Meet our Construction 4.0 IAG Members

We are excited to introduce our newly elected Construction 4.0 Industry Advisory Group (IAG) who will be integral in creating transformation in the construction industry.

We were absolutely blown away by the the number and calibre of interest from sector participants in joining the Industry Advisory Group (IAG) for our MBIE Endeavour funded project titled “Developing a Construction 4.0 transformation of the Aotearoa New Zealand Construction sector”. We see this as demonstration of strong interest in transformation from amongst a broad range of participants within the sector.

As influencers of change and progression, they will play a key role in developing a Construction 4.0 transformation of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Construction Sector – making sure that its intended impacts are achieved and the sector is positioned to uptake the results.

Saul Roberts (Co-Chair) | TOA Architects, Architect
Waikato-Tainui, Te Waiohua (Ngati Te Ata/Ngati Te Rori)

Saul is a descendent of the ancient lines of Tāmaki Makaurau and affiliates to the Waiohua and Waikato-Tainui iwi. He was raised in the ancient pā of Te Ihu a Mataoho under the guise of his father (Te Rapata Rapata – ex. Chairman of Makaurau Marae for 29 years) and grandfather, Rapata Te Huia Rapata.

Graduating from the Auckland University School of Architecture in 1993. He now works for TOA Architects (Tamaki Makaurau) in the space of Māori architecture, he is an advocate of te reo Māori me ōna tikanga and espouses Māoritanga in the architecture space throughout the country. In 1998, nominated by the ex. Minister of Māori Development (Hon. Tau Henare), he served as a Board member of the NZ Registered Architects Board for three terms.

Saul has worked extensively with the iwi in Tāmaki Makaurau throughout his professional life and continues to champion Māori design and innovation in the architecture education and construction industry.

In 2022, Saul enrolled in a PhD programme with Auckland University of Technology in the School of Design (Huri Te Ao).

Nicky Luis (Co-Chair) | Spark IoT, Marketing Lead

Nicky Luis has been involved in the technology sector for a number of years, the last four of these in the Internet of Things (IoT) space. Her current role as Marketing Lead for Spark IoT focusses on educating and inspiring a range of different industries as to how IoT technology can be used to gain business efficiencies and reach sustainability targets.

Her key strength is collaboratively working with a variety of customers and partners to reach mutually beneficial outcomes.

Find out more about Nicky.

Brendan Attewell | Fletcher Construction, Engineering Services & Innovation Manager

Brendan joined Fletcher Construction in 2017 after returning from a 10-year stint in London, where he worked as a Principal Engineer providing temporary works design and construction method consulting services for iconic UK construction projects such as The Shard, London Bridge Station Redevelopment and Birmingham New St Station. His early career involved project engineering positions on wharves, outfall pipelines, seawalls, bridges and roads across New Zealand and the South Pacific.

In 2022, Brendan was appointed to Fellow of Engineering New Zealand in recognition of the significant contributions he has made to service, education and leadership of our industry – particularly towards the establishment of good practice for the identification, assessment and control of temporary works risk in both design and delivery phase.

Brendan has been a committee member of the New Zealand Society for Safety Engineering from 2020-2023 and in 2018-2020 was the Inaugural Chair of the Temporary Works forum (NZ).

Dave Anderson | John Jones Steel, Technical Director

Dave’s history with John Jones Steel began in 1975, starting with high school holiday jobs, general labouring, working in fabrication, welding and site rigging. Dave has 40 years experience in commercial construction and design in both NZ and the UK, where 36 of these have been in the structural steel sector – progressing from shop detailing to General management & Technical Director roles.

Hilary West-Reeve | Phoenix Metalman Recycling, Executive Director – Chief Sustainability Officer

Hilary is a New Zealand registered commercial architect with 30 years experience in the construction industry. She graduated from the University of Auckland and completed further studies at the University of California and Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design. Hilary practiced in San Francisco, London and Shanghai for eight years before being drawn back to Aotearoa.

