The UPco team is made up of all sorts of characters, and every one of them has a story. This time, we’re catching up with Associate, Tim Norton, who hails from the UK (but is now right at home in Melbourne).

What’s your name, and your role at UPco?

Tim Norton, and I’m an Associate Planner.

That’s a nice accent you have there – can you tell us a bit about where you’re from?

Of course! I’m originally from the UK – specifically Worcester, which is a cathedral city close to Birmingham and the border of Wales. It’s quite attractive, set on the River Severn with a lot of Tudor-style architecture. But unlike the suburbs of Australian cities, it’s immediately surrounded by rural towns and villages. You can be in the countryside in a matter of minutes. My family home was actually in one of these villages, Kempsey, which sits against the backdrop of the Malvern Hills. I definitely grew up with an appreciation for the outdoors that’s stayed with me to this day.

What led you to study in Wales?

I’m actually a quarter Welsh – but to be honest, it was probably more about the appeal of a city like Cardiff, where I went to uni. It’s a very lively city and with a massive amount of public parkland. The buildings are also incredible – Cardiff Castle is actually within the city centre. I think it’s something that is done very well in the UK; the way cities are built around buzzing civic centres. Going to uni there was great; there’s a huge rugby scene which I got right into (particularly the England–Wales matches). And once I finished my Masters, I liked it so much I stayed on and worked my first job as a planner.

Was planning everything you’d hoped it would be?

I certainly enjoyed studying planning – I’d always been very interested in geography and the way people live and work in cities – and my degree had a lot of urban design and development based modules which was great. Once I started work, I was lucky to have a lot of variety, which is what I thrive on! So yes, I knew fairly quickly I’d made the right call. Some of the opportunities I had early on were very unique – for instance, I was involved in the decommissioning of several nuclear power plants, which were very complex and quite fascinating.

Fast forward to 2018, and you decide to move to Australia… how was the transition?

I’d visited Australia as a teenager and loved it, so no one back home was particularly surprised when I made the move. I travelled through South East Asia first, then landed in Australia and spent a bit of time in both Sydney and Melbourne before deciding the latter was for me. I scored a job early on and have been here ever since.

There are many, many differences between the UK and Australia, but one of the things that surprised me was the sheer abundance of national parks and open spaces available to the public here. They’re so well designed and maintained, too – you have water fountains, BBQs, toilets, bike pumps, everything! And, on another positive note, I was happily surprised by the relatively small number of deadly creatures I came across. In the UK, we are schooled that pretty much everything in Australia wants to kill you – and in the first few months I was literally checking my Brunswick backyard for snakes – so it was a relief to find out that isn’t the case.

You mentioned you like nature – do you get out in it often?

Absolutely – when I have spare time, you can pretty much always find me on a big, long hike or bike ride. I love where I live, but it’s very urban, and often I just feel the need to touch some grass! I reckon I’ve now explored most hiking places in regional Victoria within a couple of hours of Melbourne; it really grounds me.

Any particular hiking trails to recommend?

There are so many good ones, but I do love the Outer Circle Railway Anniversary Trail. It follows the tracks of an old steam train line through the Eastern suburbs and up to Fairfield. It also connects to the Gardiners Creek Trail and Yarra Bend Park, which makes a great 3-4 hour bike ride or a longer walk.

What else do you do in your down time?

On the flip side of the coin, I do love a pub and a good beer garden – my favourite would be The Brunswick Green. And I spend a lot of time at gigs. My taste is pretty eclectic; it ranges from acoustic and folk (early in the week) and ramps up to techno and electronic by Thursday or Friday… and by Sunday I’m back to folk. Recently, I’ve gotten into a bit of punk too. I recently saw Rüfüs Du Sol which was amazing, and Amyl and the Sniffers has been another fave. I once saw Red Hot Chili Peppers in Budapest, which was the experience of a lifetime!

It sounds like you’ve ticked off a lot of Bucket List items… what’s left?

I’d love to travel to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan (ideally all in one trip). I love big, well designed cities (Singapore, Vienna and Copenhagen have all been highlights), so I think I’ll love Japan especially.

What are you currently watching / reading / listening to?

I’ve been bingeing a series called ‘From’, which is made by the people who created ‘Lost’ (knock it all you want, I maintain that ‘Lost’ is one of the best shows of all time). I listen to a podcast called ‘The Imperfects’, which has good hosts and touches on some interesting topics. And, while I should read more, I am currently working my way through a book called ‘Homo Deus’ by Yuval Noah Harari, who wrote ‘Sapiens’. It makes some predictions about how AI could change human nature in the future… it almost gets into the realm of science fiction (which is another genre I like!).

OK last question (because we could easily go on all day…) what reality show would you cast yourself on, if you had to choose?

Survivor. Although my friends would say that I’d need a lot of naps built into the production schedule!

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