Stepping up to the challenge

Image: Kylie Bourke, pictured at this year’s CCNZ Northland Branch Awards, wants to bring Northland’s capability past the ‘great wall’ of the Brynderwyn Range. She is the first Northland representative on CCNZ’s Executive Council since Jim Hardie finished as Past President in 1990. 

From growing up on the side of her dad’s D8 Dozer to taking on maintenance for a 25-year public-private partnership, stepping up to the challenge is second nature for Kylie Bourke of North Drill, who was elected to the Civil Contractors New Zealand (CCNZ) Executive Council at the Annual General Meeting in late August.

Kylie grew up in Northland, joining the industry some 28 years ago, starting out doing work experience then moving to a full-time job.

“I fell into a job at Fulton Hogan doing work experience. The Regional Manager at that time was Cos Bruyn,” she says. 

“I’d been to Auckland of course, but I’d never driven over the Harbour Bridge before. He offered me a job Friday and I went for it and started on Monday.”

She began as a general hand (or “the tea lady” as she puts it) in the company’s office on Reliable Way, Mt Wellington. This led to accounts then to a stint managing the office for Warren Fowler Earthmovers and then back to Whangārei for the family.

In Whangārei, she took on a job with Downer, and was hired by Brad Flower, who was Downer’s Regional Manager and the CCNZ Northland Branch Chair at the time.

Kylie had her first introduction to the organisation at this stage, as Brad encouraged her to attend branch meetings and events to “get to know people”.

“I went along to a few meetings, and Murray [Clements] roped me into the digger competition. 

“So I’ve helped judge that for about eight years, and I started attending the branch meetings and CCNZ events.”

Back at her day job, she had a crack at engineering and stakeholder management but discovered she found contract management much more interesting. Always one to make the most of opportunities, she set herself the goal of managing ‘her own’ maintenance contract. And she achieved it, spending a few years running the local authority road maintenance contract.

Then she landed the big fish – the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway maintenance contract and set up the public-private partnership’s 25-year maintenance contract, working for Higgins.

Kylie was inspired by the Puhoi connection (her original family name Wech comes from Puhoi settlers) and the opportunity to make a difference at scale. She says achieving ISO 55001 Asset Management certification for the contract was a proud moment, and she’s happy the contract was set up for success and to achieve its goals.

“It was a very different challenge. A public-private partnership is like no other contract I’ve worked on,” she says. 

“The key to success was getting everyone on board to understand it.”

Taking the lead 

During this time, Kylie also stepped up to take the helm as CCNZ Northland Branch Chair, following on from Cameron Lornie of Bowling Infrastructure Group to hold the role across two terms from 2022-2026.

“After years of shying away from the spotlight, the idea of being Chair was scary. I don’t like public speaking! But I’ve found that saying yes to the difficult stuff usually gives you the best rewards,” says Kylie.

“The real reward for me was bringing everything and everyone together and making branch events something people wanted to go to and attend. I’m really proud of the attendance we achieved, I think we set a record!”

Along with her branch committee, she has seized opportunities to build and foster good relationships across the region, with contractors, councils, NZTA, and the Northland community as a whole, so the industry can get the best exposure possible.

Once the Puhoi to Warkworth contract was all set up to succeed, Kylie was on to the next challenge, bringing her focus on people and good relationships to her new role on the transport route for Kaiwaikawe Wind Farm near Dargaville.

“Through the relationships with local authorities, subcontractors, companies, and everyone else, we managed to get it done on time, on budget and take some of the client headaches away, being able to liaise with Kaipara District Council and NZTA made a huge difference.”

When the job was done, she found she was “a bit sick of working remote” and looking for a different challenge where she could be more hands-on. So she moved on to North Drill, a small to medium Northland company specialising in directional drilling, underground infrastructure and renewable energy installation, where she works today, overseeing projects ranging from water and solar connections to fibre broadband installation.

“It’s really broad. I’ve gone from large companies where you stay in your lane to a smaller company where the lane has no boundaries. It’s using every skillset I’ve gained over the 28 years in the industry… I’m really enjoying it.

“It’s quite rewarding to be able to use what I’ve learned over the years and pass that on to other people.”

A new challenge

Kylie has now finished her term as Northland Branch Chair, passing the torch to Christo Jansen van Vuuren of Fulton Hogan and joining the CCNZ Executive Council.

She is the first Northland representative on the Council since former McBreen Jenkins Managing Director Jim Hardie finished his term as Past President in 1990, and she wants to bring Northland’s capability past the ‘great wall’ of the Brynderwyn Range.

While she has worked for large companies for a significant part of her career, Kylie is particularly passionate about smaller players having a seat at the table. Her other focus areas include raising the positive profile of the industry, bringing new people into it, and a better connection between national and regional.

“We are a large area in Northland. We have such awesome people up here. So, firstly for me it’s about being able to represent Northland on the national stage and then bring good ideas back to Northland so they can get the benefit as well,” she says.

“I see the Executive Council as a voice for the entire country for infrastructure. There are a lot of similarities between the local and the national. It’s about getting that stability for forward works. Taking the voice that’s coming through from the regions to the national level and making sure that’s heard.”

Kylie says the Northland Branch’s interaction with Whangarei District Council is a key example other regions can learn from, with both the Council and contractors having open and honest discussions about how to improve and work together.

And at its heart, she says the industry is about good people and good relationships. She’s looking forward to making the most of working at a national level and improving on things she’s passionate about – like helping new people enter the industry and showing the world what’s possible when talented contractors are on the job.