Dave Charters

Few engineers in New Zealand have left a mark on bridge inspection quite like Dave Charters. Over a career spanning more than 50 years, he has inspected and engineered hundreds of bridges, trained generations of inspectors, and built a reputation as one of the country's foremost authorities in the field.

Dave's path to that standing first took him across the world. From British Rail to nuclear power station construction at Hartlepool, North Sea oil platform maintenance, and a stint as Chief Engineer on the Royal Saudi Air Force Headquarters in Riyadh, he arrived in New Zealand in 1996 with a breadth of experience few can match. He went on to senior roles at Opus and GHD before establishing DCL Consulting in 2011, delivering bridge inspection, design and management programmes for councils across the country, alongside specialist corrosion and durability work.

Semi-retired but far from done, Dave brought DCL Consulting into partnership with GRIT to keep contributing rather than take his hard-won knowledge out of the industry with him. As Bridges and Structures Engineering Mentor for DCL GRIT, his role is as much about people as it is about projects - working alongside less experienced engineers, sharing what five decades of complex problem-solving looks like in practice, and helping to build the kind of deep technical capability that doesn't come from textbooks.

A Chartered Professional Engineer with both Engineering New Zealand and the ICE in London, and an accredited Corrosion Technologist through the ACA, Dave's credentials are matched only by his commitment to doing things the right way. That's exactly why he fits at DCL GRIT.