Nick Axten

Nick has built his name on bespoke, high-specification work for specialist clients. He started out as an engineer on projects in New Zealand and the UK before joining RCP's Wellington team in 2017, arriving with broad experience across fitout, sports, subdivision, heritage and multistorey residential, and he still values the wide-angle view that project management gives him over any one trade.

Much of his recent work has been for government and security clients, where the process is heavier and the design considerations more particular. He led the Department of Corrections' modular build programme, eight new prison units delivered across the country, and has since built real depth in modular design and offshore manufacture, carrying it into work for the Police and the Defence Force where navigating the extra layers of formality is part of the job.

Clients tend to reach for the word "doer" when they describe him, and the reputation he has is for consistency, for bringing stability to a project and getting the right people onto it at the right time, which he sees as two of the harder things clients are up against today. He puts most of that down to relationships built on trust and mutual respect, with clients and consultants alike, and to being straight with people about what is realistic.