Panel bios

Allen Giang

CMEngNZ, CPEng

Allen is a structural engineer at Cook Costello, with over 10 years of experience in residential and commercial design. Throughout his career, he has designed structures, foundations, and retaining walls on projects across the country. Allen has significant experience in assessing earthquake-damaged houses and commercial buildings, following the Canterbury earthquake sequence. Additionally, he has recently contributed to the assessment efforts for houses affected by severe weather and storms in Wellington and Auckland. Allen holds a Civil Engineering degree from the University of Auckland and is based in Auckland.

Andrew Palmer

CMEngNZ, CPEng, IntPE(NZ)

Andrew has over 25 years’ wide-ranging experience as a geotechnical engineer and is the owner of Terra Firma Engineering, a specialist geotechnical and engineering geology consultancy based in the Tasman region.

He was heavily involved in the post-disaster assessment and remediation work in Canterbury and Kaikōura and more recently in flood damage assessment in the North Island. He worked with other panel members in an advisory role to government around slope stability and structural performance issues.

The bulk of Andrew’s work is concentrated in and around the Nelson/Tasman and Marlborough regions and he works for a diverse spread of both public and private sector clients. A highly capable and motivated engineer, he enjoys the challenges of dispute resolution and is keen to use his skills and experience to help others resolve their differences.

Chris Burrell-Smith

CMEngNZ CPEng

Chris has over 10 years of structural engineering experience at Richards Consulting Engineers, where he is an Associate and Technical Manager. Born in Canterbury, he has been involved for the full duration of the Canterbury earthquake sequence and has extensive experience in earthquake assessments and repairs.

With a primary focus on residential and small commercial buildings in his day-to-day practice, Chris has extensive experience with inspections, assessments, repair work and remediation designs. He has frequently worked alongside home owners, insurance companies, EQC, and local councils.

Chris was an Expert Panel Member with the Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service until its transition into the National Disaster Recovery Panel and is passionate about helping all stakeholders to settle long standing claims with certainty.

Christopher Sandoval

MSc BSc RCE (CA) MEngNZ CPEng (NZ)

Christopher has worked in New Zealand for the last ten years, based in Christchurch, Wellington and Nelson/Tasman. He has been with Davis Ogilvie since 2021 and was previously with Tonkin + Taylor. He is a Chartered Professional Engineer  in New Zealand and a Registered Civil Engineer (RCE) in California with 15+ years of professional geotechnical experience on both small and large-scale projects. He is a graduate of Cal Poly Pomona with a Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering and a Master Degree in Geotechnical Engineering. He is a proud Mexican American and a member of the rainbow community.

While in New Zealand, Christopher has offered technical geotechnical assistance to various clients after natural disasters such as earthquakes, heavy rainfall, and flooding These clients included the Christchurch City Council, Wellington City Council, Nelson City Council, Marlborough District Council and Buller District Council.,. Additionally, he has helped individual homeowners to remediate their land-damaged properties.

Conrad Jenkins

CPEng, CMEngNZ, MIEAust CPEng

Conrad is a Lead Geotechnical engineer with GHD in Tauranga. He has 15 years’ experience in consulting engineering within New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom. He is experienced in geotechnical investigations, geotechnical design and construction monitoring for civil engineering works, infrastructure projects, mining and buildings. Conrad was a member of the land damage assessment team following the Canterbury earthquake sequence and is actively involved in the flood damage assessment and response work in Auckland, East Coast and the Hawkes Bay following the 2023 floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.

Dave McGuigan

CMEngNZ  CPEng

Dave has over 20 years’ experience as a structural engineer and is the Concrete New Zealand Technical Director. Previously he has held positions in central Government and private practice. Dave has performed design management roles on significant national and overseas projects and has also led seismic assessment programmes for major New Zealand building portfolio operators. Dave has participated in several Standards committees and in the development of the new seismic assessment guidelines that support the New Zealand earthquake-prone building regulations.

Since the Canterbury earthquake sequence, Dave has been actively working with a range of clients and the many issues generated by the earthquakes. This included performing damage assessments, developing repair solutions, and reviewing the quality of completed repair work.

