Committee Members

Harry AschePresident | Aurecon | Design Director - Tunnels

Harry Asche is the current ATS President. He is a civil engineer with 40 years’ experience and has a BE(Civil) from the University of Melbourne and a PhD from the University of Queensland. He holds a position with the University of Queensland as Adjunct Professor at the School of Civil Engineering.

Harry is Aurecon’s Design Director – Tunnels and he has provided technical leadership for many of Aurecon’s tunnels in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Tunnels that he has worked on include the Channel Tunnel (UK), the Brisbane Rail Tunnels, New Southern Railway, Northside Storage Tunnel, both in Sydney, and S1 sewer and South-East Busway in Brisbane. Harry then worked on tunnels including the Cross City Tunnel in Sydney, EastLink in Melbourne and the three TransApex Tunnels (Clem7, Airport Link and Legacy Way) in Brisbane. In New Zealand, Harry worked on Project Hobson, Rosedale and the Waterview Connection in Auckland. Recently Harry has worked on Melbourne Metro, NorthConnex, WestConnex 2 and Central Kowloon Route in HK. Harry is the author of over 30 conference and published papers on tunnelling.

Richard BuckinghamVice President & Victoria Member | John Holland |

Project Development Manager in John Holland Tunnelling’s pre-contract team. In recent years worked on multiple hard rock and soft ground tunnel tenders in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Qatar and New Zealand, which involved working off-shore as well as being Melbourne based. Pre-contracts (EOI and tender development), and project start-up support, backed up by solid site experience gained from tunnelling projects in Hong Kong and Australia. Projects worked on include:
– Melbourne Metro Rail Project, Melbourne, Australia
– Eastlink Project (Mitcham tunnels), Melbourne, Australia
– SSDS project, Tsing Yi, Hong Kong
– Route 3 Tai Lam Tunnels, Hong Kong

Specialties and skills include, design and engineering management, bid management, methods development, program and production rate development, technical writing, document submission, site QA, geological mapping, ground support determination, rock core logging, shift supervision and even drilling jumbo operation.

Chair of the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Tunnelling Society (ATS) committee, and takes an active role in local tunnelling events and seminars.

Ed TaylorPast President | John Holland Tunnelling | Manager, Design and Engineering

Since commencing in the early 70’s on large hard rock TBM’s in Melbourne’s sewers, Ed has spent over 25 years of his professional career devoted to tunnelling, primarily in the construction sector of large scale water industry assets and a significant number of large transport tunnel projects in Australia and overseas. Ed has been an active ATS member through this period on both the Victorian committee and several conference committees and subsequently the National Executive, the last 2 years in the position of President. He is currently employed as Engineering Manager for the John Holland Tunnelling Team providing engineering management and technical support to current and potential future projects. John Holland is one of Australia’s major contractors in civil tunnelling and has been a major sponsor of ATS over the years.

Geoff ArcherTreasurer | John Holland Tunnelling | Business Development Manager

Geoff Archer is a Fellow of Engineers Australia and first joined the ATS in the 1980’s. He has served on the committees for both the Victorian and Queensland chapters of the ATS. In March 2015 he became Treasurer of the ATS National Committee. Geoff has over 25 years’ experience in the Tunnelling industry, the majority of which has been with construction contractors. He is currently John Holland’s Business Development Manager for Tunnelling, a role which covers John Holland’s tunnelling activities across Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

Diane MatherQueensland Member | UGL | Interface Manager

Diane is an experienced Chartered Engineer with over 20 years’ experience in project management and design management of a range of civil engineering and mining projects in Australasia and United Kingdom.

Diane has diverse project experience working alongside design and construction teams in varied complex and challenging geological and project conditions with an ability to draw on varied experiences and knowledge to challenge, innovate and tailor safe effective technical solutions for design and construction. Diane has been an active member of the Queensland ATS chapter having the role of Secretary from 2011-2018, Diane has presented a number of ATS Technical Sessions, workshops, conferences and the ATS Design and Construction Short Course.

Diane is an enthusiastic mentor and a positive influence in the development of people and an effective leader of project teams.

