Give us an overview of your team and global reach?
I lead the transport market sector for NDY globally with local transport market sector leads in each state and region. As part of this role, I also work with the wider Tetra Tech team on transport project opportunities, strategies, trends and key clients.
Our transport market sector encompasses all buildings and building-related projects that relate to rail, road, aviation, ports and, even, space travel.
What are the biggest trends you’re seeing in rail and aviation right now?
Rail
An efficient rail system is required to service vibrant places where people want to live. Although this is well known for connectivity, where we’ve seen the trend change is in the modern stations space – stations no longer function as just a station. They now form hubs for people to shop, eat, live and play.
In larger, more populated cities, autonomous train systems are becoming more and more prominent to cater for higher volumes of people movement and ease of use through consistent service. Cities are taking advantage of these systems to create hubs that include intermodal transport access, retail, commercial, amenities and housing.
Aviation
There’s a big drive towards traveller comforts and convenience and improved traveller experience. We’re seeing airports operating as a vibrant mini-city more than a terminal with easy access through multiple transport modes, shopping, food and beverage, entertainment, accommodation and more.
Airports around the world are also invested in the Airport Carbon Accreditation scheme which is an important step in minimising the carbon footprint of these important and required assets.
Tell us about the types of projects you work on?
I’ve been at NDY for nearly 17 years and have worked on many different types of projects through that time. One of the best things about NDY is that exact reason – you get exposure to so many different types of projects over all market sectors. Currently, I’m involved in a number of rail projects around the country, multiple aviation projects both in Australia and internationally, as well as a large refurbishment and transformation of an existing basement area into a 3,000 m2 end-of-trip facility.
Why engineering?
Funnily enough, I actually started my degree as an aerospace engineer, however in my second year realised the opportunities were limited as a graduate so transferred into mechanical engineering. I’ve always had an interest on how things work so engineering was always on the cards for me.
Consulting is also my chosen career as I love working with people to solve their problems and the result of our work always leads to a better world for others which is a great reason to go to work each day.
What’s the trickiest problem you’ve solved?
I can think of two. One was the design of a data centre in a live commercial building. Many factors needed to be taken into account, given these constraints, as well as close collaboration with the design team and builder.
The second was designing the air balancing and cascading regime for a PC2 laboratory project. This was a real learning process to ensure the cascading was calculated and designed correctly.
Both projects were completed with fantastic results which was very satisfying and, definitely, memorable.
What’s an engineering myth you’d like to debunk?
Engineers are actually quite fashionable, interesting and personable people!
What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned at NDY?
NDY has been fantastic in assisting my personal growth in my engineering, managerial and consulting career. By taking up multiple opportunities in the business, I’ve been able to grow in many facets.
I started as a graduate and worked through the ranks while cutting my teeth on many different exciting projects. Over my 17 years with NDY, I’ve also assumed the role of office director in 2 offices and am now in a global market sector role. I’ve learned a lot here!
What does Making Spaces Work mean to you?
For me, Making Spaces Work encompasses everything that we do at NDY. We work in collaboration with others to ensure our projects meet the brief and work towards a sustainable outcome, the intended aesthetics and a safe, comfortable environment.
We play a very important role in all of the above through close collaboration internally, as well as with our industry partners, to achieve these outcomes.
Tell us something that not many people know about you.
I’m one of those people that love to go on multi-hour runs through the bush! I’m a big believer of doing hard things and pushing personal boundaries for growth.
For me, this has been in trail running and pushing the boundaries of my ability as well as navigating the dangers around the sport. It keeps me alert and engaged.
I’m running pretty much every day, even if it’s not a trail run, just to get some headspace to think and reflect. It’s something I now need to do for myself in order to perform at my best during the day.
