Icon Construction director Dan Bosher - building chief, drummer, Master architectural graduate
Construction chief, drummer, Master of Architecture graduate and father of two - meet Dan Bosher, who heads the New Zealand operations of Japanese-owned, Queen St-headquartered builder Icon Construction.
Unusually, for a building boss, his academic qualifications are in architecture after six years of study at Auckland University, where he gained a Master of Architecture.
Bosher, 40, is also dyslexic: “I could not read or write when I was aged 10.”
That, he thinks, gives him a different management edge because he knows well how much he must rely on others for their skills.
Bosher works from level 19 of the SAP Tower, 151 Queen St, on the Queen/Wyndham Corner.
His office looks across to the ghost tower, the $300m 56-level Seascape, which China Construction partially built before the developer, Shundi Customs, ran into financial strife. Icon considered finishing the tower construction, but never did.
Shundi was declared last month to owe $588.8m.
Icon has completed $1.7 billion of work in New Zealand since establishing itself here as a standalone business in 2017.
Tokyo-listed construction giant Kajima Corporation owns Icon.
Bosher tells of his childhood and how he arrived in the position he is today.
He recalled how his mother was frustrated about his progress after five years of schooling, so she home-schooled him until he was 15.
His family moved from Tauranga to Auckland because of his father’s business and his grandparents lived here.
At 15, he went to Senior College on Lorne St.
Ironically, it was that building where many years later Icon won the contract to build UniLodge Auckland Central, gutting the heritage school and building the tower above.
Once Bosher finished secondary school, the keen photographer could see no commercial opportunities for that skill.
But he was keen on architecture, so he studied that for six years in Auckland.
He is also a keen musician and, as a drummer, initially played with the “prog rock band” Decortica.
His now-wife’s band, Battle Circus, ran short of a drummer, so he stepped into that role. He still plays in a covers band, often in the Chancery.
“I followed Yvonne [Wu] to the United States.”
There, Battle Circus toured, the couple enjoying the lifestyle.
“I had nothing. Yvonne had $1300.”
She gave him that to fly to Sydney “with a flock of seagulls’ haircut” to apply for a job.
His first position was as a project co-ordinator with Southern Cross Constructions (NSW).
It turned out architecture had prepared him well to manage people, tasks and the complexity of building.
And he could return Yvonne’s generosity.
“When I got my first pay cheque, I flew her to Sydney so we could start a life together. Starting with nothing together is a very equitable place from the outset of a relationship.”
He got a chance to return to New Zealand in 2015 via former Icon Construction chief Dan Ashby, working with Probuild, then Fletcher Construction for a year.
By 2017, Icon had established itself here from Australia under Ashby, who recruited Bosher: “We started the business off the back of an early contractor engagement on The Pacifica”.
Bosher is referring to the 57-level apartment tower in Auckland’s CBD.
Ashby only wanted to head Icon here for about five years, so was ready to hand over to Bosher by the early 2020s.
And by 2023, Bosher was ready to step up.
Next year, Icon will mark its first decade in New Zealand.
Although the builder worked with Leighs Construction on Christchurch’s Burwood Hospital in 2016, it was not until a year later that Icon established itself separately here.
Icon Construction’s next 10 years will be marked by a planned national expansion, Bosher announced today.
It will be the major project partner for the eight-business, regionally based New Zealand Construction Alliance.
That, says Bosher, aims to bring Icon jobs throughout New Zealand.
Icon Construction projects since 2016:
Daniel John Bosher
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 26 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.