Andrew
King

When Andrew King reached a crossroads in his geotechnical engineering career, the allure of seeing projects through their entire lifecycle drew him. So, after eight years as an engineer working on projects in Christchurch, Auckland and Tauranga, Andrew decided to make the transition to project management at RCP where he's thrived since 2021. The career shift allowed him to leverage his technical background while expanding his scope to embrace the complexity of entire projects.

"Previously, I only saw a small piece of the puzzle," Andrew reflects. "What interested me about project management was seeing something from the beginning through to turning on the lights—the whole project life cycle."

Since jumping into the world of project management, Andrew has enjoyed the change and meeting new challenges. "It was a pretty steep learning curve, but that's probably why I enjoy it so much. You're constantly learning. I enjoy being in challenging situations—continually progressing and learning things I wouldn't necessarily have encountered unless I was doing this job."

Andrew's approach to relationship-building sets him apart and forms the foundation of his project management style. "Being approachable and personable is really important in this industry and I think my ability to connect with people that others may struggle with is a strength. Everyone has their own view of the world—a builder has his view, consultants and clients all have their views. A lot of the time those views don't align, and it's about coming together and aligning rather than drawing battle lines.”

His solutions-focused mindset becomes particularly valuable when challenges arise during projects. "I don't believe in a blame culture. If something goes wrong, it becomes everyone's problem because the project's going to suffer. If there’s a problem, my focus is asking ‘what can I do to help?’"

Andrew has thrived since joining the team, and a key insight came when working on the Christchurch Cathedral. "I came to RCP to work on significant projects big or small. A lightbulb moment for me in my career was sitting in the site office looking at the cathedral—something you'd only seen in pictures—and now you're working on rebuilding it. It was great working on something that’s technically challenging and also means so much to the community."

Looking ahead, Andrew sees himself continuing to grow in business development while maintaining his people-first approach. "I enjoy business development, so that's where I’d like to grow further. But most importantly, I want clients to feel that I have their back and that they're valued – too many people in our industry have been put in positions where they don't feel valued."