun Bagis and Kerry Farley I will see you again and we will continue to only watch B grade.

Leaving Arup was hard, and it took months for Arup and I to work through how we could, in the words of Gwyneth, “consciously uncouple”. I know what I want to do now, and I know what drives me.? I want to do good work with good people on good projects – but most importantly I want to have fun while I am doing this.?Work without levity is just work.

In this vein I have not moved far from Arup, now working in my own company Future Projects Delivered that is helping Arup deliver the Gympie Road Bypass project.

I look forward to working with any and all of you again or new people on new challenges. I am not sure if it will be as part of my new company or as part of something else, all I know is that work for me needs to fulfill me and be fun.

A reminder for everyone, if you see me on any given Friday check out my kicks game. Comments with pictures of my kicks will get a reply.?