The founders of Beca have built a strong and innovative engineering consultancy for future generations.
George Beca was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross medal for his services in the Royal New Zealand Air Force during World War Two. Aged 24, he returned to New Zealand and in 1951 graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in civil engineering. In 1953, he joined the practice of Gray and Watts and became a half partner in the same year on the death of Mr Gray.
Through his drive and business acumen, the firm expanded and gained work throughout New Zealand to the extent that a merger with the Wellington practice of Spencer Hollings and Ferner occurred in 1968. George Beca advocated a conventional corporate structure for consultancy engineers and the separation of engineers work from that of architects. During the 70s and 80s, he promoted the export of consulting services and established an office in Papua New Guinea in 1970.
A specialist in project management of multi disciplinary projects, contract documentation and general conditions of contract, he also held numerous external directorships and served on many community organisations. George was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the Britsh Empire (CBE) in 1991, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from the University of Auckland in 2001 and was a Distinguished Fellow of IPENZ and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
He retired from Chairman and Managing Director of Beca Carter Hollings and Ferner Ltd. in 1986. He was posthumously inducted into the Fairfax Media Business Hall of Fame in 2009 for his work in engineering consultancy and business leadership.
Sir Ron Carter joined Gray Watts and Beca in 1959 after completing a Master in Engineering at the University of Auckland and a short stint with a Hamilton consultancy. He became a partner in 1965 and in addition to managing large projects in New Zealand, such as the New Zealand Transport Study undertaken jointly with Wilbur Smith and Associates of USA, he was largely responsible for leading the group's international expansion in the 70s and 80s.
When George Beca retired in 1986, Sir Ron became Managing Director and subsequently Chairman of the Beca group until 2000. In 1997, he became a Distinguished Fellow of IPENZ and was knighted for his services to engineering in 1998.
Sir Ron served on numerous external boards including Air New Zealand, the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand and Aetna. In 2001 he, along with George Beca, received an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from the University of Auckland and was honoured as the Facility of Engineering's Distinguished Alumni for 2008.
Although no longer active within the Beca organisation, Sir Ron is still active within the business community and is currently serving on the board of an advisory group established by the New Zealand Government to create a 20 year national infrastructure plan. He is also Chairman of the Committee for Auckland.
John Hollings gained a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of New Zealand at Canterbury and worked for Wellington consultancy Ian Macallan before moving to England to undertake a post graduate diploma in concrete technology at the Imperial College in London.
After two years with Hagnal-Konyi and Myers, he returned to Wellington for a short stint with Macallan again before jointly establishing Spencer Hollings and Ferner in 1959. The company merged to become Beca Carter Hollings and Ferner in 1968 of which he remained a partner and senior director until his retirement in 1989.
Throughout his career, Mr Hollings maintained a strong interest in concrete design and was responsible for a variety of projects including the Shell Gully motorway bridges, Jerningham apartments in Wellington and the Todd Motors Parts Store in the Hutt Valley which received BCHF’s first award - a merit award from the NZEI Consultants division.
The seismicity of New Zealand and the devastating effects of the 1971 San Fernando earthquake in California spurred John's interest in earthquake engineering. In 1969, he published what was considered to be a landmark article introducing the concept of 'capacity design' to reinforced concrete structures, a concept that was further developed by professors Park and Paulay at Canterbury University. This resulted in a design methodology which is now used worldwide. He was also involved in the evolution of seismicity and the preparation of design codes for a number of South East Asian countries.
Martin Ferner attended Canterbury University at the same time as John Hollings gaining a Bachelor of Engineering and, after working for the Christchurch City Council for three years as a structural engineer, also went to Imperial College in London to study pre-stressed concrete.
Following completion of the course, he worked for a London based pre-stressed concrete firm for a year before moving to Canada where he was employed on the construction of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) radar system. He returned to Wellington in 1935 and shortly after joined with Hollings to form the Spencer Hollings and Ferner consultancy although Spencer left the practice shortly after.
Mr Ferner managed many of the firms larger water and wastewater projects in the 70s and 80s and understook major studies in Papua New Guinea and Kashmir in Northern India; an industrial estate development in Medan in Indonesia; location studies in New Zealand; work on plans for wastewater disposal in the Wellington region and the design and development of the Nelson Regional Sewerage Scheme.