Episodes

In this special 100th episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan looks back on four years of conversations exploring leadership, innovation, safety, culture, careers, and the future of construction and infrastructure. To celebrate the milestone, Lauren revisits some of the insights and moments that have stayed with her throughout the Building Doors journey. From challenging blame culture and creating safer workplaces to embracing AI, improving productivity, and developing the next generation ...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Elia Hill, a master connector whose career has spanned tennis coaching, charity work, and strategic advisory roles across sport, business, and government. Elia shares how the lessons she learned on the tennis court, resilience, accountability, and showing up, became the foundation for a career built on making meaningful connections and finding solutions where others see obstacles. From her early days coaching abroad to now work...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Elia Hill, a master connector whose career has spanned tennis coaching, charity work, and strategic advisory roles across sport, business, and government. Elia shares how the lessons she learned on the tennis court, resilience, accountability, and showing up, became the foundation for a career built on making meaningful connections and finding solutions where others see obstacles. From her early days coaching abroad to now work...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Hollie Hynes, a construction leader who's spent years helping shape how major infrastructure projects are delivered and how sustainability is becoming part of everyday decision-making across the industry. Having worked across environmental engineering, commercial strategy, and executive leadership, Hollie has seen firsthand what it takes to influence change in one of the world's most complex industries. Hollie shares how follow...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Janelle Kerrisk, founder of Helix Legal, a construction lawyer, business owner, and leader reshaping how legal services support the construction industry. From making partner at 30 to leaving a large firm and building Helix with one-year-old twins at home, Janelle shares the personal and professional decisions that shaped her approach to leadership, flexibility, systems, and success. Janelle reflects on the confidence it took t...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Ben Cryan, founder of Praxis Engineering, Axesse, and Carbon Trace, for a powerful conversation about resilience, engineering, data, AI, and the future of project delivery in construction and infrastructure. At 31, Ben’s life changed in an instant after a surfing accident left him facing 18 months in hospital, more than 55 operations, three months unconscious in intensive care, two strokes, and a kidney transplant donated by hi...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Cathryn Greville, CEO of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), a lawyer, governance expert, and one of the industry's most passionate advocates for systemic cultural change. From collaborative contracting to parental leave, from male allyship to psychological safety, Cathryn makes a powerful case that construction's biggest challenges: productivity, skills shortages, and retention won't be solved by technolo...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Daryl Sadgrove, a leader who has worked across healthcare, telecommunications, e-commerce, logistics, education, and professional services before joining Struber, a business focused on unlocking human potential in infrastructure. Daryl brings a rare cross sector lens to one of the industry's most stubborn challenges: flatlining productivity. From his time at Telstra under David Thodey through to his current role as CEO of Strub...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Adam Woodley, a refrigeration and air conditioning veteran, former business leader, and passionate male ally. From tradie apprentice to building a business with 97 percent staff retention, Adam proves great teams aren't luck. They are built on trust, empathy, and rejecting "that's just how it is." Adam shares the small choices that kept his people loyal: high end tools, eight to ten shirts for Queensland's heat, and customer fi...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Cameron Bell, a seasoned construction and project management leader with decades of experience across Scotland and Australia. Cam has built his reputation on something surprisingly simple: holding a clear, consistent standard. From his early days as a “peggy” (chainman) in Scotland to leading major infrastructure teams in Australia, Cam shares the reality of what it takes to deliver profitable projects without cutting corners. ...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Ashley Hernandez, a civil engineer turned sustainability consultant who has worked across Australia, the Middle East, and the United States. Now a key member of the boutique consultancy Losee Consulting, Ashley brings a rare blend of technical engineering knowledge, sustainability expertise, and mindfulness practice to her work. Ashley opens up about her unexpected journey into engineering, her time in Abu Dhabi chasing the mys...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Paul Rhoden, a seasoned infrastructure leader, podcaster, and consultant with over 30 years of experience across the UK and Australia. Paul is the founder of Vulpra Contractors and the host of the Construction Matters podcast, where he champions the human side of construction. Paul shares why he believes the industry’s greatest asset is its people, and how authentic, vulnerable leadership can transform project cultures. From hi...