Back to People Spotlight: Meet Our Team
Public WorksWaterConstruction Supervision & Contract AdministrationInfrastructure PlanningStormwater and Flood ManagementWastewater Collection, Treatment and DisposalWater Resource ManagementSouth Australia
Tonkin's People Spotlight gives you behind the scenes insights about the technical specialists in our business.
Ned Carthy is the Civil Team Lead in Tonkin’s Mount Gambier office. Since moving from Adelaide to join Tonkin almost eight years ago, Ned has built broad experience across traffic, stormwater, water and wastewater engineering. Combining technical expertise with local knowledge, he works closely with clients to deliver practical infrastructure solutions that support the Limestone Coast and Western Victoria.
How did you come to be working at Tonkin and what’s a typical day at work like?
During my last year of my university studies, I went for an interview at the Tonkin Adelaide office. During my interview it was asked how I felt about potentially moving out of Adelaide if there was an opportunity in another office. The thought of moving away from the city I grew up in was scary but exciting at the same time as it felt like an opportunity for an adventure.
I flew to our Tonkin’s Mount Gambier office and met the team a few weeks later. I had never been to Mount Gambier before and was pleasantly surprised by how nice the town was and how welcoming the team was.
Following this I was extended an offer, which I ultimately accepted and a few months later I packed up my life in Adelaide and moved to Mount Gambier to work for Tonkin. I have been living in Mount Gambier and working from our regional office for almost eight years now and am very grateful for the opportunities I have been afforded and the life I have created in Mount Gambier.
What’s something people might be surprised to learn about being a civil engineer?
Civil engineering is very broad and multi-disciplinary. This is especially true being based in a regional office where the title of civil engineer entails being a traffic engineer, stormwater engineer, water/wastewater engineer all in one.
How does Tonkin support your professional development?
The business really values the people as our biggest asset. Tonkin invests in its people and provides various training programs. I have had the opportunity to be involved in the Graduate Development Program and the Leadership Development Program (to name a couple). Though these programs you embark on a journey of self-awareness. This has hugely helped my professional and personal growth.
I also became a chartered and registered engineer with about three and half years of experience (when normally you need a minimum of five years’ experience). Becoming chartered so early in my career I attribute to the support and growth opportunities that Tonkin has provided me, including the encouragement to become charted/registered.
Why is local knowledge so important when delivering projects in regional communities?
Delivering engineering solutions to regional communities is unique. Projects in the regions have different challenges to that of the cities and require fit-for-purpose solutions to be developed. Much of our work is for local government clients (Councils) of whom have quite a large service area of infrastructure and a relatively low -rate base (therefore limited budgets) when compared to that of metropolitan Councils. This means we need to work closely with our clients to develop solutions that achieve the outcomes required for the community with the funds available to deliver the projects.
Local knowledge is important in designing and delivering these sorts of projects as the designer needs to have a good understanding of the local conditions, material availability and contractors or skilled persons readily available to construct and operate the infrastructure which we design. This could be as simple as specifying a granular material (rubble) from a local quarry, rather than one that has to be transported hundreds of kilometres to the site, or considering the skillsets of the Councils’ operations staff in specifying a wastewater treatment plant/system that Council can actually operate in-house.
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