Director | Senior Structural Engineer
Steffan Sonntag
Steffan is a Director and Senior Structural Engineer at Nemean Consulting Ltd, leading the design and technical delivery of structural projects across New Zealand. He has worked extensively in off-site and modular construction, helping manufacturers, developers, and project teams navigate the challenges of design integration, buildability, and project delivery.
Frustrated by the amount of time and cost lost before projects ever reach the factory floor, Steffan is focused on improving front-end decision-making through better engineering, better data, and practical digital tools.
At COLAB26, he will share why many modular projects struggle long before manufacturing begins, and what the industry can do to close that gap.
Nemean Consulting Ltd
Rayno Potgieter
Rayno Potgieter is a Director of Nemean Ltd and oversees the operational delivery of the business's civil, geotechnical, and structural engineering services. Having been involved in more than 100 off-site and modular building projects, he has seen first-hand how poor feasibility information and early-stage uncertainty drive cost, delays, and redesign throughout delivery.
His focus is on simplifying complex decisions, improving project certainty, and creating processes that allow better decisions to be made earlier. Together with Steffan, he has helped develop tools and workflows aimed at reducing pre-construction waste and improving feasibility outcomes, bringing a practical delivery perspective to the modular conversation at COLAB26.
Director
Nemean Ltd
Principal Geotechnical Engineer
Tonkin + Taylor
Karin Speight
Karin Speight is a Principal Geotechnical Engineer, Sector Lead for Land Development at Tonkin + Taylor, and a passionate advocate for smarter, more resilient housing delivery.
With nearly 20 years of experience across New Zealand and the Pacific, Karin specialises in helping clients identify development opportunities early, reduce risk, and make better investment decisions. Her work spans social housing, education, commercial developments, infrastructure and large-scale land development projects.
Karin is known for bringing together geotechnical engineering, planning, infrastructure, environmental and commercial considerations to unlock challenging development sites and accelerate project delivery. She has played key leadership roles on major housing programmes, helping streamline design and consenting processes and improve delivery certainty.
As an engineer with a strong interest in innovation and digital enablement, Karin is passionate about finding practical ways to deliver more housing, more efficiently. At COLAB26, she will share insights from real projects on how early feasibility assessments and smarter foundation solutions can improve resilience, reduce cost and support scalable housing delivery across New Zealand.