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Alex Prenzel, a construction leader and coach with more than 20 years of experience in the property and infrastructure sector. Alex shares her insights on the pressures many professionals face in high-performance environments and why the constant push to deliver more can come at a hidden personal cost. Together, they explore what it means to find calm amid the chaos and why shifting how we think about leadership may be the key t...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with James Gleeson, civil engineer and co-founder of Marvel Engineers, to unpack what productivity really means in infrastructure and what it takes to build a resilient specialist consultancy. James shares his journey from tech drawing at school to launching Marvel Engineers after walking away from corporate burnout. Together, they explore the realities of starting a business with no blueprint, the risks of niching too narrowly, and...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Ben Schnitzerling, founder of Red Fox Advisory, a Queensland-based civil and structural engineering consultancy delivering support across the full project lifecycle, from early planning and design through construction, contract administration, technical due diligence, and dispute avoidance. Red Fox helps clients navigate risk, protect value, and deliver practical, buildable infrastructure solutions. From nailing floors for his ...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with award-winning engineer and author Felicity Furey to unpack the powerful ideas behind her upcoming book and her mission to transform the engineering profession from the inside out. Felicity shares how engineering’s DNA, inherited from the Industrial Revolution, has shaped the way we design, solve problems, and even unintentionally overlook the people those designs impact. She reveals why modern engineering must go beyond efficie...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Mark Simister, a globally experienced program leader who has spent three decades reshaping how infrastructure is delivered. From London’s crumbling water network to disaster recovery in Queensland and Christchurch, and ultimately transforming Sydney Water into one of the world’s top-performing programs, Mark’s story proves that collaboration is not a buzzword. It is a system that works when leaders are brave enough to implement ...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Stuart Cook, a multi-award-winning engineering leader who stepped into major leadership roles early, including managing a 400 million infrastructure program in his late 30s. Stuart opens up about career-defining opportunities, overcoming imposter syndrome, mentoring future engineers, and why the human element matters just as much as technical excellence. Stuart also shares his personal journey from following his grandfather on ...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Dr. Sean Brady, a forensic engineer, safety expert, and founder of Brady Heywood Consulting. Known for leading the landmark Brady Review into fatal mining accidents, Sean breaks down why our current approach to safety is fundamentally flawed and how the way we design systems, reward behavior, and report incidents can quietly create the very risks we think we are preventing. Sean shares what he discovered while investigating maj...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Ashley Stewart, Project Director at Turner & Townsend, whose global experience across major events, construction, and program delivery gives her an extraordinary 360-degree perspective on Queensland’s future. From starting on construction sites in Scotland at 18 to shaping the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and delivering Canada’s Pan Am Games, Ashley brings a rare blend of lived experience and strategic insight. Together, Lauren a...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Nick Mair, founder of Pack Mentality Group and a rising voice for men’s mental health across construction, mining, and FIFO workforces. Nick opens up about his near-fatal mental health crisis, the moment Lifeline saved his life, and how that experience inspired him to build a movement centered around community, connection, and giving men a safe space to speak without judgment. Nick unpacks the hidden struggles workers face in h...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Ryza Garbacz, the second-generation Managing Director of NEACH, a leading Australian steel fabrication and manufacturing company. From humble beginnings in a small Noosa workshop, NEACH has evolved into a powerhouse supplier for some of the nation’s most complex infrastructure projects, championing regional capability and sovereign manufacturing. Ryza shares his journey from sweeping floors in his family’s factory to managing m...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Paul Rojas, a commercial litigation lawyer and founder of ConstructSupport Australia. Paul pulls back the curtain on the silent crisis gripping the construction industry: record-high insolvencies. With years of experience working with builders, liquidators, and directors in the midst of legal storms, Paul provides a stark look at the realities of cash flow strain, contract breaches, and the domino effect that can topple even est...

In this episode of Building Doors, host Lauren Karan sits down with Scott Clements, Managing Director of Inertia Engineering, whose story is one of resilience, innovation, and leadership in an ever-evolving construction industry. Scott shares how he built his company from the ground up, navigated economic downturns, and even doubled in size during COVID, proving that adaptability is the ultimate advantage. He and Lauren dig into how AI and design automation are transforming civil engineering, c...