Written by Peter Reaburn | Director | Cato Bolam Consultants
This year, 2022, Cato Bolam celebrates our 50th Anniversary. It’s a great time to reflect on those 50 years, and “crystal ball gaze” into our future!
Where did the name “Cato Bolam” come from?
Graham Cato was one of the original company directors. Not long after being registered as a surveyor in 1969 Graham, co-founded Sinton & Cato and in 1972 the company was born. Gilbert Parker was engaged by Graham as a survey technician in 1974 and remains as the company’s longest employee today. In 1979 Graham re-established the company as Graham Cato and Associates, a surveying and land development consultancy, going on to employ a number of new staff through the 1980’s, several of whom later became company directors, including Murray Townsend (retired 2000), Ian Smith (retired 2001), Joe Verryt (retired 2020), and including current directors, John Wisker and Michelle Bain.
The company name was changed to Cato Consultants Limited in 1986 and with the company growth John Wisker became a director in 1994 and Michelle Bain in 1995. During the 1990’s the company responded to the growing demand for its town planning, surveying and land development engineering consultancy services. During this time Mark Parker joined the company, becoming a director in 2005.
The company moved its West Auckland office several times over the years to accommodate its growth, eventually ending up in its current convenient location in Central Park Drive.
John Bolam established his surveying company in Orewa in the mid 1970’s and in 1988 formed Bolam and Associates. John Clements and Paul Bowater (retired 2020) have worked with the company based in Orewa since the 1980’s. John was Bolam and Associates sole director with leading roles in legacy projects such as Pauanui Waterways, New Zealand’s first residential canal development. With demand for the company’s surveying and land development leadership services rapidly growing, the opportunity was taken to join up with Cato Consultants. In 2001 Cato Bolam Consultants became the new company name.
When the company amalgamated Michelle Bain joined John Bolam in Orewa and has since grown the original office in Tamariki Ave to the point that it provides a sizeable and comprehensive consultancy service for not only its local area, but throughout Auckland and beyond.
Graham Cato retired from the company in 2004 and John Bolam retired in 2005. Their legacy lives on in the Cato Bolam name.
As the company grew, so did the services it offered to its clients. Peter Reaburn, who came from having many years in local government as a planning manager, was engaged in 2000 to lead and grow the company’s planning and resource management services. The company has developed a solid reputation in the planning field, with its resource management services being available locally from all of the Cato Bolam offices. Peter became a Henderson-based director in 2002 and, as well as his planning role, in recent years has led further development of the company’s land contamination services. Myles Goodwin, a qualified ecologist, also joined the company in 2000 and over the following years progressively grew the company’s ecology /environmental services. Myles became a company director in 2020. Chris Solleder, a Chartered Engineer, originally joined the company in 2003 and has managed the substantial growth of the company’s civil engineering services. Chris became a director in 2018 and has been responsible for introducing Cato Bolam’s architectural services which has quickly become a major component of the services the company offers.
Cato Bolam has always had a focus on serving local communities. Growing from their West Auckland and Orewa offices Cato Bolam directors made a major decision to expand further by establishing an office in Whangarei. Simon Reiher had been with the company since 2000 and under his guidance the successful Whangarei office was established in 2010 and has since grown to provide the company’s range of services to a wide range of clients in the north. Simon became a company director in 2010.
In 2018 Cato Bolam established an office in the Manukau CBD as a response to increasing workloads in South Auckland. That office continues to expand under Chris Solleder. The Manukau office now provides services locally for the company’s South Auckland clients and growing client base in the Waikato.
The company prides itself not only in providing excellent services to its many and varied clients, but also as a great place to work and establish a career. With people as its heart, the company takes pride supporting individuals to achieve their personal and career aspirations. An impressive number of employees have been with the company for many years, and a great reflection on the company’s culture is the many employees that have taken time out over the years to experience their O.E. and return to the Cato Bolam team and continue advancing their career. A restructure in 2021 created the opportunity for associate shareholdings, and this has already been taken up by the company’s Architecture Principal, Rowan Murray, Henderson Engineering Manager, Paul Kleynhans, Henderson Survey Manager, Amanda Crawford, and Orewa Survey Manager, Bradley Mowat. The company is in good hands for a sustainable future and further growth.
50 years on, in 2022 Cato Bolam has grown to around 100 professionals across its Henderson, Orewa, South Auckland, Whangarei and Waiheke offices, providing fully integrated design and delivery solutions for housing, land development, subdivision and infrastructure projects. Grateful for the long-term relationships with clients that now span decades, the company can reflect on 46,000 successfully completed projects of all types and scale. Some of the larger projects include commercial developments across Westgate Town Centre (including the soon to be opened Costco); Kumeu Town Centre; and residential greenfield developments at Gulf Harbour, Riverhead South, Huapai Triangle and the Pauanui, Whitianga and Marsden Cove waterway developments. In more recent times major areas of work include high and medium intensity residential development including 100+ unit developments and apartment developments up to 16 storeys including the landmark Lakewood Plaza in Manukau. A lead consultancy in both urban and rural sectors, the company prides itself on its environmental enhancement and countryside living subdivisions work that has resulted in tens of thousands of hectares of native bush and wetland being enhanced and protected across the Auckland and Northland regions.
What will the future bring?
The company’s collective eyes are now very much on the future. More than anything we are increasingly conscious of the big picture. Already we are seeing major shifts; to address climate change, in urban form, in modes of transportation, in more sustainable practices of production and living. Legislation is changing to respond to these needs, and there will be a continuing need to adapt our practices and services so that we are delivering a better future for the communities of today and future generations.
Over our 50 years Cato Bolam has shown its ability to adapt and respond to the needs of its clients, its community, and the environment it works within and influence. We believe we have done and are doing well, but we cannot rest on our laurels. The company is well placed as we look to the future and continue to achieve the company’s purpose – Creating Great Places.
