Technical Director of Planning / Auckland

With a passion to make a difference to New Zealand’s future, planning was an easy career decision for Andrea. “Planning is about looking at the resources we have now and using them in a clever way to continue to enjoy them in the future,” she says.

Andrea is an experienced strategic planner with over 15 years in planning and resource management roles in local government and consultancy. She is particularly interested in working at the specialist interface between resource management planning, science and environmental engineering. She strengthens Beca’s combined services between the Planning and Environmental businesses, providing consent management, strategic planning, expert evidence and assessment and investigation skills.

The government’s recent infrastructure push has seen Andrea working on a variety of major roading projects since joining Beca in early 2009. She has been involved in Wellington’s Transmission Gully, and has spent around six months working on getting construction underway on the Victoria Park Tunnel project in central Auckland. She is working with a variety of other clients on water and waste infrastructure projects and on industrial site developments. Her job takes her all over New Zealand and to all sorts of places – one day wearing a suit and the next a high-viz vest and workboots!

The size and breadth of the Beca Planning team was a key factor in attracting Andrea to the company, giving her the opportunity to work with experienced planning leaders and to mentor younger planners. “With so many different levels, ranges and types of expertise in Beca Planning, it seems there is always someone who can answer a particular question.” She also values the continued employee ownership of the company, “which contributes to the collegial culture of the environment you work in and plays an important role in people owning the work they do, our clients and constantly looking for ways to improve performance.”