Waipā boosts engineering capacity
Waipa District Council has appointed chartered engineer Dawn Inglis as a new group manager in charge of water services, major capital works, asset management planning and transportation.
Inglis has worked at Waipā for nine years, originally as road corridor manager and more recently as the manager of RATA (Regional Asset Technical Accord). In her role with RATA, Inglis was responsible for growing, developing and driving a successful new roading business model throughout the Waikato region. RATA has since been expanded to consider challenges with water services.
Prior to Waipā, Inglis held engineering positions at Hamilton City, Auckland City and the former Franklin District Council. She has also led a number of national initiatives, including initiatives on behalf of central government.
Inglis will replace current group manager – service delivery Barry Bergin who will become Council’s principal engineer, focusing only on project engineering and contract management. Bergin will be responsible for scrutinising contract allocation and contract management, and monitoring contracts through their lifecycles. He will also mentor existing Waipā staff to help grow contract management skills and reduce the Council’s reliance on external consultants.
Waipā chief executive Garry Dyet said Inglis and Bergin had been appointed to “critical roles” given the massive amount of growth-related infrastructure work planned for the district. In the coming financial year, Inglis would oversee a $160 million budget, including a $126 million capital works programme headed by project delivery manager, Lorraine Kendrick. The trio already worked closely together and would form a powerful team, Dyet said.
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“There was huge interest in Dawn’s new role and shortlisted candidates were of a high calibre, each bringing a wealth of knowledge, skills and experience. This is a massive job and Dawn has proven she is more than up to it. I’m thrilled to have her move into this role as part of my senior executive team and I’m just as pleased Barry has agreed to take on the principal engineer’s role.”
“As a high-growth district, and given the very tight contracting market, the challenges ahead of us are complex. So we are extraordinarily lucky to have chartered engineers on board who are technically very savvy and have extensive local government and contracting experience.”
Inglis and Bergin will begin their new roles on November 11.