Elliot Duke 

CPEng CMEngNZ IntPE(NZ)

Elliot is the engineering director at Davis Ogilvie, and specialises in geotechnical investigations, residential and commercial development, infrastructure design and contaminated site management. During the past 15 years, Elliot has been involved with a wide range of projects, providing engineering expertise for clients including Fletchers EQR, insurance providers, the University of Canterbury, Waimakariri District, Grey District, and Timaru District Councils.

More recently, Elliot’s work has focused on ground improvement and foundation design for development, residential construction and earthquake-related remedial work. He has considerable experience in geotechnical investigations, including hillside properties, retaining walls and slope stability. His recent structural work includes structural assessments, remedial design work, overseeing consenting aspects of projects and construction monitoring. Elliot has also been involved in all aspects of claims resolution, from mediation and judicial settlement conferences, to joint expert reports and providing evidence for High Court cases as an expert witness.

Geoffrey Farquhar

CPEng FEngNZ IntPE(NZ) FICE CEng(UK)

Geoffrey is a Principal of GHD where he is a Technical Director (Dams & Geotechnical) based in Auckland. He has 44 years of engineering experience in New Zealand and overseas, particularly in geotechnical engineering for buildings (residential and commercial), land development, infrastructure projects, and dams. His experience includes assessing the risk to people, buildings and infrastructure (such as roads, water and power supply) from natural hazards (such as landslides, rockfall and erosion). Geoffrey is involved in advisory and review roles, and he was a member of Engineering New Zealand’s Christchurch Earthquake Expert Engineering Panel which facilitated the resolution of unresolved residential insurance claims for the Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service. He is committed to providing independent technical and professional advice in a pragmatic manner.

Geoff Bunn

CMEngNZ CPEng IntPE(NZ)

Geoff was born and raised in Christchurch and graduated from the University of Canterbury. The design of commercial structures was the focus of his engineering work before moving to Europe, where he worked on projects for the 2012 London Olympics, temporary stage structures for large music festivals, and a role managing the refurbishment of canal and waterway structures for the British Canal and River Trust.

Since returning to Christchurch after the earthquakes, Geoff has specialised in high-end residential design, hotel and aged-care facilities, seismic assessment of commercial and heritage buildings, and strengthening/repair strategy. A significant proportion of his recent experience has been in natural disaster damage assessment and repair strategies, particularly for Canterbury housing stock. In this line of work Geoff has represented both insurers and homeowners, assisted the Insurance Tribunal with dispute resolution, conducted high level peer reviews, and acted as expert witness in litigious cases. Geoff takes a pragmatic and balanced approach to all his projects, with a focus on quality outputs and building long-lasting professional relationships, alongside a passion for mentoring the next wave of engineering leaders.

Greg Clark

CPEng CMEngNZ

Greg has 24 years of civil and structural engineering design and contract experience. His expertise includes concept and detailed design, structural assessment and reporting, project management, leadership, contract administration and construction supervision on both structural and civil projects. Greg has worked on a range of projects from residential, commercial, and industrial, through to large civil and structural works for various local government and institutional clients, which includes buildings, bridges, public infrastructure, powerhouse stations and heavy civil engineering projects.

Since the Canterbury earthquake sequence, Greg has conducted, overseen and reviewed hundreds of structural engineering inspections, assessments, reports and design for property owners and insurers. He assisted with damage assessments, repair, remediation, and expert advice associated with earthquake claims, as well as being an expert witness in the High Court.

Most recently, Greg has been a member of the Engineering New Zealand Christchurch Earthquake Expert Engineering Panel, having undertaken various assessments, facilitations and assisted the Canterbury Earthquake Insurance Tribunal.

Greg Melvin 

CPEng, CMEngNZ

Greg has over 35 years' experience in the construction industry and over 20 years of structural and civil engineering, including design and management. Starting his career in the construction industry as a carpenter in Nelson and graduating from Canterbury University in 2001, he brings a strong mix of practical and technical experience. Previously holding regional and national manager positions with a leading New Zealand contracting firm, Greg is now Principal Engineer and Director of Vector Structural Engineering Ltd in Nelson.

Greg has worked on a wide range of residential, commercial, industrial, and civil projects. He brings a clear practical problem-solving approach, focused on buildability to structural design solutions. His experience includes seismic assessments, strengthening and remedial works.

