Over five hundred construction professionals came together to celebrate excellence at the 2025 Building People Awards, supported by GIB, on 8 August at Tākina in Pōneke | Wellington. The Awards has been run by Building Institute Aotearoa for over 30 years, but this was the first time it has been celebrated in the Capital.

Twenty-six placeholders were announced across ten categories including a new Site Manager of the Year Award category to celebrate the often-unseen leaders on site going the extra mile for their teams and projects. This inaugural award was won by Lachlan Grant from Hawkins in Pōneke who was praised for implementing innovative technology onsite alongside team wellbeing initiatives and community outreach.

The Awards Convenor of Judging Natasha Possenniskie commented, “We had an impressive number of nominations at a high standard for this new category. The Building People Awards are proud to focus on the people in our industry, so to be able to showcase the wide range of Site Managers working hard every day on their projects has been fantastic.”

Another big first was the GIB Supreme Winner for the evening.  The Supreme Award finalists are taken from the category winners and for the first time the top spot was taken out by the BCITO Emerging Leader Award winner – Lian Versteeg, National Services Manager at Summerset Management Group. At just thirty years old Lian is the youngest Supreme Award winner in the Awards history.

Judges were deeply impressed by Lian both for his technical leadership skills building a national team and for his calm authority shown in the face of a site tragedy. They had no doubt that Lian is a star of New Zealand’s construction industry with global potential.

Lian also received a grant of $5,000 for his Emerging Leader win from the Institute’s Charitable Education Trust to help further his professional development.

The Building Institute’s National Board Chair, John Hemi said, “I always find these Awards so inspiring and uplifting. Seeing the new talented leaders coming through, forging new innovative and respectful ways to lead projects, always fills me with excitement for the future of our industry and for the Building Institute.”

Also taking home cash prizes were the Resene Next Gen Awards with three winners awarded, one of whom was also announced as the Next Gen Supreme winner. Ellie Graham, studying at the Open Polytechnic and Sarah Shiella Skillen, studying at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington were both named as joint winners and Shanta Persad, a PhD student from The University of Canterbury took out the Resene Next Gen Supreme Winner spot. 

The Next Gen Award entrants were asked to put forward an idea to ‘shake up the construction industry’ – Shanta’s idea, based on her PhD research, is an innovative solar calculator that accurately maps solar power potential in complex urban environments. Next Gen judges commented, “Shanta’s commitment to sustainability, equity, and wellbeing is truly inspiring. She’s a leader shaping the future of our built environment.”

The Building People Awards is run by the Building Institute Aotearoa (legal entity is The NZ Institute of Building Incorporated), this was the Awards’ 32nd year.

Building Institute CEO Pamela Bell said: ”These Awards are recognising and rewarding the excellence of the people behind the projects – while other industry Awards focus on the project, the Building People Awards are about the human beings that create our built environment.  Together, we have honoured these remarkable people who have led by example, inspired their teams, and contributed to a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable industry.”

Congratulations to all the Finalists, Special Mentions, Highly Commended and Winners of the 2025 Building People Awards.

You can view a full list of all those honoured on the night with their citations along with photos from the night at Building People Awards 2025.