Jake Woolgar

Director
Chartered and Registered Building Surveyor

Jake leads the building pathology and expert witness team at AS Jacobs Ltd. Since graduating from University with an Honours Degree in Building Surveying, Jake has worked in the UK, South East Asia and New Zealand in various building surveying roles. Prior to forming AS Jacobs Ltd, Jake worked for eight years as a senior building surveyor at a leading building consultancy practice in Auckland. Prior to this Jake worked as a technical advisor in the building consents department of a territorial authority.

Jake has extensive experience in surveying buildings for weather tightness and construction defects, providing repair recommendations and specialist remediation designs as a licensed building practitioner and administering construction contracts on a range of buildings from single level houses to multi storey apartment blocks and government owned buildings. Further to these roles, Jake regularly assists legal counsel in providing expert witness services and has given evidence in some of the highest profile leaky building High Court cases in New Zealand.

Andrew Sweeney

Director
Chartered and Registered Building Surveyor

Andrew leads the commercial building surveying team at AS Jacobs Ltd. Since graduating from University with an Honours Degree in Building Surveying and moving to New Zealand in 2007, Andrew has worked for leading property consultancies in both Australia and New Zealand. He has carried out a range of work from technical due diligence for both vendors and purchasers to negotiating end of lease obligations for both landlords and tenants.

Further to this, Andrew has been heavily involved in the defect reporting of education and multi unit apartment blocks, and providing expert witness services to legal counsel, gaining valuable experience in Wellington’s largest leaky building claim.

Robert Medemblik

Building Surveyor and Design Manager

It is rare for a consultancy to create a combined role of building surveyor and design manager. Rob was appointed to this position due to his expansive background in both construction design and technical understanding. He has over three decades’ experience as an architectural designer, five years’ experience as a building surveyor, and two years’ experience as technical advisor for a territorial authority.

Rob’s role at AS Jacobs takes him from carrying out defect investigations, to instructing the designers and sub consultants. He takes great pride in creating designs that are both aesthetically pleasing and technically robust.

Emma Chambers

Chartered Building Surveyor

Emma specialises in the commercial surveying sector, having worked with a leading property consultancy in the UK prior to emigrating to New Zealand.

She has experience in administering construction contracts, and particularly enjoys leading negotiations on commercial lease disputes.

Emma has also had substantial experience in the assessment of passive fire protection.

Graham Durkin

Registered Building Surveyor

Graham’s responsibilities at AS Jacobs encompass a wide range of specialities. These include building condition inspections, defect analysis and expert witness for legal claims. In addition to this, Graham also prepares scope of work documentation, undertakes the procurement of public and private contracts, and acts as Engineer to the Contract carried out under the NZS3910:2013 form of construction contract.

Commercially, Graham carries out premise condition reports, technical due diligence and end of lease dilapidations inspections and negotiations.

Graham is also a Certified Asbestos Assessor, and is the Upper North Island Chapter Co-ordinator for the NZIBS. In this role he provides guidance and information to new and transitional members of the Institute.

Annette Lane

Marketing and Administration

Currently on maternity leave.

Annette joined AS Jacobs early in 2017. She brings a wealth of experience and order to the team having spent many years with one of NZ’s largest manufacturing companies. She has a background in Graphic Design, and works closely on our company brand and image.

Jason Dourado

Building Surveyor

Jason graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Architectural Studies, and a Masters in Architecture. In a short period of time, Jason has been involved in a variety of building surveying work for Bodies Corporate, commercial landlords and companies, under the direction of senior Building Surveyors.

Jason has primarily been involved with premise condition surveys, building defect and weather tightness investigations and reports.

Rebecca Ward

In-House Legal Counsel

Rebecca’s legal qualifications are complemented by her significant knowledge and practical experience in construction and procurement.

Rebecca has over 10 years’ experience, and has amassed a broad understanding of the property industry and related professions including building and quantity surveying, architectural design, and dispute resolution.

Rebecca has significant experience in the preparation and management of tenders and contracts, and is experienced in the review and preparation of evidence for expert witnesses.

Pranay Patel

Building Surveyor

Having graduated from the University of Auckland in 2016 with a Bachelors and Masters of Architectural Studies, Pranay gained two years’ experience in the field of architecture. His experience extends across many sectors, with particular attention to residential and education buildings.