With a calm demeanour and experience advancing from working on the tools to senior management positions, Greg looks forward to utilising the skills he has gained to help stakeholders navigate through their individual challenges to a successful conclusion through the NZCRS.

Hayden Nikolaison

CPEng, CMEngNZ

Hayden was educated at the University of Canterbury and became a Chartered Professional Engineer in 2018. He has experience in geotechnical and civil engineering on projects across New Zealand and the Netherlands, including public infrastructure, land development, commercial and industrial buildings, and post-disaster assessment and remediation (earthquakes and adverse weather).

Hayden has advised on, designed solutions for and overseen construction of earthworks, underground services, shallow and deep foundations, retaining walls, basements, pump stations and bridges/civil structures. His clients have included private developers, homeowners, insurance companies, tech giants, and local and central government.

Dr Jan Kupec

CPEng CMEngNZ FEngNZ IntPE(NZ)

Jan is a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand and a Ground Engineering Specialist with a focus on earthquake engineering and the application of geosynthetics. He is a principal with the global professional service firm Aurecon. Jan lives with his family in Christchurch but works on infrastructure projects across New Zealand and Australia. Outside of work for Aurecon, Jan is contracted to the New Zealand Fire & Emergency Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Southern Team. As a geotechnical specialist he was very closely involved with the Canterbury earthquake sequence, the response to the 2011 Japan tsunami, the 2015 Nepal and the 2016 Kaikōura earthquakes, and flooding in Auckland and Hawkes Bay in early 2023.

In 2011 Jan was seconded to the New Zealand Central Government as the Chief Geotechnical Engineer for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) and later to Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). Over the past decade he has managed severely earthquake damaged buildings and land. He was appointed as a subject matter expert for the Crown in High Court proceedings. Jan is a leader in the application of smart technologies in engineering and committed to environmental sustainability.

Jitendra Bothara

CPEng FEngNZ IntPE(NZ)

Jitendra Bothara is a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand, the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering and Nepal Engineers’ Association. He is a Director of Resipro International Engineering Limited. With more than three decades of experience in earthquake engineering and disaster risk mitigation, he has led teams for pre and post-earthquake assessment, post-disaster recovery and reconstruction in many countries. Jitendra has provided advisory services to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and governments on disaster risk reduction, earthquake recovery and reconstruction in many countries. He has worked extensively on insurance-related assignments in Christchurch after the Canterbury earthquake sequence and was one of the panel members of Greater Canterbury Claims Resolution Services. Jitendra has co-authored and published several publications in earthquake protection, including various building standards, guidelines and manuals, and has helped develop earthquake engineering research facilities. He is an ardent believer in identifying strong linkages between social and seismic engineering for seismic safety.

Julius Long

CPEng CMEngNZ IntPE(NZ)

Julius has 22 years' experience across a wide range of projects, including residential, commercial and industrial buildings, infrastructure and marine structures. As a Cantabrian, he has lived through the earthquakes, and has been a member of the Engineering New Zealand expert panel since 2019. He looks forward to continuing this contribution to the Canterbury rebuild.

Lee Buhagiar 

BE(Hons) CMEngNZ CPEng IntPE(NZ)

Lee is a Principal Geotechnical Engineer with Tetra Tech Coffey in Auckland. He has over 25 years' experience in construction, and 15 years' experience as a geotechnical engineering consultant. He is the emerging professionals team leader in Auckland for Tetra Tech’s geotechnical team. He is currently working on landslide assessments in Auckland, Northland and Masterton, earthquake recovery work in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, numerous geotechnical investigations and the design of liquefaction and landslide mitigation solutions across New Zealand.

Lee was based in Christchurch after the 2011 February earthquake and was involved in natural disaster assessments for EQC, Tower, Vero, IAG and CCC. He was then involved in the Civil Defence response carrying out geotechnical rapid building assessments in Hurunui and Kaikōura after the 2016 earthquake, and more recently with risk assessments and hazard mapping in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea after the 2018 earthquake.

Dr Martin Larisch

CPEngNZ, FEngNZ, CPengAust

Dr Martin Larisch is a Geotechnical, Foundation Engineering and Piling Professional with more than 25 years of international design and construction experience. He is currently based in Wellington where he works as a consultant and independent expert for geotechnical, piling and retaining wall projects across New Zealand. Martin obtained his university degree in Civil Engineering in Germany, a Master of Advanced Concrete Technology in Leeds (UK) and a PhD in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Queensland.

