Faces Of The CRL

Delivering the country’s largest infrastructure project takes some seriously talented people, so in this section “Faces of the CRL” we talk to some of City Rail Link’s best and brightest. This month we turn the spotlight on Gerry Goodwin, who brings to CRL nearly 30 years experience in tunnelling all over the world.                                                                         

Name: Gerry Goodwin                                
Age: 54
How long have you been working with the City Rail Link?  Since November 2018
What is your role?  Assurance Manager for Stations and Tunnels

How do you do it? By working closely with the wider CRL group and the Link Alliance construction teams - as well as their management and quality teams at the stations. I provide support to project managers and supervisors and offer specialist constructability support and expertise at each stage of the construction process. I do this by employing a risk-based approach to the assurance of the constructability of the works, whilst maintaining high standards of health and safety, and supporting the required project delivery outcomes, namely, quality, environmental impact, undertakings, and assurance obligations.

What do you enjoy most about your job?  A famous quote by Theodore von Karman sums it up well: “Scientists study the world as it is, engineers create the world that never has been”. That’s what I really enjoy, creating something new and adding to the story of a city.

What is the most challenging part? For New Zealand this is a big and complex project. The CRL has a large workforce and some may not have experienced anything close to this scale of work before, so I find taking people out of their comfort zones is a real challenge at times.

What have been some of your previous jobs? I’ve been in the tunnelling industry for getting close to 30 years and have worked on some of the largest and most challenging projects ever constructed within the United Kingdom. Some of the ones that stand out are High Speed 2 (HS2), Crossrail Western section, London Power tunnels, Brighton, Hove 4d project and the Westham Flood alleviation scheme. These stand out due to some very complex and challenging issues that had to be overcome.

Do you have any hobbies outside work?  Since moving halfway round the world, I would now include discovering this wonderful country as a hobby. I like getting out at the weekends, either as a family, or just on my motorbike and discovering someplace new. I love rugby, although am too long in the tooth to play anymore and at some point in the future I will resurrect an old hobby of aqua scaping.

What are you looking forward to most about when the CRL is complete? There is no one thing. It’s the whole journey, seeing a city change through the different phases of a project like this. Getting closer to finishing day-by-day, seeing the local population and environment grow and change, local labour gaining new skills that they can take forward. Seeing the city change and adapt. It’s another building block to enable the city to evolve and take another step forward.