Global Speakers

From Dunedin to Kaitaia, encompassing Real-Estate Photography, Construction Progress Photography, Thermal Inspection, Asbestos Roof Survey, Facade Inspections and expansive infrastructure scoping, Garman Consulting strives to be the preeminent provider of specialist RPAS “Drone” technical consultancy services in New Zealand.

With our diverse fleet of RPAS Aircraft, specialist sensors and cameras, and technical expertise derived from 12 years in the Service, Construction/Development and Asset Management sectors, no other New Zealand RPAS operation provides such a broad scope of service offerings with the specialist knowledge, H&S compliance and ability for extended operations to back up even the most demanding of your needs.

Kriston Symons is the End Market Director of Buildings and Places based in Melbourne, responsible for driving forward our Practices and Sectors in Australia and New Zealand, as well as encouraging collaboration between all parts of our AECOM business and sharing of our broad market intelligence on clients’ needs.

Kriston sits on the Executive Committee of the AECOM Australia and New Zealand business and is involved in high level strategic direction of the business as well as operational elements. Kriston has been driving forward the digital, technology and data strategy, corporate social and environmental responsibility as well as program’s around fostering research, innovation, ideas generation and commercialisation.

Andrew has thirty years’ experience within the manufacturing sector across a number of industries. He has held various roles for companies including Simpson Appliances (sheet metal fabrication), Skellerup Industries (dairy rubberware and footwear), Goldair (electrical appliances), Kitchen Studio (wood panel processing). In addition, Andrew spent several years establishing several contract manufacturing facilities in various locations in China.

Most recently he has been responsible for the establishment of a greenfields manufacturing facility in Christchurch specialising in offsite manufacture and notably modular bathrooms and cold form steel framing which are being used in a number of large scale commercial projects.

Julie Villard is an architect with 10 years’ experience and she has a passion for sustainability, building her skills and knowledge in Canada, Switzerland and for the past five years, New Zealand.

She is the welcoming face of the Council’s recently-launched Eco Design Advisor service, where advisors can consult on a range of projects from new builds to home renovations and retrofits. She provides support and free independent advice through the Council and within the council for professionals & individuals. Her main purpose is to encourage the industry to do better, and to do better now. With a strong scientific background, she explains what she call ‘’the physics of the building’’ – it is important to understand how everything is inter-connected to be able to provide a better environment.

Owen Griffiths is the Marketing Director of Timberlab Solutions NZ’s largest manufacturer and exporter of structural engineered timber – Glulam & fabricated LVL – for pre fabricated solutions. He has been involved for over 40 years in the development and manufacture of structural timber solutions.

Tony Biland is currently Quality, Safety & Environmental Senior Project Manager. He is responsible for leading the implementation and quality assurance of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and associated processes and technologies, to enable the capital delivery and ongoing asset / facilities management of Council’s Major Facilities Department (MFD) $450M approximately program of projects.

Key recent achievements have been:
– advancing the $85M New Central Library project being a CCC/CERA (Central or Federal Government) Anchor Project from the Project Charter / Business Case initiation to the D&B EOI / Resource Consent (DA) / final draft Design & Build RFP / Tender stage. This project is now well into construction.
– coordinating the Canterbury Public Sector H&S Working Group (25 agencies approx.) and assisting in developing a Public Sector Agency Pre-Qualification Questionnaire now hosted by Otakaro Ltd (Central or Federal government).
– leading the development of a H&S Summary Process Checklist for our department’s staff which is now included under a unit wide gateway review process.

Jeff is a mechanical engineer with post graduate qualifications in organizational development. He has over 20 years’ experience in implementing continuous improvement and lean.  Currently employed by Fletcher Building as NZ Manufacturing Excellence manager. Jeff has a Lean consulting and training background and has implemented Lean and Operational Excellence at; Fonterra, Lion, BlueScope, TWE, Boral, PPG, JNL, Rheem NZ, Sealy NZ and numerous small to medium enterprises.

Gordon is General Manager of the National Association of Steel-framed Housing (NASH) New Zealand. He stepped into the roll after 15 years as the organizations Chairperson and after the retirement of the previous GM. He is the chairman of the NASH Technical committee and a member of NASH Australia’s technical committee. Both committees are involved in the writing of documents and standards for the industry. He was also a Board member of Prefab NZ for two years.

Gordon is also Director/Shareholder of:

• LGSC Ltd – A design, detailing, project management and consulting company specializing in light gauge steel framing
• Steel-it Framing Limited – A steel frame manufacturing company
• Tek Supplies – Specialist in the supply of thermal break materials

Ian McCormick is General Manager of Auckland Council Building Control.

He was a proud recipient of a Building Officials Institute of New Zealand (BOINZ) award in 2016.

Ian’s also a member of MBIE’s (Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment) Building Advisory panel, as well as a member of the Building Research Advisory Council and the chair of the Metro Sector Group.

Vimal is a projects lawyer, specialising in large infrastructure and property development projects. Vimal has acted for a diverse range of mining and mineral, energy, infrastructure and property development projects in New Zealand, United Kingdom, the Middle East and Asia/Pacific regions.

