Q Tell us about your role – what do you do?

I work primarily on transaction management within RPS’ Victorian Commercial & Delivery Advisory team, but really my role is a mix of project management, commercial management, and procurement all rolled into one.

A typical day for me revolves around planning and scheduling transaction processes. This involves working with a team that develops a proposal and then managing the assessment and approval of that proposal. I write lots of reports and approval documents, and spend a lot of time coordinating input from various subject matter experts for inclusion in the assessments of proposals. Ultimately this all leads to the award of works packages to contractors.

Q Tell us about your work on the Level Crossing Removal Project

I’ve worked on the Level Crossing Removal Project for the last two years, managing transactions for various packages of work. The tagline for the project is 'removing dangerous and congested level crossings', and at the end of the day, they are dangerous. They are an unnecessary risk for people, and when they’re down in peak hour they hold up the road network. By delivering this project we’re making the transport network both safer, and more efficient.

Q What challenges can the infrastructure industry can help Melbourne solve?

Because Melbourne is a growing city, we’re increasingly having to deal with larger distances between where we work and where we live. Parts of the city are working hubs and other parts are residential, but we don’t always have the right transport infrastructure to get from one place to the other quickly and easily. The question is: do we need to build new infrastructure, or can we simply adapt what we have to better suit the modern working landscape? It’ll be interesting to watch how we answer that question as an industry, and as a community.

Q What is the city doing right?

Call me biased, but I like that we’re getting rid of the level crossings! Whenever I mention the project people always say ‘I know that project! I love it! Please remove this level crossing near my place!’ It’s a big project, but it’s a targeted initiative aimed at improving key areas of the transport network by making them safer and more liveable.

Q Dream project to work on?

It would have to be a project with a visible and recognisable impact on society. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be big, but I’d want to be able to see evidence of the results in my community. Combine it with something environmental and it’d be all the better!

Q What do you love most about your home state of Victoria?

I like the variety! We’ve got such a wide range of people, restaurants, cultures, interests, you name it. That’s what makes Victoria such an interesting place to live.