Kieren Chan: Building his own future
It’s not every day you graduate in an auditorium you helped to build. For Kieren Chan (BCMP ’18), receiving his degree in the newly renovated Clancy Auditorium represented two great professional milestones.
Meet Kieren, Assistant Project Manager for Mostyn Copper and UNSW alum, who completed his Construction Management and Property degree in 2018. In May 2019, Kieren celebrated graduating in front of the new foyer of the Clancy Auditorium - an iconic UNSW building, and his first professional project.
After watching the Clancy Auditorium transform, Kieren was among the first wave of students to graduate under its new gleaming canopy. He shares how it felt to graduate in the newly renovated building, knowing all too well the amount of work that had gone into delivering it in time for the ceremony.
I completed a Bachelor of Construction Management and Property in 2018 after wanting to pursue a career that would get me outside of the office. As a graduate I am now working with Mostyn Copper as an Assistant Project Manager.
I was lucky enough to have my first project with Mostyn Copper back in very familiar territory, as the refurbishment of Clancy Auditorium, which we started in January 2019.
My favourite part of the whole project was at the end of Stage 1 where we had completed the Northern Foyer, I stayed back late to help clean up the construction site for the graduation ceremony the next day, which I would be a part of.
Looking back at the completed front foyer at night took my breath away, with the copper shingles glowing brightly. It felt like such an amazing accomplishment.
Graduating in the same building as my first project has been an amazing opportunity. It is not often you get to work on a project you will graduate in.
On the whole, I really enjoyed my studies at UNSW, taking every opportunity I could get - from attending lectures, participating in the Co-op Program to undertake an internship with UNSW Estate Management, and going on exchange to Scotland.
The best part of my work is watching the development of a construction project come to life in front of me. The completion of [the Clancy Auditorium] is and will be the stepping-stone to my future career within the construction project management.
