2020 CCF WA AWARDS

July 2020

DM Civil celebrates the award of Project Manager of the Year to our own Grant Craven. The Civil Contractors Federation of WA judging panel has selected Grant Craven from a strong group of finalists who also have substantial experience and credentials in the delivery of civil projects.

Grant started working at DM Civil in 2001 as a graduate civil engineer, not long after graduation from Curtin University. His journey with the company began on work sites like the WA-21 Woodman Point Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade, a 150-million-dollar Water Corporation project. This project was managed on site by DM Civil’s Jack van Bemmel. Jack was one of Grant’s project management mentors on major projects like WA-21 and the Canning Vale Type 180 wastewater pumping station. Grant also served a long period of mentoring under Martin Hicks on projects like Samson Brook trunk main, Coral Bay Water Supply Upgrade and Karara Water Operations. Grant went on to manage projects on his own including Bungaroo Pipeline Replacement and he is currently in charge of our Cast Iron Replacement programme or Pipes for Perth. During all of his time since joining the company, Grant has been mentored by our General Manager of Engineering, Bruce Shaw. Grant and Bruce worked together to a point where Grant achieved his status of Chartered Professional Engineer with Engineers Australia.

In recent times, Grant was elevated to his role of Projects Commercial Manager, which encompasses control of the DM Civil engineering group to reinforce the role that engineers, and project managers fulfil within the company to, in turn, increase the performance of the group within the company structure. Grant’s two decades of experience in site project engineering and his performance in that role, made him an obvious choice for this office.

Grant has excelled in the role because he has seized the opportunity to better organise the group and the processes under his control. He has achieved this success partly through his own hard work in planning and organisation and partly by mentoring his group to allow them to grow professionally and by pushing them to maximise their opportunities and capabilities. This has become a self-perpetuating process that increases efficiencies in his own department and in the company as a whole.

Grant has a natural individual style of leadership. Over his years of involvement in project management on site and in the office environment, he has developed his own techniques engaging with his staff to ensure that they understand their roles and in encouraging them to perform to their best in delivering successful outcomes. Grant has also developed what is a natural eye for detail in the key requirements of a project and the challenges that need to be addressed and overcome to succeed in delivering the completed contract requirements. His ability to judge people and personalities has increased over time. This has allowed him to deal with clients and other stakeholders such that what may have been a disjointed relationship, becomes a collaborative relationship where all parties can acknowledge a win/win outcome. These attributes are not necessarily a given quality, and Grant can take credit for creating his own success in this area.

Master of Business Administration Degree

Grant undertook this course, largely in his own time, for the enhancement of his understanding of the requirements to running of a business, relevant to DM Civil. This gave him a good understanding of all the roles associated with his own that must be executed effectively in order for a business to survive and thrive in the current commercial climate. Some of the lessons learnt through this degree are evident in the way that Grant fulfils his role.

Board of Management

For many of the same reasons that he was elevated to his core duty as Projects Commercial Manager, Grant was chosen to be a participant on our DM Civil Board of Management. This role is carried on top of his core duties as the Projects Commercial Manager and also the individual contracts that he project manages. Participation at board level has undoubtedly led Grant to grow in all roles because he is able to see and actively contribute to company direction.

We congratulate Grant on this achievement and his well-deserved award in front of his peers. He is a fine example of the professional that we all aspire to be.