Matthew Lander Young Engineer of the Year

25 November 2010

Wellington man Matthew Lander has won the prestigious Young Engineer of the Year award for 2010. The Young Engineer of the Year is the most hotly contested title in the New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards stable.

Matthew, is an Associate – Structural Engineering at Beca Carter Hollings and Ferner in Wellington, and was one of three finalists for the prestigious award. He holds a Master of Engineering with distinction in civil engineering and is a chartered professional engineer. He has worked for nine years as a structural engineer, and has been the lead structural engineer on several major projects.

As the Structural Engineering Manager for the new BNZ building on Wellington’s waterfront. with a wider project team including CentrePort and BNZ, Fletcher Construction, Jasmax, Tonkin &Taylor and the Beca building services and fire teams, Matthew was given an opportunity to prove himself as a manager as well as flexing his engineering muscles.

He is a talented and confident engineer with a high level of technical expertise and has developed his personal leadership skills to overcome challenges through collaboration and commitment.

With a special interest in the integration of structure with architecture, Matthew tutors students at the School of Architecture on structural engineering, as well as working with colleagues at Beca to improve their understanding of architectural values. He is a committee member of the Architectural Centre in Wellington.

‘Matthew has delivered both technical and personal leadership at an exemplary level on an exciting and leading edge project’ says Judge Carron Blom. ‘He is obviously an energetic and very highly regarded individual that is passionate about the role of engineering and its interfaces with both other professions and those that use and interact with the outcomes’

The Young Engineer of the Year Award was presented by MP and engineer Ashraf Choudhary at a gala dinner in Wellington on Wednesday 24 November. The evening began with a moments silence in honour of the Pike River miners.

Initiated in 2005, the New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are the premier awards for the engineering professionals of New Zealand. The awards are presented in two major areas: Awards Recognising People, that recognise leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship and our young engineers; and Project and Product Awards, that recognise achievement in the various industry areas, together with a Supreme Award for the best of the Project and Product winners.