Meet Graham Grobler - Senior Project Manager at Acuity

Acuity Project Management recently adopted Mastt as their Project Governance and Reporting tool across their asset owners' projects and portfolios. We were able to catch Graham Grobler, Senior Project Manager at Acuity, in a Q&A session to get to know what it's like working here.

Graham has almost ten years’ experience in both development and project management. He was involved in significant workplace projects throughout Sydney, including ‘the Workplace of the Decade’, CBA’s Axle at South Eveleigh.

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1. Tell me a bit about your background. How did your passion for project management come into being?  

I studied Civil Engineering at Sydney Uni. Whilst studying I was working at a project management firm. During my time at this firm, I quickly realised that as a project manager, you are exposed to all different aspects of a construction project whether it be stakeholder management or engagement, design, or just general construction, as opposed to being pigeon holed into a single discipline.

This really resonated with me as it meant I was exposed to a wider range of information and had a greater opportunity to learn more about the construction industry as a whole.

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2. Tell me about the most interesting project you've been involved.

Probably the most interesting project that I have worked on would be CBA's relocation to Australian Technology Park at Eveleigh. The sheer size and scale of this development is far greater than anything that I had ever worked on before, as the project was designed to accommodate 10,000 staff into the one precinct. This project was very interesting as it was a very collaborative process with the developer to ensure that all CBA's requirements would be achieved.

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3. What is the best part of working at Acuity?

The culture and their approach to project management. Acuity is personal, trustworthy. They do what they say and provide great opportunities not just for their clients but also for their staff.

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4. Tell me about one thing that has changed the most since you started.

The impact that COVID has had on the construction industry i.e. material/resource shortages to the general acceptance of people's flexible working hours.

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5. What is Acuity’s attitude towards adopting technology solutions to automate administration and reporting? Any cool things you can think of but haven't seen anyone else do?

Acuity always put our clients first, so we are always looking for ways to improve our services and the way the industry is moving, technology solutions are out there to assist in making our job more streamlined. Partnering with Mastt has certainly streamlined our reporting and provides our clients with the opportunity to access live reports which has proved to be very valuable.

One thing that I find very valuable for our clients is taking 360 photos of the site each visit, providing the client with a real time experience on how the works are progressing as they may not be able to be there themselves. This is very useful as a communication tool to bring staff along the journey.

"Partnering with Mastt has certainly streamlined our reporting and provides our clients with the opportunity to access live reports which has proved to be very valuable."

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6. Outside of work what are things you consider the most important in your life? How do you balance your time and energy between work and personal life?

Spending valuable time with family. At Acuity, we have a very flexible approach to work, which means that I can choose the hours that best suit my lifestyle and circumstances.

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7. What is the biggest challenge you’ve encountered as part of your job as a Project Manager?

Every person is different and you need to find out how best to approach challenging situations or difficult circumstances to get the right result.

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8. Someone who has a great influence on you.

My Dad.

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9. The most useful and most useless talent you have.

My most useful talent is being calm under pressure.

Useless talent would be being able to ride a unicycle.

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10. What would your perfect weekend be like?

Golfing trip away with friends.

Established in 2019 by a dedicated group of project management experts, Acuity is much more than a project management firm. The company focuses on not only the successful delivery of projects in terms of cost, time and quality but also setting a new standard of excellence in the industry. Acuity's clients include Mirvac, Accenture, PwC and Aware Super.

Check out Acuity's services and portfolio here: https://acuitypm.com.au/