Meet Surveyor Megan Smith: Grad and RICS nominee

Megan Smith is a Bachelor of Construction 2014 graduate and was recently nominated in the UK’s Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors – RICS Matrics Young Surveyor of the Year Awards 2019, in the Quantity Surveying & Construction category.  

Paul Jeurissen, our Head of Building and Construction, said “Megan is an incredible role model for women in Construction. We’re delighted to see how her career has progressed and wish her well with her nomination in these prestigious awards.” 

We spoke to Megan to learn more about her career journey and current work….

Megan, tell us about what you’ve been doing since completing your BCons in Construction Economics in 2013…

After I graduated I spent a few years working in Australia before returning home to a Professional Quantity Surveying firm in Auckland, allowing me to be closer to my family. There I worked on a variety of projects from fit-outs, apartment buildings, offices and warehouses. It was a period where I learnt a lot and expanded my skills.

After a few years, I took a two-month sabbatical to explore Europe and fell in love with travel. Since then I have been trying to explore as much as I can and within 18 months of returning home to New Zealand from my sabbatical, I found myself packing my bags for the ultimate Kiwi rite of passage – Living in London. Being based in London means I can fly out Friday night for a weekend in Italy for next to nothing. I’ve ticked off 14 countries in the last year and have more on the bucket list to go.

Tell us a little a bit about your role at Gardiner & Theobald and the work you’re doing at the Battersea Power Station Phase 2 project?  

I am an Executive Surveyor working in the Consultant Cost Management team. Battersea is a Construction Management Project, so the Cost Management Role is less traditional. I overview a portion of the structural packages of the project, as well as managing a few of the future tenants’ design changes and extension of time claims by trade contractors. I often work on reviewing issues troubling the client – as it’s a £1.5 billion scheme, there can be quite a few of them!

The project itself is fascinating. I’m working on Phase 2 of a 7 Phase scheme. The first phase is complete and the third phase is in early construction stages. Phase 2 is the largest – refurbishing the old power station into a destination. It will include a cinema, 5,000-person event space, high-end retail, high-end apartments and the future headquarters of Apple!

The power station needed significant refurbishing and given it is a Grade II listed building, had significant planning conditions around this. As we all know, cost control on a refurbishment is a true challenge, now imagine that you have to refurbish a building made-up of over seven million bricks.

Are you seeing a change in the gender balance – an increasing number of women in your field, particularly with the focus on STEM education, and have you noticed any difference in attitudes in the New Zealand versus UK workplace?

In the current climate, this is a huge issue and it’s great to see everyone buying into this issue. Under UK law, employers are required to publish statistics on the gender pay gap, which translates to equal pay for genders at each level. What it does clearly outline is the number of male and females working at each level (for example, it would outline how many partners there are in the firm, then the gender split, it would repeat the same for senior professionals, professionals, graduates etc.). It is common for the ratio at my level to be 30% or lower, and then this dramatically reduces up to the partnership level, where women only reflect a few percent. However, the statistics for junior professional and graduates is encouraging — we are seeing upwards of 40% of graduates being female.

I take a personal interest in this topic, having been the youngest member of my course and consistently throughout my career being one of only a few women — if not the only woman — in the room. In my experience, we are usually attaining female students to construction by recommendation of family or family friends. My stepfather is a quantity surveyor and he suggested to me it would be a good career path and outlined to me what my career could look like. This seems to be a similar story among my peers, for instance, a friend of their father was an engineer and suggested it, or their cousin was a project manager – that sort of thing. Saying that, STEM outreach programmes have come a long way and there is far more engagement than there was when I was preparing for tertiary study.

Regarding the workplace, the  attitudes between the UK and New Zealand are different. New Zealanders (and Australians) have a good reputation in the UK workforce. We are known to be hard-working, good at problem solving and have a steely determination. It makes us hugely employable here.

What does your nomination in the RICS Matrics Young Surveyor of the Year Awards mean to you?

I have worked hard throughout my career and to be shortlisted in recognition of that is an honour. The hard work certainly isn’t in pursuit of an award or recognition – it’s more personal satisfaction – but it’s great promotion for myself, my employer and my fellow Kiwis working abroad.

I will admit it does feel a bit like an ‘underdog story’ – some of the candidates have been working in the UK for well over ten years and carry fancier titles, and even founded their own firms! Saying that, I am proud of my achievements and hope the panel will recognise that and if not, me and my trusty calculator will continue with the work.

What’s next for you?

I am quite settled into the UK lifestyle for now, so more of what I’m currently doing. Battersea Power Station has quite a way to go so I will try and tick-off all of Europe while seeing the project through to completion!