18 January 2022
With over 5 years’ industry experience, Andrew O’Brien has shown a commitment to developing his technical and leadership prowess, establishing himself as a dedicated and hardworking member of the team. An Associate, Andrew has worked with NDY on a range of projects across Australia.
With a background in mechanical engineering, Andrew has a wide range of experience across sectors, from small retail fitout projects to the base builds of large commercial towers. He is also in demand for his experience on commercial office fitouts, laboratories, health care and residential developments.
Based in our Canberra office, Andrew has recently been involved as the lead mechanical engineer and project lead for Constitution Place. This mixed-use development with hotel, office and basement carpark involves a unique Underfloor Air Distribution system and is on track to be one of the first WELL rated buildings in Canberra.
Andrew strives for technical knowledge and open communication to enable his projects to run smoothly. His focus on client interaction and requirements enables him to tailor solutions to the specific needs of each individual client.
Andrew is an emerging leader within Team NDY and we look forward to watching his career growth in the years to come.
“Andrew is a very mature young man who is fulfilling his huge potential as a consulting engineer. He’s technically astute and, in addition, able to articulate clearly with clients. Andrew’s communication skills and technical excellence has earnt him an outstanding reputation in the Canberra market. His calm demeanour has led him to leadership roles internally and he is well respected amongst his colleagues. His willingness to take on new challenges will allow him to continue to develop at a rate of knots. Andrew has a very bright future.” – Paul Bradbury, Office Director Canberra
Here’s a few words from Andrew himself, on what it means to win this prestigious award, what it is to be an engineer and what makes him get up in the morning.
Congratulations on winning The David Norman Young Engineer Award for 2021. What does it mean to you to win this award?
It’s an honour to be recognised for my efforts and to be amongst such esteemed company of past winners.
Why did you become an engineer, what drew you to this field?
I was big into cars as a kid and had dreams of becoming an automotive engineer when I was younger, this evolved into mechanical engineering. After doing vacation work with NDY I got a real sense of achievement seeing buildings I worked on go up, it’s very rewarding seeing sketches (sometimes literally on the back of envelopes) turn into buildings.
If you could tell your younger engineer self anything, what would it be?
Picking up the phone often gets things done a lot more efficiently, building relationships is critical. Everyone is out there to get the best outcome for the project and working collaboratively makes projects both more successful and enjoyable.
Share a turning point or defining moment in your career to date
In 2018 I moved to the Canberra office to see through a project I had been designing out of the Perth office. Moving to a new city and building up rapport with a new team in an unfamiliar market was a big step for me. I ended up taking the lead role throughout a complex construction phase that was impacted by bushfires and COVID-19. Seeing that project from hand sketches and block plans right through to commissioning and completion was a great experience and has filled me with confidence for future projects.
What makes you get up in the morning?
My one year old normally, much earlier than I’d like to be awake. From a career point of view, it’s the team we have at NDY with everyone across the business willing to go the extra mile both internally to help out and externally to support our clients.
