News & Insights
From Australia to the Netherlands: Tom McKelvey, Senior Quantity Surveyor
We recently launched a new series of interviews with our staff who have gotten a visa to come and work with Mercury. Our first interviewee is Tom McKelvey, an Australian Senior Quantity Surveyor working on a Hyperscale Data Centre project in the Netherlands.
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
“I grew up on the east-coast of Australia in a city called the Sunshine Coast, and studied a Bachelor of Property Economics & Development at the University of the Sunshine Coast. If that isn’t enough of a cliché, our campus had kangaroos that lived there. In Australia, I worked on Apartments, Retail, Commercial office, fit-out and aged care. Then, I moved to London and worked for Berkeley Homes and ISG prior to moving to the Netherlands with Mace, before getting a job with Mercury”.
How did you first hear about Mercury?
“I had heard of Mercury as an Irish company but wasn’t overly familiar with them until I started noticing their presence in the Netherlands. I was very eager to enter into what I consider to be the future of construction. The Hyperscale Data Centre sector is large and emerging and Mercury is well established in that space with existing relationships with key clients”.
How was your experience getting a visa?
“Mercury took over my existing visa and handled the entire process on my behalf. Jerry, the global mobility administrator communicated where we were in the process ultimately advising me when I was OK to work”.
Would you recommend other people from abroad to work with Mercury in the Netherlands etc.?
“Absolutely, I recommend the Netherlands to anyone, there’s a certain ‘Dutch charm’ that can’t be conveyed in words. There’s also something quaint about the freedom of being able to jump on a bike whenever you want and cruise across town for a meal on the terrace during summer. As for Mercury, in my short four months, so far I can safely say they are poised to be a dominant force within the industry, and a ‘blue-chip’ employer”.
