The corner office: Graham Darlow

Fletcher Construction boss Graham Darlow says working on Waterview has been his biggest success. Picture / Greg Bowker

Graham Darlow, Fletcher Construction chief executive, pays tribute to his engineering father Bob Darlow for inspiring him in his career and giving him his most precious possession.

Best advice you've had?

Be an engineer, from my father Bob Darlow, who was a director of what used to be a well-known business Murray North, which became URS New Zealand. He was an engineer but I originally wanted to be a teacher and he said very subtly, 'Why don't you do an engineering degree because at the end, you have a choice of being a teacher or an engineer'. Of course, the degree was tough and very inspiring and by the time I was finished, I wanted to be an engineer.

Your first job?

At Auckland City, in structural design, designing public swimming pools, fountains, bridges. I worked from the Grey's Ave building. I also did a lot of work assessing buildings for earthquake risk in the 1970s and a lot of that came to bear when we got involved with the Christchurch [rebuild as Fletcher EQR].

Biggest success?

Waterview. We're half-way through and tunnel boring machine Alice is doing extremely well because it's a large, complex job with a high level of engineering and a lot of risk and challenges. I enjoy consortium partnerships with others. Waterview is a true international consortium. It is being delivered by the Well-Connected Alliance comprising the NZ Transport Agency, Fletcher Construction, McConnell Dowell Constructors, Beca Infrastructure, Tonkin & Taylor, Parsons Brinkerhoff and Obayashi Corporation. Sub-alliance partners are Spanish tunnel controls specialists SICE NZ (Sociedad Iberica de Construcciones Electricas) and New Zealand pre-cast concrete suppliers Wilson Tunnelling.

Watch: Meet the CEOs: Graham Darlow, Fletcher Construction

Biggest failure?

I worked on the Manapouri tail race where the consortium lost a lot of money. The project was a success but I felt it was the biggest failure. In April, we had our 10-year reunion and ironically [ex-Fletcher infrastructure and construction chief executive, now Meridian Energy chief executive] Mark Binns was representing Meridian. I made sure Mark contributed more to the celebration than Fletcher did, given that they ended up with a very cheap asset.

Most valuable object?

My surf board. I'm a very, very keen surfer. I've surfed all my life. My dad bought me a surfboard when I was 11. It's an original Atlas Woods with a redwood stringer. I compete on that in the classic category for longboard riding at Mangawhai Heads.