Nigel CaseyNew South Wales Member | Road & Maritime Service NSW | Manager Tunnel Technology

Nigel first worked on transport related tunnel projects from 1998 with the redevelopment of London’s King’s Cross St Pancras Underground Station. A mechanical engineer, he has subsequently worked exclusively on transport projects including roles as tunnel systems designer / design team manager and more recently providing client side technical direction as Tunnel Technology Manager at Roads and Maritime Services (RMS). Nigel currently represents RMS on the Austroads Tunnel Task Force and represents Austroads as a corresponding member to the World Road Association Road Tunnel Operations Committee. He has a specific interest in developing tunnel systems awareness and capability, as well as forging stronger links with industry bodies such as the Australian Tunnel Operator’s Group (ATOG). Nigel was the organising committee chairperson for the successful ATS2017 conference.

Jayson BebekWestern Australia Member | Austunnel | Chief Operating Officer

Jayson spent the first 25 years of his career in the mining sector, living and working in WAs Goldfields for the first 10 years, before moving to work with global mining technology and equipment OEMs in variety of technical and management roles. He was finally drawn to the tunnelling industry by the positive social and environmental impact the use of underground spaces can have on communities. He now works as the COO of Austunnel, a specialised tunnelling services and equipment provider. Jayson has a keen interest in sustainability and process optimisation, particularly integrated systems for tunnel construction.

Keith BannermanITAym & ATSym Chair | Bamser | Senior Associate

Keith has been an active ATS member since joining as a student in 2007, and enjoys encouraging students and other young engineers to consider and pursue careers in the dynamic and highly rewarding underground construction industry. As well as supporting the next generation of tunnellers locally in Australia, he is currently the Chair of the ITAym Steering Committee. Keith is a Senior Associate for Bamser operating out of the Sydney office and is involved in the planning and delivery of large civil tunnelling infrastructure across the Sydney area.

David LeesJournal Editor | Grouting and Foundation Works Australia, GFWAust | Director

David Lees has over 35 years international experience in tunnelling and underground construction. David became a member of ATS soon after coming to Australia in 1995. He has been a member of the National Committee since 1997 and took on the responsibility as Editor of the journal which he has carried out ever since. He is a founding member of Grouting and Foundation Works Australia and in recent years David has been providing Site Supervision on major international tunnelling projects in SE Asia.

John GelsonAuSS Representative | JEG Consultancy | Director

John is a qualified mining engineer who has spent nearly 40 years in the Mining and Tunnelling industry. Working in production, contracting and finally supply and technical support, John has a holistic understanding of the tunneling market.

Local Commitees

Queensland

Diane Mather Chair
Harry Asche Immediate Past Chair/ National Chair
Andrew Ridout Vice-Chair
Scott Keniston Secretary
Brendan Henry Treasurer
Anthony Harding CPD Coordinator
Geoff Archer National Treasurer
Tony Peglas ATS National Austroads Representative
Jiwoo Ahn webmaster, Young members
Monique Quirk Young members
Brodie Aitcheson Young members
Jurij Karlovsek
Alan Robertson
Jeremy Kruger
Morteza Ghamgosar
Alena Conrads
Annalena Baier

New South Wales

Nigel Casey (Chair) – RMS, Rob Neivergelt (Past Chair) – APP, Phil Clark (Vice-Chair) – RMS, Hasim Mohammed (Treasurer) – SMEC, David Oliveria (Secretary) – Jacobs, Todd Clarke (Technical Session Coordinator) – BarChip, Aaron Lippet (ATSym Representative) – Aurecon, Brad Boardman – Bekaert (Golf Day Coordinator), Alexandre Gomes – SMEC, David Clague – Bekaert, Keith Bannerman (ATSym National Representative) – Bamser.

Victoria

Richard Buckingham (Chair) – John Holland, David Grist (Immediate Past Chair) – Lend Lease, Stephen Barrett (Deputy Chair) – Golder, Anthony Bennett (Hon Secretary) – Aurecon, Bruce Grant (Hon Treasurer) – Multigrout, Jay Lee (Events Coordinator) – AECOM, Gerard Quigg – CPB, Gerry Bertakis – EIC Activities, Hannah Dix, Jawad Zeerak – EIC Activities, John Main, Nadin Makin – Aurecon, Rachael McCarrison – WSP, Siddarth Patel – U of Melbourne (Student), Tobias Shutter – GHD.

Western Australia

Jayson Bebek (Chair) – Austunnel, Mike Bluck – PTA, Will Houghton (ATSym Representative) – GHD, Eric Hudson-Smith – PTA, Des Vilestra – BarChip