Perth beckons property boss
AFTER overseeing more than $300 million of capital projects at the University of Otago, the director of its property services is headed for a ‘‘sea change’’, leaving to work at a university in Australia.
Property services director Barry McKay said when he started working at the university in 2001 there were 1100 fewer staff, 4000 fewer students and 100,000sq m less space.
The university had already started to expand on to Castle St, buying as many flats as possible to raise the standard of student accommodation; however they ended up being used for aca demic buildings, Mr McKay said.
Developments he had overseen included the new Hunter Centre, the transformation of the Gardens Tavern into the Marsh study centre, and the upgrade of the Bill Robertson Library (now known as the Robertson Library), shared by College of Education and Otago Polytechnic students.
While the purchase of the Gardens Tavern led to the university getting ‘‘quite a bit of stick’’, it had proven its value as a study centre for students who lived away from the campus, Mr McKay said.
‘‘We also spent about $170 million on maintenance of the existing portfolio.’’
The role of property services director had had a ‘‘very wideranging remit’’, covering everything from buildings to parking, and upgrading residential colleges.
The project he liked best? ‘‘The landscape project is probably my favourite . . .’’ he said.
The campus had been made much more attractive and accessibility had been improved.
‘‘In the last three or four years we’ve featured in the top 20 most beautiful campuses around the world.’’
During his tenure, Arana College had doubled in size, and 100 extra beds had been added to Unicol, as well as a social space ‘‘because they didn’t have one’’.
Changes were made based on a campus master plan, which provided a guideline for new developments. One of the best parts of working in a university environment was working to support academics in terms of being able to do research.
One of the major problems he had faced was rebuilding the Christchurch campus main building and several smaller buildings after the earthquakes in 2010 and 2011.
Before his role at the university he worked for six months at the Southern District Health Board, also looking after maintenance, and before then he worked for the Department of Corrections, overseeing main tenance work at Dunedin Prison ‘‘when it was only little’’ and the prison in Invercargill.
‘‘I have enjoyed the university. I mean, generally when I get out of bed in the morning I look forward to going to work,’’ he said.
‘‘The students add a vibrancy, and the staff are incredibly talented and do really, really interesting things.’’
He had accepted a fiveyear contract at Murdoch University in Perth, and would officially leave the university in August.
‘‘It’s a good opportunity I think. My wife and I were really looking for a bit of a sea change,’’ he said.