Martin's experience includes not only the design of foundations but also their construction and verification as he worked for various specialist piling/ ground improvement contractors in New Zealand, Australia and Germany for almost two decades as well as several years as a Principal Engineer for leading consultancy firms in New Zealand. From 2014 until 2021, Martin was appointed Adjunct Associate Professor at the Geotechnical Engineering Centre at the University of Queensland where he facilitated numerous lectures in foundation and geotechnical engineering. He has also facilitated more than 50 full day courses for Engineering New Zealand about various geotechnical/ piling topics since 2019.

Throughout his career, Martin has authored more than 30 technical papers on ground improvement, piling and concrete related topics. For the last decade, he has also been involved in the development of various international best practice guidelines for piling, temporary works and tremie concrete applications. Since 2020, Martin has been a member of the expert panel to revise the NZGS/ SESOC Piling Specifications.

Murray Frost 

CPEng CMEngNZ IntPE(NZ)

Murray has specialist engineering experience in various natural disaster events around New Zealand, including damage, response, assessment, investigations, reporting and remediation. Since the formation and appointment to the Engineering Panel in 2018 to provide services to the Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Services (GCCRS) Murray has worked extensively as an engineering expert providing advice on a wide range of insurance claims. This work was extended to include expert engineering advice to the Canterbury Earthquake Insurance Tribunal and also to a claim proceeding along the determination path. Most of Murray's work has been completed around working with engineers who have differences of engineering opinions and working with the engineers to address the engineering differences. This required facilitations for GCCRS and conferrals for the Tribunal.

Murray’s background, before commencing this work, included 43 years of continuous consulting engineering experience for Jacobs Engineering Group, working on significant infrastructure and building projects in New Zealand and overseas. Since September 2010, he has worked almost exclusively on earthquake engineering issues acting for both the insured and the insurer.

Murray has a reputation for impartial and independent advice and has provided assistance over the full range of services, from residential to commercial buildings, some of which are among the largest ever earthquake claims in New Zealand.

Nick Traylen

BE(Civil) (Hons) FEngNZ CPEng MICE CEng(UK)

Nick is a director of a specialist geotechnical consultancy based in Christchurch. His day-to-day work consists of investigation, design, and review of foundations, ground improvement works, retaining walls, and slopes for commercial, industrial, and residential developments, and in particular, liquefaction investigations and assessments for a wide range of projects. Other work both in New Zealand and in Hong Kong over the last 30 years of his career has included land stability assessment and design; reclamation design and construction; investigation, remedial works design, and construction implementation for landslides and landslide damaged buildings; and post-disaster investigations, assessments and reviews for earthquake damaged buildings, land, and infrastructure. Nick has been involved in advisory and review roles for government departments and local authorities, and has either co-authored, or served on the editorial panel for several geotechnically-focused guidelines published by the New Zealand government and the New Zeland Geotechnical Society. Between 2019 and 2023 Nick served on the engineering panel of the Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service, both as a geotechnical engineering expert, and as a facilitator. Nick is a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand.

Paul Campbell

CPEng FEngNZ

Paul Campbell is the National Technical Director – Building Structures for WSP, with over two decades of experience. He understands issues facing homeowners affected by natural disasters and has significant experience through his previous involvement as both a facilitator and expert technical panel member for the Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service. Paul is a trainer of engineers in carrying out rapid building assessments and a panel member for the MBIE, Building Management in Emergency working group.

Paul has extensive experience in both leadership and technical roles working for the Christchurch City Council, Civil Defence and subsequently the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, in both the emergency and recovery phases. He is a past president and life member of the Structural Engineering Society of New Zealand, a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand and contributor to updating the seismic provisions of the New Zealand Standard NZS1170.5.

Paul has experience in facilitation and mediation, and significant experience in seismic assessments. Paul strongly believes in the importance of good, unbiased, engineering advice, provided in a sympathetic way using plain English.

Philip Cook 

CMEngNZ CPEng IntPE(NZ)

Phil has been the principal of Cook Costello a leading national engineering consultancy firm for 27 years. He is an advocate for sustainable practice and the need to bring resilience to engineering solutions.

