Greg Green unites Launceston construction industry amid MND diagnosis

Six months ago, the 68-year-old building surveyor was diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

He and wife Wendy had noticed his speech slowing and changes to mobility - he could no longer hold a drink while walking without spilling it.

"Your mind thinks you've already put your foot down and it's not quite down yet," he explained.

"Your body's slower than your mind in a way."

Mr Green met the diagnosis in typically low-key fashion, scaling back his usual 12-hour, five-day week and working from home.

But the Northern construction industry, which he has served for more than four decades, had something different in mind.

A meeting between industry leaders birthed the idea of a thankyou dinner - a way for the construction industry to celebrate Mr Green's contribution.

He humbly declined a dinner solely in his honour, but agreed to a fundraiser for FightMND through Tassie Freezing for MND.

The Greens pictured "a counter meal with the local builders", but the event quickly grew to match his contribution.

The biggest function room in Launceston was booked for 'The Green Gala' on November 19, and all 350 tickets sold by word of mouth.

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Launceston businesses have donated about $30,000 worth of auction items, and the night is expected to raise more than $150,000.

"I am very humbled by the fact that anyone would want to do it," Mr Green said.

"But it's also highlighting MND as well, so I took it that it's a great opportunity to help them raise some money for what for me is a good cause, and something might come out of it in future to help others."

Organisers say they could have sold 500 tickets if space allowed.

"We've got to recognise just how much he's contributed to the industry," organising committee chairman Andrew Goelst said.

"It really is just to say if this disease is going to take Greg from us, then we're going to do something to fight back ... and right across the industry - builders, architects, design engineers, consultants have all rallied together to make it a brilliant night."

So what's made a gentle-natured family man an undisputed legend of the construction industry?

For a start, Mr Green has been behind some of the state's biggest projects of the past two decades, ensuring compliance with ever-changing building regulations.

Starting his career with a joinery apprenticeship under his father in Burnie, he worked for several builders before serving as City of Launceston's building inspector between 1988 and 2004.

Moving into private surveying that same year, he worked on the Seaport development and has had a hand in virtually every major building project in Northern Tasmanian since.

Launcestonians drive past the results of his work every day - Penny Royal, The Charles, Launceston General Hospital, Verge Hotel, Josef Chromy Wines, the Silverdome, the CH Smith building and UTAS Stadium, to name a few.

Reflecting on his work, which includes 10 years as Green Building Surveying, he considers the recent $66 million redevelopment of Derwent Entertainment Centre among the best projects he's worked on.

"That was something everyone involved should be proud of," he said.

"The builders did a magnificent job ... it's probably the best managed job I've ever looked after, so that was quite an achievement."

But colleagues say it's how he's achieved what he's achieved that makes him one of the industry's most-loved figures.

Josef Chromy calls Mr Green a "very approachable and pleasant" hard worker, while fellow developer Errol Stewart joked the father-of-two's dedication had "got him out of jail" on several occasions.

"I've always treated everyone equal - no-one is smarter than anyone else," Mr Green said.

"Everyone knows more about something than everyone else, but at the end of the day we all need to share what we've learned and pass it on to others so we all achieve a good result.

"I got on pretty well really because I tried to consider myself part of the team rather than an independent person looking in from the outside.

"Communication is the key to getting on with everyone and getting the result at the end."

In the midst of deadlines, competing businesses and an endless stream of problems requiring solutions, effective communication is easier said than done.

"The rest of us, we'll all compete against each other, whereas Greg's neutral - he's Switzerland, he's a unifier and we all love him," Mr Goelst said.

"Whether you were the biggest developer in Tasmania or someone just doing an extension on a house, he treated everyone exactly the same way and I think that's quite remarkable.

"We're going to miss him."

The community response continues to amaze the Greens, who are pressing forward at work, home, and for the future of those fighting MND.

Mr Green has ceased taking on new projects, but has set a "personal business challenge" to close the several hundred existing jobs that are yet to receive their final certificates.

They are grateful for builder Peter Douglas, who has assisted Mr Green in working from home by providing photos and reports from hard-to-access building sites, and for Marc Montauban, who has helped future-proof their Newnham home by voluntarily installing a new bathroom.

"He just moved in and off it started," Mrs Green said.

"In three weeks he's transformed an antique ensuite into something amazing."

And in the midst of it all, the Greens are doing their bit to help future MND patients through a Clifford Craig Foundation medical research trial.

Every year about 700 Australians are given an MND diagnosis, which comes with an average life expectancy of 27 months.

The 'Lighthouse II' trial, being conducted in Launceston, is exploring potential treatment options and ways to slow down the disease's progression.

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Mr Green doesn't know whether he's taking the trial drug or a placebo, but says it doesn't matter.

"It's a good way to try and help them find something for someone else."

Which is what the Green Gala fundraiser is all about.

And in bringing together a "stressed industry" that has been stretched by heightened demand and labour and material shortages, Mr Goelst believes the Green legacy could have its biggest impact yet.

"It's a night for the industry to reflect that there's more important things to life than just the next building job, or getting the bricks on time or getting the roof on," he said.

"It's a night to reflect on bigger things and what's really important in life, and that's life and family."

After 45 years of marriage, Mrs Green says her husband has done "life and family" particularly well.

Their sons Nathan and Jarrod, and twin grandchildren Artie and Addison, would say the same.

"He's the most caring husband I could ever want," Mrs Green said.

"He supported me through 40 years of a teaching career and he's an amazing Dad, both boys hold him up here [in high regard].

"He puts everyone else before himself - every other member of his family is more important than what he sees himself.

"He'll put you first every time."

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