Earthquakes & Island Expedition: WelTec Engineering Graduate

Earthquakes & Island Expedition Equals Exciting Time for WelTec Engineering Graduate

1 August 2013

The last 6 weeks have been the most exciting and energising of Ben Stocker’s professional career. Over the course of most of last week Ben Stocker was part of an emergency earthquake inspection team mobilised by Beca to help commercial building owners satisfy themselves and their tenants that buildings were safe to occupy in the wake of the Wellington earthquakes.

Following the magnitude 6.5 earthquake on 21 July Ben Stocker was part of a team comprising senior and intermediate engineers sent out by Beca engineering to assess buildings in the Wellington CBD for structural damage.

“It was exciting and at the same time I was very aware of the high level of public trust in what we were doing. I was really pleased to be able to assist. My job post the Wellington earthquakes was to look for movement in the buildings assessing any hairline cracks and provide feedback to the other engineers on the team,” says Stocker.

Ben graduated from Otago University in 2005 with a BSc majoring in geography and found it tough going getting a job where he could apply his qualification. He worked in the construction industry for a couple of years until the Global Financial Crisis hit and building contracted. Ben decided to study the New Zealand Diploma in Engineering at the Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec) mainly because of its practical application and the jobs at the end looked promising.

On completion of his engineering diploma Ben was immediately offered a job by Beca – the largest international engineering and consultancy business in Asia and the Pacific with offices throughout New Zealand and Jakarta. Ben started in Beca’s structural team and as an Engineering Technician works alongside 7 draughtsmen. He is using CAD applications to model new builds and renovations to existing buildings. “I use computer models to produce a 2D or 3D view of a project. I work with two draughtsmen and other engineers on a team. As a new graduate I also get the opportunity to work on other teams as we rotate roles every 6 months. This is a great job. You can design something and then see it built – to your design – it’s interesting and rewarding.”

Last month Ben travelled to Tokelau with another Beca team. For two weeks he inspected buildings from a structural perspective contributing to reports on the likely performance of buildings in an evacuation scenario. He visited the 3 atolls of Tokelau which meant an overnight sail between each atoll, and a 30 hour sail from Samoa to reach the group of atolls.

Back at his desk post the trip and the earthquakes Ben is working on some big projects including helping a lead draughtsman on a brand new building in Marlborough which has lots of curves and shapes which makes “the concept interesting from an architectural design perspective.”

In terms of the future Ben says it’s looking very bright, “I can see where I want to move. The big thing is deciding where to next. Beca lets you drive your career and if this fits then it’s really up to you.”

Mike Kerr, Wellington Regional Manager for Beca and Chair of WelTec’s Engineering Advisory Committee says, “There is a big skills shortage of qualified engineers in New Zealand at all levels in the industry. We employ graduates with applied practical engineering skills and last year employed several WelTec graduates. We want to take on more.

“The Wellington economy is growing and with major new construction and roading projects on the horizon we need to plan now for this work now. We need skilled engineers to make these projects happen and at Beca we really are looking for people with the skills gained at institutions like WelTec. It would be great if the required labourforce could be sourced locally, but to do this we definitely need more women and men taking up engineering.”

ENDS

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