Phil has been actively involved in earthquake recovery projects across Te Waipounamu and Wellington since 2010 andacross Te Tai Tokerau, Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Tai Rāwhiti following the unprecedented weather events from January 2023. He has personally conducted numerous seismic structural and geotechnical assessments. Phil’s expertise and advice is regularly called upon to assist in navigating engineering perspectives.

He has extensive experience as a civil engineer and project leader, working on major infrastructure, industrial, commercial, and residential developments. Along with Cook Costello, he has contributed to significant legacy projects in Northland, New Zealand, and the Pacific region.

Phil is a trusted advisor of the Technical Advisory Group for Land Damage and a strong advocate of best practices in liquefaction assessment. Phil has been recognised for his services to engineering receiving the Engineering New Zealand President’s Award, Fulton Downer Gold Medal for his work with the Panel in 2022. He recognises the importance of his colleagues’ capabilities enabling him to undertake such work.

Phillip Paterson

CMEngNZ CPEng

Phil is a Chartered Professional Engineer with over 20 years’ structural engineering experience in both New Zealand and Australia. Phil works in the residential, commercial and industrial fields and has specific expertise in dealing with earthquake remediation and seismic strengthening.

Phil has been a director and owner of Powell Fenwick Consultants since 2011 and works full time in the company as a practising structural engineer. Powell Fenwick is a multidisciplinary engineering consultancy firm that is locally owned and operated, with offices in Christchurch, Queenstown and Tauranga.

In 2019 Phil was appointed by Engineering New Zealand to sit on the Christchurch Earthquake Claims Expert Engineering Panel as a Technical Advisor. The Panel won the highly esteemed and respected Engineering New Zealand President’s Award, Fulton Downer Gold Medal 2022

Phil is also a practice area assessor for Engineering New Zealand and conducts the technical assessments of other structural engineers when they first apply or are required to renew their Chartered Engineer status.

Rachel Wright

CPEng CMEngNZ

Rachel is a Principal Engineer with 23 years’ experience and Director at RS Eng Ltd, Whangarei. She was formerly the National Manager for Structural Engineering NZ for Jacobs (SKM), where she was involved in the assessment and remediation of various projects post-earthquake including Heritage New Zealand, the Ministry of Education and Christchurch City Council. Rachel has experience in the assessment of damaged buildings following earthquakes, storms and fires including land instability, structural remediation, and expert advice for insurance claims.

Rachel currently provides engineering consultancy services, including strategic advice to some local authorities and private clients.

Actively involved in the industry to raise the standard of reporting and providing strategic advice to various groups, Rachel has a broad range of experience including working in both high and low seismic hazard regions, large and small engineering firms, and having experience in both structural and geotechnical engineering.

Rachel is currently a member of Engineering New Zealand’s Competency Assessment Board and volunteers for the Engineering New Zealand Investigation and Disciplinary Committees. Rachel welcomes the opportunity to support the Northland District as part of this Post Disaster Recovery Panel.

Rick Wentz 

CPEng FEngNZ

Rick has 30 years of international and New Zealand work experience specific to geotechnical engineering, earthwork construction and testing and inspection, and is a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand. His experience includes high-level project and peer review, supervising and conducting field investigations, liquefaction hazard assessments, landslide evaluation and repair, shallow and deep foundation design, and geotechnical laboratory testing.

Rick is a practising engineer in Hawke’s Bay providing geotechnical investigation, design and construction services for a variety of projects including single-family homes, residential subdivisions and industrial/commercial buildings, as well as post-storm event assessment of landslides and landslide damage to structures, and design of stabilisation measures. Rick also provides project and peer review for Government and local authorities, and other consultancies. Other work has included geotechnical investigations (including forensic investigations), analysis, repair designs, and reviews for numerous homes and commercial buildings damaged during the Canterbury earthquake sequence and the 2016 Kaikōura earthquakes, for both insurers and owners, and serving as a technical expert in numerous cases involving the causation and repair of earthquake-related damage.

