Opus Infrastructure Asset Management Consultant Chris Chapman has had a varied career, but most importantly it has been out in the elements.
Sitting on a boat in the middle of a water reservoir in the beautiful surrounds of New Zealand is not a bad way to spend the day. This is where Opus Infrastructure Asset Management Consultant Chris Chapman found himself a few years into his career – and he was very pleased about it, too.
“In your late teens, early twenties, working out and about is pretty good,” he says of his first job in public works.
“A big thing I like about engineering is working out in the field. You’ll be going out to places you wouldn’t ordinarily go out to. Exploring the country.”
After leaving school, Chapman chose to enter the workforce. He took a job by chance with a local council to work in their laboratory. He didn’t look back.
“I ended up working for Palmerston North City Council in their environmental lab, predominantly doing drinking water, wastewater and river quality monitoring,” says Chapman. “I did that for four years.”
It was the sun, beaches and fishing that first tempted Chapman to apply for a role as an Engineering Cadet with Opus in Northland, New Zealand. The new role was also in a lab, but this time it was a civil engineering lab. Chapman was testing materials such as aggregate and soils, as well as carrying out geotechnical investigations on slip faces, proposed roading sites and the like.
“The highlight of that was travelling around Northland,” he says. “I’d never been up there before moving up to work. Within the 18 months I spent working there, I’d travelled most of the area.”
Chapman then took an opportunity to move south, completing his cadetship with Opus in the Napier office, where he also spent time gaining skills in information management, design and drafting, road network management, and asset management, finding his niche with asset management.
Recently, he has been working with the NZ Transport Agency developing levels of service frameworks for the maintenance and operations of New Zealand’s roads, across multiple classifications.
“I am not a glory boy so I don’t do the capital type projects,” he laughs. “I’m into finding more effective and efficient methods for maintaining existing assets … extending the lives of pavements through smarter asset management, that sort of thing.
“I never set out to be an asset manager. I just give things a go and it ended up happening,” he says.
Cadetship
Chapman speaks highly of the cadet program at Opus. The program, typically for those fresh out of high school, involves working full time while studying part time.
Cadets rotate around various work groups approximately every 12 months so they can get a taste of everything from working in a lab, to surveying, drafting, structural engineering and road network management.
Opus gave Chapman access to knowledge and established industry players.
“Opus is a company full of pretty smart cookies so you always have mentors that can help you out if you are struggling
with anything.
“It’s a great program benefiting the whole civil engineering industry. More companies within the industry need to be looking at putting young people through those programs.”
For the past few years Chapman has also been involved as Technical Secretary for Opus’ Road Network Management (RNM) Practice Interest Network (PIN), which supports Opus staff within the RNM space. He has also recently been appointed Branch Chair of the newly established YIPWEA NZ division, formerly eNAMS.
“The two roles are quite similar,” Chapman says. “[They aim] to disseminate the knowledge and experience of many to benefit and advance the industry.
“The more industry shares information and expertise, the better.”