Lauren Smith

7.00 AM

Alarm goes off, up straight away (no snoozing!) Get ready for the day, ensure site gear is in car and all documents required for the day are printed or downloaded. Do a quick check of any emails that came in overnight that may require urgent action.

7.30 AM

Leave home to pick up a colleague (8AM pick up) to head over to the Wairarapa for a busy day of site meetings. It’s a two-hour drive, with a coffee/breakfast stop on the road at Aunt Ginger’s Kitchen in Carterton.

9.50 AM

Arrive at site for the first meeting of the day – about a Ministry of Education Capital Works project. This meeting is with the school principal and property manager, client, architect, and site manager. Here we chair the meeting and take minutes throughout.

10.45 AM

Next, we head over the main contractor’s site office, where we have the Site Progress Meeting for the Seismic Strengthening MoE Capital Works project with the whole team (contractor, client, architect, structural engineer, quantity surveyor, and other sub-consultants as required). This meeting is between one to two hours, in which I must take minutes of all actions required in the next period, or important items that must be recorded. This meeting usually rolls into a site walk around and a Health & Safety Inspection with the team to discuss key issues/risks on site that need new or revised design.

12.00 PM

Quick stop back at the car to eat lunch!

12.30 PM

Time to start on the second project for the day. This is a school-led project, where we act as the school’s representative to administer the Contract and act as the Project Manager on the job. There is a site meeting with the contractor, architect, and school key contacts. Following this one-hour meeting, we complete a site walk around and Health & Safety inspection.

2.00 PM

Third project of the day. Another school-led project, this time to install heat pumps and replace the main switchboard and transformer. Another one-hour site meeting, inclusive of a walk around this time. This is an image of the trench being dug so we can run the mains cable.

3.00 PM

Leave site and drive home over the hill back to Wellington, as usual, with a sweet treat stop along the way.

5.30 PM

Arrive home and have dinner.

6.30 PM

Start the DIY Christmas presents – making chopping boards from a recycled Rimu benchtop.

10.00 PM

Shower and bed, ready for an office-based day tomorrow.

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