30 January 2023
Since joining NDY in 2015, Mason has taken advantage of every opportunity to work on a diverse portfolio of projects across NDY’s new and existing buildings teams. A senior mechanical engineer, Mason also spent a period of time seconded to Engineering Commissioning Services (ECS), gaining experience in commissioning and integrated testing for all building services.
Broadening his technical skills in mechanical services and gaining a holistic understanding of the services scope of a building, Mason has successfully implemented projects across several sectors including retail, education, health, sports, mission critical, offices and residential.
Based in our Melbourne office, Mason is an asset to his projects and the teams he works with, delivering solutions that comply with rules and regulations whilst ensuring visions for function, aesthetics and budget are met.
He recently experienced a career highlight, working on one of our biggest projects to date, a large biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility for CSL in Melbourne. Delivering bespoke mechanical engineering design services, Mason was widely regarded by his colleagues as instrumental to NDY’s contribution to this successful project, producing technical excellence and navigating complex issues clearly for a wide range of expert stakeholders.
In addition to his project skills navigating a room full of technical experts, Mason lives NDY’s culture of peer support and learning. He’s known for giving time to junior team members, teaching them well about what they require for success in a task at hand, and in turn setting them up well for the future.
“Mason is a worthy David Norman Young Engineer of the Year, due to his technical excellence, service culture, and positive and professional reputation. He shows capability well beyond his years of experience, and he knows how to connect with people, which is a significant advantage in the world of consulting.”
– Lisa Kelly, Melbourne Office Director
Here’s a few words from Mason himself on what it means to be the 2022 David Norman Young Engineer of the Year, what it is to be an engineer and what gets him moving in the morning.
Congratulations on winning The David Norman Young Engineer Award for 2021. What does it mean to you to win this award?
I feel very honoured to win this award and thankful for being recognised alongside all the other worthy nominees. I truly enjoy working for NDY and appreciate everyone I have worked alongside so far; including the project teams, those providing technical help and mentoring, and anyone who was willing to have a social chat and drink whenever the occasion arose.
I would also like to the congratulate the other nominees and hope that we all get to know each other better in the future.
Why did you become an engineer, what drew you to this field?
Mathematics was always my favourite subject throughout school, and engineering was a great way to funnel that into solving practical problems. I enjoy engineering building services as each day and project is different with its own challenges. It also gives a unique perspective into the buildings we use every day that people outside of the industry generally don’t see.
If you could tell your younger engineer self anything, what would it be?
Take every challenge and opportunity thrown at you and give it everything you have. There will always be “what-ifs” when you look back, but try leave as few as possible.
Share a turning point or defining moment in your career to date
Realising that no single person has all of the answers (no matter how experienced they are) helped me to understand that sometimes no one can give you a simple answer to get the job done, and you need to draw on your fundamentals and trust yourself. It also helped reaffirm that there are no “silly” questions.
What makes you get up in the morning?
Being part of a team that trusts and relies on me to contribute, motivates me to come to work each day and bring my best.
