GHD Advisory gains national presence with Northern Territory launch

Now covering every Australian state and territory, the advisory arm of global engineering and design services firm GHD has expanded into the Northern Territory.

First launched in 2016, GHD Advisory, the consulting wing of global engineering and design services firm GHD, has completed building out its Australian footprint through an expansion into the Northern Territory, with executive and senior advisors Matt Punch and Matthew Behling recruited from PwC to head up the new offering out of Darwin.

The consulting firm says it will now quickly scale the local team to serve the particular needs of clients in the region.

“GHD is deeply embedded in Northern Australia, with great people who understand the north’s unique problems and opportunities because they’re committed to this place too,” Punch stated. “Providing local advisory support to clients and projects is a really exciting opportunity. Northern Australia has vast potential and at GHD we are committed to helping communities, businesses and governments deliver successful projects and grow the region.”

Practically a local in relative terms, Punch has been stationed in Darwin for over a decade, first working on Native Title and Aboriginal land rights issues as a lawyer for the Northern Land Council. Since then, he has served as a ministerial advisor to the Northern Territory government on justice and mining & resources policy, and spent the past four years as a director and associate director between PwC and KPMG’s local Enterprise practice.

Behling also joins from PwC, most recently as a management consultant with the Darwin office of PwC’s Indigenous Consulting, where he worked in areas such as future housing strategy, critical infrastructure analysis, and transition planning for the mining industry. Before moving up north with the firm last year, Behling worked as a tax advisor in PwC’s Sydney office, joining in 2015 after an earlier career start as an engineering surveyor.

Now operating in all states and territories across Australia, GHD Advisory will work closely with the broader GHD enterprise as it establishes its local market presence, with the almost century-old multidisciplinary engineering and professional services firm’s existing Northern Australia operations extending across the Territory and throughout Central and Far North Queensland, underpinned by a team of more than 250 professionals.

“As we arrive at the end of 2023, it is great to be celebrating this growth milestone and reflecting on our Australia-wide presence,” commented general manager Tomas Nohel, who leads GHD Advisory in Australia and New Zealand. “In 2024, we will continue growing our Northern Territory team and maintain a focus on value creation and technical excellence – values associated with GHD over our 75 year presence in Northern Australia.”

Established as a distinct business in 2016 to provide clients with services beyond its traditional design and delivery of assets, in areas such as asset management, risk & assurance, and infrastructure investment and economics, GHD Advisory has since been rolled out across the world, including entries into North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. The division is led globally by Richard Fechner out of the firm’s Sydney headquarters.