Former Beard employee Tobias Vokuhl has been instrumental in the construction of vital community facilities in Kathmandu, Nepal, including schools, medical centres, and safe houses for young survivors of human trafficking.
Tobias moved to Nepal in 2017 with his family, after the Government of Nepal appealed for international aid following the 2015 earthquake that destroyed or damaged over 800,000 homes.
In 2018, he began a secondment for the International Nepal Fellowship, which works in public health and community development, and has used his construction management expertise to oversee projects across the country. Initially seconded for 18 months, the family still spend 10 months of the year in Nepal.
Tobias completed a carpentry apprenticeship in his native Germany at 18, before later gaining a master’s in construction project management at Oxford Brookes University. He worked as contracts manager at Beard from 2015-2017.
Deploying skills that he developed during his training and his time at the firm, under his guidance, a 30-bed leprosy treatment centre was opened in Pokhara, in 2023.
“It certainly was something I never thought as a contracts manager I’d be doing; given a clean sheet of paper and told, ‘please go away and use your knowledge and understanding and draw on locally available models and come up with the best solution for us.’ It was amazing,” Tobias told Global Construction Review.
During his time in Nepal, Tobias has been helping to improve practice amongst local contractors, such as introducing health and safety measures, incentivising training, and finding build solutions that work within the local context.
Mark Beard, Chairman
