29 Nov 2024
Engineers across Aotearoa are doing it tough, with a pipeline of projects that has all but dried up. Read about engineers’ experiences and what the work shortage has meant for them.
Anna Bridgman is the New Zealand Operations Leader – Water at Stantec, a global engineering and consulting firm. She says the firm recognised reasonably early that 2024 would be a “difficult year.”
Anna Bridgman. Image: supplied
Stantec has been able to lean into overseas projects to sustain its New Zealand workforce. Anna says the United Kingdom and Australia are experiencing “a massive period of growth”, and in water there is strong demand for network planning, treatment plant improvements, dams, and hydropower expertise.
Anna says retaining great people is a priority for Stantec and, while much of the support provided by New Zealand doesn’t involve sending the team overseas, this has happened in some instances. Moreover, Anna says that facilitating international opportunities has its benefits. “By providing staff with unique global experience, they’ll return better for it,” she says.
Anna Bridgman and a colleague. Image: supplied
Anna believes “certainty” is key to confidence. “Certainty of work would allow companies to invest in people – with knowledge about what’s happening and when, or even if, the quantum is smaller. It’s the uncertainty that creates the issues we’re facing now.”
Locally, Anna hasn’t seen engineering work shortages of this severity. She says vacancies have “gone back to core engineering in civil and project management” and that “improvement-based roles are harder to sustain.” She says this is due to “a focus on delivery rather than excellence, and clients needing to show costs coming down.” She says transportation projects and teams have been most impacted since the change of Government.
With 2025 projected to be similar, if not more challenging for the engineering industry, Anna thinks a “community-wide, long-term vision” is lacking and that apolitical, regional solutions would be timely. “Big picture, I’d like to see what is best for each region and how we might work towards that,” she says.
Disclaimer: Anna Bridgman is a current Board member of Engineering New Zealand Te Ao Rangahau.
Find out more about the impact of the engineering work shortage.
