Why fire protection?
Like many working in the field, by accident!
I originally started my working career as an apprentice tradesman. After one too many Queensland summers working out in the heat, I decided to pivot my career and get into the design and engineering field. I had always enjoyed the engineering side of design and had studied all the core foundations of a great engineer (mathematics, drafting, and design tech) in high school.
While studying civil engineering at university, I found a job advertised for a cadet draughtsman/fire protection designer with a well-known fire contractor. Knowing nothing about the field I jumped headfirst in and now, over 13 years later, here I am.
What’s a fire protection myth you’d like to debunk?
Thanks to the world of Hollywood, that every single sprinkler in a 10+ storey building will go off in the case of a fire. (Technically, if it was a deluge system then that could work…).
However, sprinklers work by bursting a heat sensing glass bulb at a fixed temperature. So, realistically, in a real fire event only a select few sprinklers actually go off.
What do you do outside of work that helps fuel your creativity and commitment to engineering?
I’m currently into a large home renovation, so my weekends are spent building, demolishing and solving problems.
What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned at NDY?
How great live collaboration and co-ordination is – something I’ve only experienced since I’ve been in consulting.
Coming from a contractor background, I was more familiar with looking out for my own skin, little collaboration with other trades and only corresponding with other teams through delayed emails.
When done well, the live collaboration between internal teams can lead to simple, cost effective, clash free design between all parties.
What professional relationships do you value the most?
I value when everyone on the project is on the same team and aligned in terms of the end goal. As clients, engineers, project managers, builders and architects, we all have our own internal pressures and problems which may not be known by the other parties.
When everyone is working in synergy to get the job done, nothing is greater than seeing the end goal completed on time and on budget.
What does Making Spaces Work mean to you?
The greatest thing we can do as fire protection is not get noticed at all. To me, Making Spaces Work is staying true to the vision of the client and design team. It’s always extremely satisfying seeing a render come to life with minimal design changes and having a satisfied client at the end of the project.
