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Meet David Taylor

Job: 

Mechanical and Electrical Construction Manager.

Job description: 

Responsible for planning, resourcing and coordinating the delivery of Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) Works to the required safety and quality standards, and to budget and programme requirements. Ensuring all aspects of M&E construction are integrated seamlessly and that all goals and objectives are understood and delivered upon.

Work background: 

I started my career as a Mechanical Project Engineer working with submarine air purification equipment in the UK. I moved to New Zealand in 2008 and joined Fletcher Construction. I have since worked on a variety of projects including waste water treatment plant upgrades, demolition works, a steel plant crane replacement, construction of a men’s prison, and two infrastructure tunnel projects.

Favourite part of job: 

The sense of accomplishment when the job is finished and you know what part you played in it. Projects such as Waterview are great because I’ll get to show my friends and family what a great tunnel I’ve contributed to. I also love the variety of projects I get to work on.

Least favourite part of job: 

Getting up early.

What I am working on now: 

Managing the M&E Works for the Waterview Project. This includes the fit-out of the Buildings and Tunnels which ultimately brings the project to life. Over the last year we’ve been installing all the M&E equipment including the power and control systems, ventilation fans, sprinkler and drainage pipework, lights, maintenance cranes as well as some smart technology such as variable message signs, CCTV cameras (with automatic incident detection software) and special heat detection cables.

A quick story about a job well done: 

At Waterview, the in-house design and construction of a special tunnel drilling gantry. We installed 35,000 anchors into the roof of the tunnel which are used to support all the M&E equipment above the carriageways. The gantry and special drilling rig achieved a safer working environment, higher productivity, less fatigue, better quality, and less disruption to other tunnel trades than using more traditional equipment.

A (humorous) story about a job that went badly and what you learned: 

Using a process called soda blasting to remove a large company logo off a very prominent land mark in Auckland 30m up in the air. It was a windy day and the baking soda drifted off down the road onto a large car yard nearby. Needless to say we spent a week cleaning cars for the owner of the yard. The lessons I learnt were the importance of good site supervision as well as care for the environment and local people.

Qualifications: 

Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Hons)

Interests outside work: 

DIY, gardening and spending time with my family.


David Taylor is a Mechanical and Electrical Construction Manager for the Well Connected Alliance. Image: NZTA.

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