When Cathy began her career in 1988, after graduating from Waikato Polytechnic, she was one of few women to enter the construction industry but moved her way through the ranks and established herself as a leader in her field.  She has since continued her study, racking up a number of memberships and qualifications including a Bachelor of Engineering Technology.

Cathy has over 20 years experience in the construction industry. Her various roles include technical, project management, civil, structural and environmental design. Projects that she has been involved with span shopping centres, low rise commercial developments (precast concrete and structural steel), complex architecturally designed residential and commercial buildings, service stations (civil and environmental), school buildings (new and upgrading existing buildings) and aluminium sign structures.

Her project experience ranges from $1m to $40m in size and include the Macau Tower, Westfield malls, the iconic Arthur Barnett store in Dunedin, the historic Whitcoulls 5 story building on Queen Street in Auckland, the new Muriwai Surf Club, Pinesong Retirement Village, and small commercial buildings around the South Pacific. Cathy’s passion is in the extension and upgrading of existing buildings particularly seismic strengthening. She often finds this more challenging than new builds as this work must fit in with the existing structure.

The solution usually must meet strict performance criteria whilst balancing aesthetic and economic considerations. Cathy’s favourite project was a $18m coastal residential resort where she enjoyed the challenge of meeting expectations of the highest quality and performance achievable. Working closely with the design team, including architects, a geotechnical engineer and services consultants they achieved ‘brainstorming with success’.