Six years with Brian Perry Civil have shown Taniela Napa’a that learning never stops and, with the right support, opportunities are endless in civil construction.

He’s now a geotechnical engineer, which is shift from where he started as a graduate engineer with BPC in 2018, progressing to be a site engineer in the foundations team.

“Site engineering is really practical. I was exposed to real-life issues that taught me a lot about resilience and working under pressure to come up with solutions when things don’t go to plan,” Taniela says.

While working on the Te Maunga Waste Water Treatment Plant in Tauranga, he seized an opportunity to change tack and join the geotech team, revisiting the technical side of engineering with a mixture of site-based and consultancy work.

“I received training and support to make the move. You learn as you go, but the biggest thing for me was having a great mentor who walked me through the steps when things were new to me.

“Every day presents different challenges and I love the collaboration and support from the team and the reward we share when we get projects done.”

Taniela is currently working on the Eastern Busway project, focusing on new testing equipment for pile integrity – Thermal Integrity Profiler.

“BPC covers such vast aspects of engineering, and I feel joining the geotech team provided a fine balance between contracting and consultancy.

“I think we offer the best opportunity to see all aspects of the industry, yet stay connected with the support of the big BPC family.”