Rick assisted MBIE with the development of geotechnical earthquake engineering guidance for repair / rebuild of earthquake damaged structures in Canterbury from the Canterbury earthquake sequence, and was a member of the MBIE/NZGS expert panel that developed a series of earthquake engineering guidance documents for the geotechnical engineering industry. Rick is a member of the Engineering New Zealand Seismic Risk Working Group that is developing recommendations for revising the Building Code to better reflect the consideration of seismic hazard in structural design.

Robert Kamuhangire

CMEngNZ • CPEng

Robert is a senior geotechnical engineer/team leader within the KGA Geotechnical Group, based in the Christchurch office. He has over 15 years’ experience on both small- and large-scale projects in New Zealand and overseas.

Robert has worked as a senior geotechnical engineer in Christchurch since 2012, initially with Aurecon New Zealand, and has been heavily involved in numerous earthquake assessments (buildings and retaining walls), forensic investigations, repairs and rebuilds. He’s been involved in ground investigations, foundations and retaining wall designs, ground improvement design, earthworks and slope stability assessments, construction monitoring, peer reviews, and insurance claim assessments for both owners and insurance companies.

Robert has had the opportunity to work closely with senior structural engineers, gaining useful insight into the building stock across the Canterbury region, in addition to geotechnical aspects. Prior to arriving in New Zealand, he worked with Arup on some of the largest infrastructure and regeneration projects across the United Kingdom.

Simon Finn

CPEng CMEngNZ AMIStructE IEng(UK)

Simon has over 25 years’ experience managing projects of all sizes ranging from $0.5 million to $60 million. He relocated from the United Kingdom to Christchurch in 2013 to assist with the rebuild. He has brought his experience of leading large teams of engineers to deliver residential and commercial building assessment reports and repairs on earthquake-damaged properties, throughout Canterbury initially and then wider New Zealand. Simon has been involved in the assessment and reporting on thousands of residential and commercial earthquake damaged properties. He has worked with homeowners and body corporates and provided structural advice and services to larger clients including local councils, insurers and other government bodies. He specialises in separating out disaster-related damage from other existing issues such as deferred maintenance. Simon has provided expert witness services to the High Court on more than 75 litigated cases over the past six years.

In 2017, Simon established Finesse Consulting, which provides detailed forensic assessments as well as more traditional structural engineering services to a wide range of clients. In recent years Simon has applied his knowledge gained in Christchurch to the wider New Zealand community and continues to provide expert witness and forensic assessment services in response to natural disaster damage and construction failures.

Steven Knowles 

CPEng FEngNZ

Steven Knowles has more than 30 years’ experience in structural, transportation and environmental engineering. Steven is a trained mediator and a member of the Arbitrator’s and Mediator’s Institute of New Zealand.

Following the Nepal earthquake in 2015, Steven co-led the New Zealand Aid Programme-funded initiative that provided training to Nepali structural engineers in assessing and strengthening earthquake-damaged buildings.

Over the past 10 years, Steven has worked in Christchurch and has completed damage assessments, repair strategies and detailed engineering evaluations for more than 500 houses, schools and commercial properties. He has been engaged as an expert witness for Christchurch earthquake claims by homeowners, private insurers and the Earthquake Commission.

Steven has completed initial appraisals, peer reviews, technical facilitations between engineers and expert determinations for the Resolution Advisory Service, the Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service and the Canterbury Earthquakes Insurance Tribunal.

Tim Plunket 

CPEng CMEngNZ

Tim is a chartered professional geotechnical engineer with extensive experience in a wide range of geotechnical engineering projects. Since graduating, Tim has worked extensively throughout Canterbury, Otago and Southland. Tim gained significant experience with earthquake assessments working in Christchurch between 2012 and 2018 following the Canterbury earthquake sequence and was part of the North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery Alliance design team. Following a move to Dunedin in 2018, Tim has been working for GeoSolve Ltd. This has involved working on a variety of projects over the Otago and Southland area. These have included landslide assessments and remediation after storm events. Tim's areas of expertise include geotechnical assessments and design for small to large buildings, retaining walls and bridges. He is also involved with earthquake and landslide assessments, slope stability assessments, ground improvement design, construction monitoring and peer reviews.

Tim is an active member of the local engineering community. Since moving back to the Otago Southland area, Tim has organised and produced papers/talks about the regional geotechnical hazards and liquefaction to assist other practitioners working in the region.