Her career has since evolved into construction and demolition resource recovery and recycling. She co-owns and manages Phoenix Metalman Recycling, a nationwide metal recycling business primarily servicing the construction sector. She is a graduate of the Sustainable Business Council’s Sustainable Leadership Programme. She holds the position of vice chair on the Sustainable Steel Council executive board and also sits on the NZ Association of Metal Recycling board as the Environmental Sub-Committee Chair, and is a member of the NZGBC Expert Reference Panel (ERP) – Construction & Waste.

Being an architect inside the recycling industry enables Hilary to look at how the recycling industry is adapting to change and is challenging the status quo.

Jane Henley | Construction Sector Accord, Transformation Lead – Innovation

Jane is on a mission to improve the performance of the building and construction sector and has been a pioneer in driving system transformation across the construction sector for the past 15 years. Much of that working internationally at the nexus of sustainability, innovation and impact investment.

Since returning to Aotearoa she has led the Off-Site Manufacturing (OSM) Strategy with Kāinga Ora and developed a Cross Government Agency Collaboration on OSM.

Jane is a people person and believes that together we can find ways to improve our systems and supersede outdated modes of operating.

Jannat Maqbool | Aurecon, Innovation Partner New Zealand

Jannat is an Australian born Punjabi and mother of three based in the Waikato, New Zealand. She is a CPA and former CIO with a Masters in Digital Business and is actively engaged in the New Zealand technology ecosystem with a focus on leveraging technology in innovative ways to benefit people, planet and economy. Jannat’s initial career, spanning more than 10 years, was in the financial services industry leading mid to large-scale technology adoption initiatives including with MTF where they released New Zealand’s first online origination system for vehicle finance.

Following that period of her life Jannat has spent more than a decade in the tertiary education sector designing, developing, including course-ware, and teaching programmes across business and IT areas including project management and accounting information systems, as well as coordinating several collaborative projects and applied research initiatives involving students, staff and the wider community.

Michael Allison | Teak Construction Group, Site Manager

Michael Allison is a young construction site manager working for Teak Construction Group with a diverse background and a collaborative attitude. He has experience in commercial construction, managing a range of projects from educational to mixed use residential.

He was awarded a 2022 Kupe Leadership Scholarship to complete his Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and is studying an MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development at the University of Cambridge in 2023/2024.

Nathaniel Warmington | The University of Auckland, Senior Project Manager

Nathaniel is a Project Management professional with more than ten years’ experience working in the built environment. He graduated with a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Nottingham (UK in 2009, and have resided in New Zealand since 2015. He’s held both design and construction roles in my career, and is continually amazed by the variety of work which an Engineering degree has afforded him.

In his current role with the University of Auckland’s Property Services team, Nathaniel represents a client organisation who develops and ultimately owns/operates assets over their operating lifetime and beyond (into demolition/deconstruction/redevelopment). It’s a role where he must balance a wide range of stakeholders and deliver high-quality outcomes. It’s also increasingly a role where the classic considerations of time/quality/cost are being challenged by an increased prominence of other metrics, such as sustainability & embedded carbon.

Shinae Teao | Te Whatu Ora Waikato, Head of Projects

With a career in the built environment and construction industry spanning 10-years, Shinae has learnt and developed through various roles and with the support of many amazing colleagues and managers. Having started in local government within building control, she was able to understand how construction and legislation interact as well as recognise some of the challenges facing the industry.

Shinae is a self-motivated leader and has extensive project and programme management experience. She enjoys working and collaborating with people and truly believes that unless we work together, we won’t achieve the best outcomes.

Shinae’s interest in joining the Construction 4.0 IAG stems from the desire to be a part of the change that’s needed in Aotearoa, by supporting the integration of Mātauranga Māori in the construction space, developing a more sustainable future, seeing how technology can improve the way we do things and see how we can evolve in an ever-changing environment.

Find out more about the Endeavour Fund

News release: https://www.hera.org.nz/research-endeavour-fund/

Find out more about the research themes of Construction 4.0 research project

Feature article: engineeringnews.co.nz/2022/11/11/new-research-themes