Adeel is a Senior Associate and manages our Perth fire services and hydraulic sections. In the services space, his primary area of expertise is hydraulic systems with design and construction administration experience in a variety of different market sectors.

He is also an experienced mechanical engineer, with his multi-disciplinary project work enabling a good understanding of the importance of coordination among engineering disciplines.

Here, Adeel reflects on the art of science in engineering, what makes good hydraulics design and meeting the goals of one of his career highlights, Perth’s Capital Square Precinct.

What inspired you to become an engineer?

The art of applying scientific intricacies to address complex engineering challenges always intrigued me and inspired to become an engineer.

Why hydraulics engineering?

Hydraulics engineering is all about fluids that liven up a building. A career in hydraulics gives me an opportunity to impart a positive impact on people. Every time I see a facility that I have been involved in, serving its end users – whether it’s in healthcare providing world class patient care, a residential project where people are finding their dream home, an education project nurturing future minds, a sports facility developing elite athletes or a transport project bringing people together, it fills me with content knowing that, even indirectly, I have made a positive contribution to society.

What’s your career highlight project?

Among my career highlights is Perth’s Capital Square Precinct.

The project consists of three high rise towers connected by a podium and features two office towers while the third is a mixed-use office and hotel building. The podium building consists of parking, commercial office space, retail outlets, gymnasium, creche and two swimming pools.

Our client’s project goal was to develop an iconic landmark on Perth’s skyline. Therefore, aesthetics in all aspects of design played a key role, which is evident from the careful attention to detail that the client and entire design team put into this project.

Tell us about the hydraulics engineering on this project.

Hydraulics engineering is always challenging on high rise projects. On this particular project, the challenges intensified exponentially as the design was architecturally constrained and driven by aesthetics. More conventional design methods for hydraulic systems had to be challenged with innovative ideas, more on this project than any other project I have done.

A key design aspect worth noting was the design of stormwater drainage for the podium building. The design included a conventional stormwater drainage system for a building with a significant footprint and multiple levels. The key challenges involved coordinating long spans of large bore stormwater drains at gradient with building architecture, structure and other services. The coordination challenges were overcome through a design that carefully considers pipe routes and a detailed approach to pipe sizing and specifying pipe gradients, to ensure that sizes and gradients were as accurately specified as practicable.

What innovative new approaches are you seeing when it comes to hydraulics engineering?

Some of the key innovative approaches that I am seeing include:

  • Degasification in buildings in line with overarching sustainability goals in the industry
  • Implementation of heat pumps for domestic hot water generation
  • Innovation in pipe materials and fittings to achieve better water quality, improved resilience and quicker installation.

Where do you see the future of hydraulics engineering heading?

I see the future of hydraulics engineering heading towards design and installation of systems that are more end user centric, conducive to improved quality of life for people while providing better maintainability of systems.

From a design perspective, I see the future of building services engineering (not only hydraulics engineering) heading towards a more automated approach utilising the evolving AI technology to develop optimum designs in a far more efficient way.

What legacy do you want to leave, when it comes to your career?

I want people to reminisce that hydraulics engineering is more than just plumbing systems. It’s an art of applying core engineering principles to continually strive for better hydraulic systems for users and for a more sustainable environment.

What is it like for young engineers in hydraulics?

For young engineers there is lots to learn in hydraulics engineering. From an external perspective hydraulics engineering may not seem very glorified but there is way more in it than meets the eye. All the different systems under hydraulics engineering and the various regulatory requirements surrounding those systems will probably be overwhelming for a young engineer, but once you get your head around them, it all becomes quite intuitive. The key is perseverance.

If you feel comfortable to do so, tell us a bit about your background (culturally).

I was born and raised in Pakistan. Upon completing high school in Pakistan, I went to the United States to pursue higher education, where I studied mechanical engineering and graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Virginia Tech. Following that, I arrived in Australia to pursue a masters degree in engineering and commence my professional engineering career. By virtue of having lived in three different countries, I have had exposure to a diverse range of cultures and environments.

How does diversity of background and thought influence how you deliver your projects?

My diverse background has allowed me to be more adaptive to the needs and key considerations of various stakeholders and thus influenced me to deliver projects from their lens.

Tell us a bit about good hydraulics design. What are the key considerations?

A good hydraulic design for any sector should embrace the following key design considerations:

  • Safety of everyone connected to the hydraulic systems (i.e., installer, maintenance personnel and end users)
  • Environmental sustainability
  • Quality of life for end users.