It was so saddening to hear of Retha’s passing. She was always so open, positive and friendly. Retha was a joy to work with – a good and straight forward communicator – and a profound loss. My sincere condolences to her husband and son. …

Retha was such a kind and caring soul who was always out there to help others as much as she could. The news of Retha’s passing came as a big shock to everyone who knew her. She will be greatly missed and forever remembered. I made a personal connection with Retha wilst working with her and enjoyed exchanging stories involving our families, she often mentioned Derick and Logan. She was always looking forward to going back to visit South Africa. Professionally she was sharp, solid, tough and most importantly very fair. Rest in Peace Dear! …

I spoke to Retha most weeks and we found it very hard to stick to property, as the conversation always went off on tangents about South Africa and her family, whom she clearly adored. Over the last few years, as working from home became the norm, I particularly enjoyed Logan’s often hilarious hijacking of conversations and her breaking into rapid fire Afrikaans with Derick. When we did manage to focus on work, she had a brilliant understanding of the operational side of developing around transport assets, as well as a truly commercial, pragmatic approach to all of our negotiations. I enjoyed every single conversation we had, even when we were trying to solve complex challenges. I will hugely miss Retha. …

Retha was a fantastic member of the team, ambitious, hard working and committed to achieving success. Her great ability to bring people together to get results in her own honest, frank and straightforward way so endeared her to colleagues and our commercial partners who all greatly valued her contribution and efforts. Her ambitions to develop her career and seek the best outcomes for everyone made her truly stand out, together with her wonderful personality and enthusiasm. Throughout she always maintained her own dry sense of humour and ability to enjoy herself, whilst ensuring others did likewise. With Retha you always knew it was her true self, with her energy and positivity, both in work and during our social events where she always shone and made the most of the moment. It was also clear how much her family meant to her and she always brought them into our lives with her stories and which made her so friendly and engaging. I will remember all that she achieved at work but most importantly the person she was and how grateful I am to have known her. Dearly missed but never forgotten. …

I was so saddened on hearing of Retha’s passing.  I had worked with Retha a few times over the past years, on LUL projects over 10 years ago and more recently agian on DLR works.  She was so upbeat and positve, always starting our calls with a “Hello Darl” and checking in on eachothers’ families.  Someone I really enjoyed working with and having a natter with – I’m gutted that she is gone.  Sending my love to Derek and Logan. xx …

I had the pleasure of working with Retha for a short period of time on a single project but in that time we shared many stories mostly about Retha’s scuba diving exploits and adventures. On a professional level Retha always provided practical advice and wisdom with some humour and light-heartedness thrown in which made working together an absolute joy. Rest in Peace.   …

It was such a shock to learn of Retha’s passing – we had had a video chat weeks before and she seemed as friendly and outspoken as ever!  I had known her for the best part of a decade, initially when she was my project manager on the early years of the Croxley Rail Link and Northern line extension project.  We immediately hit it off, sharing the same sense of humour if not taste in drinks!  Although we had lost touch a little in more recent years, it was still nice to bump into each other somewhere in Palesta for a catch-up.  She will be sorely missed… …

It has been a real pleasure to work with Retha, and it was always a joy to know she was working on some of the same projects as me.  Retha brought a common sense, logical approach to the projects and schemes she worked on, capped off by an energy and enthusiasm the rubbed off on others.  The biggest and heartfelt thought from me is that the world needs more people like Retha rather than less.  Retha’s input will live long across the many projects and schemes she was involved in London wide.  We miss you Retha, but the memory of working with you brings a smile and a huge appreciation of the time were were privileged to be able to spend with you.  X …

Retha was an amazing colleague and friend. She was a great laugh and when we worked in the same team she kept me sane. We had many great nights out and nights in which were great because she cooked!! She was an amazing chef and always happy to give me recipes (and idiot-proof instructions!!). I will miss her a lot. Sending my deepest condolences to you all. Lots of love Sally xxx  …

Retha was great to work with – we worked through the technical issues to bring sites like Wapping Station and North Ealing to market, then helped developers design their schemes around the railway. Retha’s approach to problem solving was brilliant, she was always practical and understood the challenges of working around complex interfaces at these sites. Even where we had to resolve difficult stakeholder issues it was always a pleasure working with Retha as her knowledge and enthusiasm made it easy to get other people to work with us and it was great fun to work on these projects together. Retha’s influence on the team and the areas of London that we worked on was overwhelmingly positive – I’ll miss this the most. …