About Our People

Steve Copson  (Principal)
Licensed Cadastral Surveyor   BSurv  DipSci (Land Information Systems) MNZIS  MICS RPS
Steve joined the Department of Lands and Survey in 1985 and has come through all the changes bringing us up to the present day at TL Survey Services Ltd.

Frances Fleming (Administration Manager)
Frances joined the firm in October 2004.  Frances deals with the paper war in the day to day running of the firm and has a lot of experience in searching in Landonline.

SURVEYING

Bruce Soper
NZCD  NZCLS
Bruce is a senior Surveyor with 30 years experience in land surveying having joined Lands & Survey in 1978 as a draughting cadet.  He progressed from there into surveying as a Survey Technician specialising in Crown Land issues and stream assessments. 

Charlie Wilson
NZCLS  AMNZIS
Charlie joined TLSS in June 2002 and is our resident expert in trig and survey mark maintenance.  Charlie is a senior Surveyor with over 40 years experience in land surveying having joined Lands & Survey in 1963 as a chainman.  He progressed from there into surveying as a Survey Technician specialising in rural and high country surveys.

Jared Reeves
BSurv
Jared returned to Dunedin and joined TL Survey Services Ltd in November 2006 after a number of years living in Upper Hutt and abroad.  In Upper Hutt he was involved in working on the Landonline project as well as for a private Survey firm working on range of Cadastral and Engineering projects.  He is currently working toward becoming a Registered Surveyor.

David Smeaton
BSc (Surveying)
David joined us in October 2004 and is involved in a wide range of surveying projects including subdivisions, GPS surveys and engineering design.  He has just completed his BSurv degree part time at Otago University.

ENGINEERING

Steve Gilkison
Dip Eng (Civil)
Steve joined us full time in November 2008. He has completed a civil engineering diploma and has had two years experience in the road sealing industry. Steve mainly works with the AutoCAD Civil 3D software for a wide range of our services.

PLANNING, GRAPHICS AND GENERAL

John Willems
BSc (Land Planning & Development)  NZCD Survey  AMNZIS
John has been with TL Survey Services Ltd since it’s inception except for a brief foray into the Transportation Planning Department of the DCC.  John started with the Lands & Survey Dept in 1976 and has a huge understanding of the cadastral processes required for land development.  John diversified into Resource Management Planning and Consent preparation in 2002.  He currently prepares and submits Resource Consent applications for Subdivision and Landuse purposes in most Southland and Otago Local Authorities.

Gary Young
Gary, originally from Telecom, came to us via what is now LINZ. He deals with the firm’s graphics, aerial photography and LINZ data processing requirements.

Dave Bowman
NZ Certificate in Survey Draughting
David joined us in April 2008, but has 25 years experience in the survey industry.  He has two papers to complete and will then have his NZIM Certificate in Management.  His primary role is Quality Assurance Manager of all survey datasets.  When not trapped behind his desk checking plans, he can be found assisting the survey teams in the far flung reaches of Otago and Southland.

Jeff Copson
Jeff is our contract draughtsman extraordinaire and occasional chainman (when we can prise him out of his heated draughting office!).

Maria Copson
Maria is our backup survey assistant, cleaner and general bottle washer.  She is in the office regularly and keeps the firm’s principal on his toes!