It wants to bring in UK professionals to help lead construction of New Zealand鈥檚 first underground urban rail tunnel and other major infrastructure works planned for the next decade.
Downer is part of the Link Alliance building the City Rail Link, which includes two 3.4km-long tunnels through the city.
Downer鈥檚 executive general manager for infrastructure projects, John Burden, said that City Rail Link is New Zealand鈥檚 biggest infrastructure project and will require specialist expertise. UK professionals who have experience working on the Crossrail, for instance, will be of significant value, he added.
Downer is hosting 鈥楽ecure your future in New Zealand鈥� recruitment events during October in London and Manchester to fill a broad range of specialist roles across the country. Among the positions sought to be filled are project managers, commercial managers, quantity surveyors, superintendents, supervisors and range of engineering roles.聽
New Zealand has had a massive building boom during the past 15 years, with no sign of abatement, said Burden. 鈥淲hat has changed is the allocation away from roads and highways and more towards making cities more amenable, better places to live,鈥� he said.
Burden said that construction professionals will bring a lot of benefits to not only Downer but to the New Zealand construction sector. 鈥淭hey will bring their expertise, all their experience from working in a much larger market, some of it in specialist areas where New Zealand does not have a lot of experience in,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e want to bring some top construction talent down under to Aotearoa.鈥�
Despite a skills shortage in the UK construction sector, Burden believes there will be sufficient interest from professionals. Interested applicants do not have to be UK nationals to apply.
In his experience, many UK professionals who choose to migrate are a great fit for New Zealand. Those who do make the choice tend to be people who have already thought of moving to New Zealand but Burden also said it鈥檚 important for applicants to understand 鈥渙urs is a truly multicultural society, with more than 170 languages spoken in Auckland alone, and we embrace diversity鈥�.
鈥淣ew Zealand has a relaxed culture and a unique lifestyle,鈥� he added, 鈥渨here one can live in the middle of the city CBD and within an hour be at a beach, out on the harbour or enjoying a bush walk with birdsong and no sound of traffic.鈥�
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