TVCS reinforced the strong Christian values that I had at home and instilled within me a real sense of ‘Self’ and a confidence in my own abilities. These were all provided through a diverse tapestry of experiences within the framework of a safe and inclusive school community environment. I had the privilege of being a School Captain, part of various Interschool sports teams, school musicals (still to this day I am not sure how that was accommodated, I’m literally tone deaf) and developing irreplaceable lifelong friendships (one of those includes a special someone in Rochelle who eventually became my incredible wife in the years that followed us after finishing high school together). My TVCS school experience also provided me with the interpersonal skills that I have repeatedly drawn upon as I developed from a design consultant into a client-side Project Manager within the property industry. I hold my TVCS experience in such a high personal regard that aside from Rochelle being on staff, our daughter Ellery is part of the TVCS school community and presently in Year 2, with our son Atticus to follow in Reception next year.
After graduating from TVCS in 1998, I completed a Bachelor of Architecture with Honours at the University of South Australia and started as a Graduate of Architecture in a multi-disciplinary design studio working on projects mainly in the commercial and education sectors.
Although design is my professional (and personal) passion, after seven years of studio practice, I was offered the opportunity to take a big lateral step and enter client-side Project Management. Doing this ultimately allowed me to begin consulting to Adelaide Airport Limited (AAL) and be part of the project delivery team for the Landside Infrastructure Project (LIP) which included the new car park building, interconnecting public plaza, link bridge and new road networks which at the time was the largest development that AAL had committed to since the construction of Terminal T1.
Following the successful delivery of the LIP I spent several more years consulting to Adelaide Airport as a client-side Project Manager continuing to deliver a number of major projects which included an apron expansion, Terminal infills and infrastructure upgrades which eventually led me to joining AAL within the Planning and Infrastructure department as their Senior Project Manager and Design Manager for the recently completed Terminal Expansion (TEx). TEx involved the construction of a new significant addition to Terminal T1, then reached back to redevelop areas of the live operating Terminal which included the main Terminal concourse and gate areas, Duty Free, Immigration, Emigration and the disassembly and relocation of the historic Vickers Vimy aircraft into a new Terminal exhibition environment. Given the scale of the project and the complex operational constraints imposed upon it, this was the most significant development AAL committed to within the current Terminal precinct and was a real career highlight, and the most professionally challenging experience to date that I am most proud of being associated with.
Following the completion of TEx and a long period spent at Adelaide Airport I returned to client-side Project Management as an Associate Director for a large international consultancy and undertook various Project Management, Design Management and Superintendent roles across a number of property sectors, most notably being the Lot Fourteen precinct redevelopment (old Royal Adelaide Hospital site) for Renewal SA.
Finally, after 17 years of corporate consulting experience in the property industry, I have recently partnered up with my long-time mentor to establish our own boutique Project Management consultancy where I am now a Director and co-owner of Cohere Project Management where we focus on empowering people to collaborate and build together.