Vimal has advised on various structures of projects including those delivered on traditional model, as well as PPP, DBOOT, BOOT and BOT basis. He has extensive experience in negotiation, drafting, administration and risk management of a wide range of construction and procurement contracts employing different contracting methodologies, pricing structures and risk allocations.

Drawing on his international experience, Vimal strives to provide his clients with pragmatic and commercially minded legal advice to support successful project delivery, and achievement of strategic objectives.

Stephen is a Technical Director based in Beca’s Singapore office.

Stephen leads engineering teams on large commercial and residential building projects. He is also responsible for continuous improvement of the Singapore offices technical and project delivery practices to strengthen its capability and knowledge. Stephen chairs the Beca technical standards committee for Building Services engineering work.

Glenn is the Design and Technical Manager at Theca Group, a Christchurch based company with a very simple and compelling belief.

Glenn believes that every person should be able to live, work, play and learn in buildings that provide healthy environments, and he strives to achieve this by using the Passive House Standard as the benchmark for the performance of his buildings.

Not only are Glenn’s buildings extraordinarily comfortable and energy-efficient, they are very well designed. Glenn utilises natural materials, particularly timber, as much as possible and strives to reduce the impact of his buildings.

Glenn has been leading the way with energy-efficiency for the past decade in New Zealand. He has been at the forefront of science-based energy-efficiency since 2006.

Joyce has 20 years of international experience as a chartered building structural engineer and has delivered structurally complex and challenging projects in Singapore, UK and Australia working in close collaboration with renowned Architects like Zaha Hadid and Lord Norman Fosters. Project highlights London Olympic 2012 and MASDAR City (UAE) first zero carbon city.

Combined with her vast technical structural knowledge and appreciation of architectural and building services disciplines, Joyce has extensive project and construction management experience gained during her roles as a PPVC Senior Design Manager.

With her experience in Systemised Technology, Joyce has delivered modular projects across various Australian states and is currently leading the AECOM ANZ modular (PPVC) initiatives. She is also working in collaboration with Swinburne University and Melbourne University on PPVC researches.

Matthew’s mission is to inspire people to make a better place to live. In 2012 he launched the podcast and website, Home Style Green where leading home designers and builders from around the world are featured each week.

Matthew has 10 years of experience leading residential energy efficiency projects, predominately around New Zealand, including working as a service provider for EECA’s Warm Up New Zealand retrofit scheme and nearly four years as Technical Manager for Homestar at the New Zealand Green Building Council. In 2016 he joined the Board of the Passive House Institute New Zealand.

In 2017 he started a new role as pro clima HUB and Education Manger in Auckland.

Bruce Haniel is currently Lecturer at the Wellington Institute of Technology

His architectural designs build not only physical structures but also concepts of sustainability and social cohesion. As an artist and architect, he has used the dynamics of form, scale and substance alongside the use of locally available materials, well established building methods, and meaningful design elements, these being his portals through which social capital is facilitated.

Peter Harris has worked with Westlake Governance for over 15 years as a senior consultant on a number of our major projects and undertakings. A Chartered Surveyor and Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors, he is also an Independent Director and Chair, with particular strengths from working in the property, engineering and construction sectors in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Peter is a Chartered Member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors (CMINSTD), with over 15 years’ experience as a Director and Board Chairman. He is currently a member of the Board of the Facilities Management Association of NZ (FMANZ) and Chair of the FMANZ Foundation. He is also a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Oceania World Regional Board.

As a chartered surveyor, Peter brings a deep understanding of project management to the business. He has managed and directed over 100 projects in his 25 year career including a range of multi-million dollar property developments and acted as Project Director on the delivery in 2010 of Air New Zealand’s world first ‘straight to gate’ customer experience program. In his roles with other organisations, he has held Project and Technical Director leadership roles on a range of other industry leading projects, including the use of Building Information Technology by the Ministry of Education, earthquake repairs to over 300 residential properties for IAG and the development of asset management practices for over 320 stations for Sydney Trains and Transport for NSW.

Warren joined XLam in May 2016 having spent his professional career in General Management and Technical Sales. Warren is responsible for growing and developing the XLam sales function across all channels in both NZ and Australia.

Simon Waldren is the Founder of Apex Wiring Solutions in New Zealand and Australia.

Simon has worked in the Apex Group for over 20 years; working in the original UK based business and then 5 years ago establishing the organisations in Australia and New Zealand.

Simon will be presenting at the New Zealand Modular Construction & Prefabrication forum to the like-minded collaborators, considering the way of the future in prefab construction and how modular wiring and systems have been accepted among some forward thinking businesses within New Zealand.

Russell heads GHD’s Property and Buildings business across New Zealand.During his time at GHD, Russell has held diversified roles including Office Manager, Business Leader and Business Group Manager He has also held leadership roles in the GHD offices in Hanoi, Vietnam; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Perth, Australia; and Christchurch, New Zealand.

Prior to joining GHD, Russell led the Buildings Group at City Design and founded his own business, Architects New Zealand Ltd. Russell is a previously the President of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, Chairman of Construction Information Ltd (Masterspec) and spent many years leading the NZIA Conditions of Contract Committee.

He has a real interest in modular construction and believes that the delivery of efficient modular solutions is essential for New Zealand to achieve the building outcomes that are necessary in the immediate future.