John Built was born in the small Welsh town of Mountain Ash. He did well at school and was awarded a scholarship to the prestigious Judd School in Tonbridge, Kent. But because of the World War Two bombing of London, in 1940 John and his sister Joyce, along with 120 other children aged between 4 and 14 years old, were evacuated to the United States of America. John spent four years there thanks to the generous sponsorship of Noel and Marion Morss of Needham, Massachusetts.
John Built. Image courtesy of the Howick Historical Society.
Returning to the United Kingdom at the age of 17, he joined the Army Officer Cadet Training Unit learning about building bridges, as well as blowing them up, before completing a Bachelor of Science in engineering at London University and becoming a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
In 1955 John decided to immigrate to Canada. Travelling via New Zealand on board the RMS Rangitoto John met Dawn Garner from Palmerston North and never made it as far as Canada, marrying Dawn in 1957.
In New Zealand John had an interesting and productive career in the Ministry of Works and Development (MOWD). From 1959 he was involved in building the Ellerslie to Symonds Street section of Auckland’s Southern Motorway. A key part of this was the Newmarket Viaduct constructed between 1962 and 1966. At the time it was the largest prestressed concrete bridge built by the MOWD. John was partially responsible for its design and supervised construction. It was a significant achievement and a great source of personal pride for John. In retirement he often took visitors to view inside the bridge’s box sections.
Later, as Auckland’s Resident Engineer Southern, he was involved in the Khyber Pass Motorway Bridge, Mangere Bridge and the building of the Otahuhu Gas Turbine Power Station. Other projects included the Drury to Bombay Motorway, Mangere Airport extensions and the Mangere to Queenstown Road motorway. He was responsible for the development of ten major secondary school sites around Auckland and for upgrading many state highways. After many years as Resident Engineer Southern, he became the District Highways Engineer for Auckland and Northland.
Apart from his continuing work on major civil engineering projects, John had an interest in landscape design, putting this into practice on the Southern Motorway. He also had an important role in the development of an old disused MOWD quarry at the base of Mount Eden into Eden Gardens.
As a committee member of the Howick and Districts Historical Society for many years, John did a great deal of work on their buildings, making items, and donating equipment. John also gave his time to many other local organisations. These included Pakuranga Rugby Club, the Howick and Auckland Kindergarten Associations, Mellons Bay School Board, the Parents Association of Saint Kentigern College and the Panmure Squash Club where he was awarded a life membership. For more than 40 years John was an active member of Howick’s Rotary Club and in 1999 he was awarded the Paul Harris Fellowship for services to the community.
John Built died on 18 February 2013.
Find out more
References
‘John Built, 1927–2013’, Engineering Dimension, Iss.126 (June 2013), p8.
John W Built, ‘Newmarket Viaduct,’ New Zealand Engineering, Vol.20:12 (December 1965).
Mike Lancaster, ‘Obituary,’ unpublished manuscript, Auckland, 2013.
Judy Wilson, ‘Members Profile John Built,’ Howick and Districts Historical Society Newsletter (November 2008).
