Organisation: City of Gold Coast
Job Title: Senior Project Manager
Location: Nerang Office
Highly developed written and verbal communication skills, including mediation, negotiation and
conflict resolution
My career experience demonstrates strong communication skills in both written and verbal
contexts. As the Technical Coordinator and Project Engineer (Public Utility Plant) for the Gold
Coast Rapid Transport Project, I drafted extensive correspondence on behalf of the Director to
utility providers and asset owners, in order to negotiate the acceptance of arrangements to close
out the project. For example, while utility providers have standard requirements for spacing
between their service lines and those of another provider or asset owner, the high volume of
service lines and pipes under the ground in the location of this project meant that adherence to
the standard required spacing. Where this was the case, I would draft correspondence to
negotiate acceptance of an alternative spacing. Often the negotiations for agreement on one of
these matters could continue over the course of six or more letters, with discussions and
proposals regarding conditions of acceptance and liabilities for future events.
The aim of this negotiation was to reach a binding legal agreement to enable closing out of the
project; this meant that my correspondence needed to be clear, concise, thorough and accurate.
As a result of my effective negotiations on these matters, the project was successfully closed out
on schedule, with no residual liability for future events imposed on my employer.
As an effective verbal communicator, I speak and listen to mediate and resolve conflict in the
workplace. In a previous role, I received numerous complains about a particular employee being
moody and uncooperative with fellow team members. Rather than engage in a confrontational
disciplinary process with this employee, I initiated a conversation with him to find out more about
him and his experiences on the job. Through asking open-ended questions and responding to the
information he provided with follow-up questions, I discovered that he was commuting three
hours per day to attend work, and that this was causing significant strain in his home life. I
recognised that this strain was contributing to his unpleasant demeanour at work and, in talking to
him further, I discovered that he was an experienced boilermaker, although he was engaged on
this project as a general labourer.
At this stage of the project we were about to engage a contractor boilermaker, at significant
expense, to perform welding on a substation. I was able to arrange for this employee to lead that
work instead, resulting in significant savings to the company. In undertaking this work, the
employee was also able to work a flexible roster, lessening the strain on his home life. The
employee’s entire demeanour changed for the better and he remained on the project for a period
of nearly two years, becoming a valued and respected member of the team. Through engaging in
consultative, constructive conflict resolution with this single employee, my effective
communication delivered significant benefit to this project.
Ability and experience in prioritising problems, thinking laterally, gathering and analysing
information, and engaging the right people to reach better outcomes
As Technical Coordinator and Project Engineer on the 13 km light rail corridor linking Gold Coast
University and Hospital to Southport, Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach, I encountered numerous
situations where problems needed to be prioritised and addressed in order to deliver the agreed
outcomes. For example, at one stage of the project we were provided with a strict three-month
timeframe to complete works between two main streets in Surfers Paradise. This work
necessitated closure of these streets, resulting in significant disruption to local traffic and traders,
so there was intense pressure to complete the work within the specified time limit.
During this phase of the project, numerous problems were encountered. For instance, while we
worked from maps which purported to lay out the location of all underground utilities, after
digging it was inevitably discovered that only about 40% of the actual infrastructure was included
on the maps. This meant that I needed to constantly review and re-evaluate activities and
timeframes to ensure that the completion of this section of work was not affected by unexpected
delays. Through factoring in additional time to allow for the discovery of unmarked services, I
ensured that the project remained on schedule.
Some of the issues encountered during this time required lateral thinking to develop solutions. For
example, the fine dry sand texture of the ground meant that holes were still liable to collapse if
traditional shoring methods were used. I analysed the situation and surveyed potential solutions,
then engaged a combination of contracting companies offering novel extraction and shoring
techniques that were suitable for the challenges we faced. The use of these companies meant that
additional expense would be incurred, so prior to proceeding with this solution I discussed the
forecast expenditure with the finance team, providing the results of my analysis and reasons for
the decision to use these methods.
As a result of my development of solutions to the challenges faced on this section of the project,
works were completed on time and the streets re-opened as scheduled. The trust that was
established with the Gold Coast City Council through delivering the agreed outcome within the
specified timeframe meant that no unnecessary opposition was faced when the next block needed
to be closed for the next section of works.
