About Branch Consulting
Branch Consulting is a Christchurch-based engineering consultancy founded by a chartered structural engineer and a senior geologist. Between us, we bring decades of hands-on technical experience – and a shared belief that good engineering advice shouldn’t require a big-firm budget.
Agata Bulska – Structural Engineer
Agata holds a Master of Engineering from the City University in London and has been based in Christchurch since the aftermath of the 2010-2011 earthquakes. She came here for a reason: to help fix things. Over the years since, she has worked across earthquake damage assessment, structural remediation, and residential engineering design – houses, townhouse developments, renovations, and extensions.
In mid-2025 Agata achieved CPEng status, the highest professional recognition for engineers in New Zealand. She is also a Certified Building Consent Processing Officer – meaning she understands the consent process from both sides of the table – and a Homestar Designer (V5), reflecting her commitment to energy-efficient, sustainable residential design.
Outside the office, Agata is a multiple-time national Downhill Series champion and served five years as President of Gravity Canterbury. She brings the same precision and commitment to the trails as she does to a structural calculation.
James Horan – Senior Geologist
James graduated with a Geology degree in 1998 and spent the following decade working across the mining and resource industries in Australia – mineral, coal, and CSG exploration across WA, QLD, SA, and NSW. He later moved into production geology, working underground and open pit operations in base metals and gold.
He eventually rose to Senior Open Pit Geologist at one of the world’s largest gold mines in Papua New Guinea, overseeing a departmental budget of $12 million. It’s the kind of scale that sharpens your instincts for ground conditions, risk, and what can go wrong beneath the surface.
James came to Christchurch originally to study GIS at the University of Canterbury, and stayed – drawn by the mountains, the skiing, and the riding. Since then he has worked as an Operations Manager, spent time in Antarctica as the deep field technical specialist, and served as an Applications Specialist for Leapfrog 3D, the world’s most widely used geological modelling software. He continues to take on geological modelling consulting work and welcomes new enquiries in that area.
James is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (M AusIMM).
Why Branch Consulting?
We started Branch Consulting because we were tired of watching homeowners pay big-firm rates for straightforward residential work. Canterbury ground conditions are genuinely complex – the earthquake legacy, TC zoning, variable soils – but that doesn’t mean every project needs an army of engineers and a stack of overheads.
What you get with us is direct access to the people doing the work. No account managers. No juniors handing off your file. Just clear, practical advice from experienced engineers who know this ground.