How did you break into this industry and why?

I fell into Building Surveying in my final year of University back home in South Australia. My interest piqued during a University lecture from a to-be mentor of mine, where the specialist and challenging nature of the building control profession sounded like something I would really enjoy. Soon after I commenced a Cadetship in local government and worked with various other local government organisations in South Australia before finding myself in Sydney, now accredited at the highest level and consulting on landmark projects. I moved to Sydney on a whim to work with BCA Logic and haven’t looked back since.

Tell us about your current role at BCA Logic? What does your job entail? What is a typical day like?

I’m lucky to consult across diverse projects with multi-skilled design teams; so, no one day or project is ever the same and that keeps me on my toes. Sydney’s various airport projects keep me the busiest. Calculating the most disadvantaged egress points through a five-storey baggage handling system can lead to a lot of eye strain and head scratching, but it’s a pretty rewarding feeling when you finally crack the Da Vinci Code and the project is well-informed to keep moving forward.

What has been your proudest achievement in your career?

There isn’t any one accolade that I would put this down to; and I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when, but there was a point where everything just clicked. Volume One of the BCA, the NSW Regulations and Australian Standards were no longer foreign languages to me. At that stage I developed somewhat of a mental roadmap to the BCA and Standards and could walk on site or into a design meeting and provide succinct advice to my clients without going entirely down the “regulatory rabbit hole”. It was then that I knew I had achieved one of my personal goals in overcoming that head-wrecking technical learning period. Since then I’ve been able to learn more in specific areas of interest, undertake further studies and tick off other milestones such as achieving my A1 accreditation here in NSW.

What do you like most about your job?

That no one day is the same. I love that feeling of leaving the office after a long day knowing that you’ve met somebody new, learnt something new, worked on something new and solved a problem that’s completely … you guessed it, new. The people I work with are also great – one of us is usually having a stressful day but we don’t take ourselves too seriously and can always switch off to have a laugh with (or at) whoever is having a rough day.

What’s a fun story about you many people may not know?

I went to New Zealand last year to snowboard with two of my best mates. I got a little overconfident and ended up being taken back down the mountain on a sled with a completely snapped wrist. The happy gas was great at the time as I was giving shakas, being applauded by random people and posting Instagram stories all the way down. I had an awesome time, at least until I saw the x-rays! Many of my clients don’t know that I came back to Australia for surgery and got a shiny, brand new, partially titanium wrist, and was straight back to work afterward writing reports with one hand for a few months – anybody who has seen the size of our reports would appreciate the struggle; I’ve never been so committed to physio in my life!