Experience in providing accurate project status reports, including forecast expenditure and
timelines and ensuring that scope, financial and timeline variations are managed in line with
stakeholder expectations
My role as Technical Coordinator and Project Engineer (Public Utility Plant) for the Gold Coast
Rapid Transport Project required me to provide ongoing forecasting of, and reporting on, planned
expenditures and project timelines. On a monthly basis I would meet with the engineers
responsible for various aspects of the project under the Public Utility Plant (PUP) team’s scope to
discuss their forecasted activities for the upcoming month. After analysing, discussing and
reviewing each engineer’s forecast, I would collate this information to enable me to provide a full
and detailed forecast of the month’s proposed expenditure. Forecasts were typically in the region
of $500,000 per month. At the same time as providing expenditure projections, I would determine
the timeline for the month’s activities. This was achieved by following the same process of
consulting with each engineer, then producing a timeline for the PUP team.
At weekly intervals, I would provide progress reports on both expenditure and project progress in
relation to forecast timelines. At the end of month, I then produced a full report on the month’s
activities in relation to the forecasts; where there were discrepancies from the forecast
expenditure or activity progress, my report would include the reasons for this.
Where variations from forecast timelines or expenditure arose, I would communicate openly and
early with the relevant stakeholders. For example, during the close out phase of the Rapid
Transport Project, there were a substantial number of instances of assets physically touching,
contrary to the asset owner’s standard guidelines. As a result, the asset owners were claiming that
asset lifespans would be reduced, and proposing that McConnell Dowell should be liable for lost
revenues or reinstatement in the event of future deterioration of the assets. In order to resolve
these conflicts, I located a firm of Registered Practicing Queensland Engineers who were willing to
sign off on these conflicts following review; this service would however come at a cost of $2.5
million. This unplanned expenditure was a significant departure from forecast costs of closing out,
but nonetheless in my view represented the best means of securing the interests of the company.
I therefore provided a report to the senior management of the project, providing a summary of
the situation and justifying the need to spend the additional amount on having these conflicts
resolved.
Examples of how you plan and organise yourself and others to ensure the timely completion of
tasks
When working on the Woodside Petroleum Pluto LNG Project, I was the Site Manager and
Company Representative for Wenco, which required me to liaise with the client. Because the scale
of this job was so large however, the contract was in fact split amongst three contractors –
Leightons, BGC and Decmel Australia. Each of these companies was therefore a separate client,
managing a different geographical area of the project. This meant that I was coordinating work to
three separate timelines. My role included meeting with each of these clients on a regular basis to
discuss deadlines for completion of work; I would then need to deliver this timeframe to each of
the supervisors of the separate work teams in each client’s area of the project.
In order to prevent crews from being left idle when their work was held up by activities outside of
our control, I always anticipated potential delays and had an alternative area of ground opened up
so that work could be transferred there if progress in one area was obstructed. This ensured that
overall timeframes were not interrupted even if the order of work needed to be changed. Where a
three-month project milestone was provided by the client, I would break this up in to one-month
milestones, allowing progress to be more closely tracked and preventing last-minute holdups from
impacting significantly on outcome delivery.
Part of managing the delivery of Wenco’s tasks involved maintaining an awareness of broader
program activities. So, for example, when I could see that an upcoming activity by another
contractor (such as work requiring specially-imported machinery that could not be rescheduled)
would present a holdup to Wenco’s work, I would put in place a plan to respond to this. I might
reallocate resources to the affected crew so that work could be speeded up to get ahead of the
holdup point or, if this was not feasible, I would ensure that there was an alternate section of
ground available that work could progress on while the team waited for the holdup to clear.
Through proactive anticipation of, and creative response to, potential holdups, I ensured that
delivery on client expectations and deadlines was not compromised.
Technical / engineering qualifications and extensive relevant experience
My current role is that of Construction, Connections and Commissioning Project Officer for Gold
Coast Water Directorate Infrastructure Program Management. Other experience relevant to this
position includes three and a half years as the Technical Coordinator and Project Engineer for
water and sewer utilities on the Gold Coast Light Rail Project, a twelve-month position as Civil
Construction Supervisor – Team Leader for the Airport Link and Northern Busways Tunnel Project,
and two years as Site Manager and Company Representative for Wenco on the Woodside
Petroleum Pluto LNG Project. Preceding this, I possess over seven years of experience in Foreman
and Supervisor roles for plumbing projects.
In addition to this experience, I possess the following relevant qualifications:
Diploma of Civil and Construction Management
Diploma of Management
Diploma of Project Management
Certificate IV in OHS and Risk Management
Certificate III in Civil Construction Pipe Laying
QA/QC Inspector of Bondstrand GRE Piping