Pranay joined AS Jacobs in 2018 to pursue a career in Building Surveying. He has been involved in a variety of building surveying work for Body Corporate, commercial, and residential development. Pranay has primarily been involved with premise condition surveys, building defects, and weathertightness investigations and reports.

Griffin Hill

Graduate Building Surveyor

Griffin graduated from the University of Auckland in 2019 with a Bachelor of Property and a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Management and International Business. He gained experience working in the residential property industry during his time at University. Griffin joined AS Jacobs as a Graduate Building Surveyor at the end of 2019.

Griffin is looking forward to gaining varied building surveying experience at AS Jacobs and aims to work towards becoming a Chartered Building Surveyor.

Dina Barnouti

Senior Architectural Designer – Design Lead

Dina is a Senior Architectural Designer leading the design team at AS Jacobs.  She has more than 27 years’ experience working for a variety of consultants and architectural practices both in New Zealand and overseas.  During this time she gained an excellent understanding of specific architectural and interior design requirements through working on numerous construction projects within the residential, healthcare, education and commercial sectors.

During the last 8 years, Dina has developed a technical skillset in weathertightness repair and recommendations as a Licensed Building Practitioner.

Regardless of the scale or type of project, Dina has a strong client focus and the ability to work with a number of key stakeholders and other professionals, building good working relationships with clients and delivering projects on time.

Alice Yang 

Architectural Technician 

Alice gained a Diploma in Architectural Technology in 2018.  However, over the last five years she has been widely involved in the construction industry, where her roles have included Design Assistant, Project Assistant and Architectural Designer.  This experience has enabled Alice to gain a comprehensive understanding of design through to build, in terms of both practical and conceptual aspects.

Roger Crichton

Registered Building Surveyor

Roger has experience in project management, working on residential and commercial buildings. He has worked extensively in the UK as a Builder, involved with multi-million dollar projects. On returning home to New Zealand, he has worked for leading re-clad companies as a Technical and Senior Contracts Manager, overseeing large teams of builders re-cladding and re-furbishing multi-unit apartments throughout New Zealand.

Roger has acted as an expert witness in High Court claims, and has attended mediation on numerous occasions. He has extensive experience investigating leaky buildings and large apartment building/complexes suffering from original construction issues. Roger has a comprehensive range of expertise within the New Zealand Construction Industry and is frequently engaged by home owners and Body Corporates.

Daniel Russell

Junior Building Surveyor 

Daniel joined AS Jacobs as a Junior Building Surveyor, on a part-time basis in 2019.  He is currently attending the University of Auckland, studying a Bachelor of Property, and is scheduled to complete his studies in 2020.

Daniel is excited to gain valuable experience and knowledge working alongside professionals in the property industry here at AS Jacobs.

Laura Elliott

Administrator

Laura has worked in the UK, Australia and New Zealand in a variety of positions, from dance teaching where she gained her degree, to Administrative and Executive roles in the business sector. Process driven, dynamic and with a strong attention to detail, Laura joined the AS Jacobs Administration Team in mid-2019.  She is passionate about customer service, effective administration and enjoys liaising with teams and clients to achieve the best outcome for all parties.

Millar Sykes

Graduate Building Surveyor

Millar graduated from Victoria University of Wellington in 2019 with a Bachelor of Building Science, double majoring in Project Management and Sustainable Engineering Systems.

Millar is very keen to work alongside the experienced staff at AS Jacobs to further develop his skills and knowledge, whilst working towards becoming a Charted Building Surveyor in the future.

Jesse Bin Xu

Architectural Technician

Jesse started in the construction industry as a Residential Project Manager, and in 2018 gained his Architectural qualification.

Jesse is a skilled user of CAD and BIM software, Adobe Photoshop, and associated software.  He is able to produce creative visualisations of conceptual design and high quality construction documentation.

With his knowledge of construction, codes, legislation, compliance documentation and on-site experience, Jesse has evolved as an Architectural Technician in a variety of areas, from new construction of residential dwelling to re-cladding of multi-level apartments.

Karli Baker

Administrator Assistant

Karli has recently joined AS Jacobs after relocating to Auckland from the Far North. She has a background in customer service after working for one of Northland’s busiest retail stores. She also has a passion for Interior Design, as well as Law and Legal Practices.