The People

FROM THE GROUND UP is where the partners got their start in the highly competitive business of building construction. Professionalism is learnt from professionals, and both of the directors learned their trade in safety boots and hard-hats across every level and every phase of construction. RMIT was just the pre-orientation. The real education starts on the job and this means getting your hands dirty when the occasion demands it, or thinking through a problem where cognition and logic must prevail. Whatever the circumstance, the ability to look beyond the radar keeps projects on time and on budget.

Rasheed Rustom started FROM THE GROUND UP. Rasheed’s journey was unique having gained valuable international construction and management experience. This included quality time developing and honing his on- site construction management skills, but beginning in Nigeria.

Working in third world countries offered a grounding like no other. It catapulted his professional and management development to the point where he became a front person dealing with government bureaucracies and multinational corporations such as Chevron and Rolls Royce. Overcoming challenges was the order of the day and Rasheed learnt the art of balancing time management, international procurement, fiscal oversight, negotiation, occupational health and safety, as well as continually meeting client expectations.

After some years refining his professional career, Rasheed was presented with opportunities in the US, Canada and Australia. He decided Victoria offered diversity and scope for working in the building construction area and he moved to Melbourne. The next career move was gaining a Master Degree of Project Management from RMIT. After graduating he quickly re-joined the commercial and building industry in the capacity of contract administration and project management roles. Working for some of the country’s largest and best construction companies established Rasheed’s reputation as a person of integrity paired with relationship management.

With experience came bigger projects, more complexity, more responsibility and across many of Australia’s biggest cities. The scope of market sectors also changed and expanded into government, educational, hospitality, industrial, high-end residential and aged care. With such depth of talent and wealth of experience, it would be a natural progression for Rasheed to create Devakon - from the ground up.