Past Presentation Videos

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 5 May

Locomotive Workshop

Presented by Viktor Siskoski, Structural Engineer, Arcadis

This project was the winner of our 2021 Awards in the Large Building Project category.

This award was sponsored by Xavier Knight

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 5 April

Sydney Crown Tower

Presented by Mitchell Starkey, Principal – Robert Bird Group

This project won a High Commendation in our 2021 Awards in the Large Building Project category.

This award was sponsored by Xavier Knight

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 1 March

International Women’s Day #BreakTheBias

Our Female Engineer of the Year 2021 Award nominees talk about some of the landmark projects and notable experiences in their careers.

Presented by:

Emily Chung – Green Buildings Council (previously at TTW)

Marie O’Looney – SDA Structures

Lauren Gaudion – Aurecon (previously at Northrop)

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 5 October

Santa Sophia College

The Santa Sophia Catholic College is a school for years K-12 located in Box Hill, NSW. Designed around a modern vertical school format, the building has complex free form floor plates creating an architectural cascading effect.

To achieve a tight 10 month on-site construction programme, Northrop proposed a rapid build methodology using a mix of ‘high-rise style’ unique structural steel & SlimFlor® framing and precast concrete elements to accelerate construction and allow for early fit-out works.

To deliver the unique structural design, Northrop worked closely with BlueScope/Fielders from an early stage in the project to leverage the key properties of Fielders SlimDek 210®decking. BlueScope/Fielders provided design assistance, coordination & shop detailing documentation services free of charge prior to construction to ensure seamless integration ofon-site services penetrations and finishes with structural steel elements.

Northrop & BlueScope outlined the industry leading innovative design & delivery methodologies adopted on the project to enable significant program savings to be achieved on site.

Presented by:

Mitchell Ryan – Northrop Consulting Engineers

Marko Stankovic – Bluescope Fielders

View the presentation slides HERE

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 7 September

Gold Medal Winners Panel

In our September Pub Seminar we heard from a panel of our past Gold Medal Winners who shared their proudest career moments, reflected on evolutions in Structural Engineering and chatted about some ACSE activities of times gone by.

Presented by:

2020 Winner – Eric Smith

2019 Winner – Tim Hogan

2018 Winner – Richard Kell

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 3 August

Sustainability in the construction industry: Opportunities, challenges, and rewards

The presentation gave insight to some key principles for sustainability when designing for the built environment. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals identify many ways in which construction and the built environment can implement initiatives that reduce carbon footprint and climate impact such as improved energy consumption, protection of the natural environment, waste reduction, responsible use of resources and promotion of circular economy principles.

Presented by:

Dr. Vaibhav Gaikwad – NSW Chair of the Sustainable Engineering Society & Senior Consultant at Edge Environment

View the presentation slides HERE

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 8 June

2020 Winners of the Awards for Small & Unusual Building Projects

During June’s Pub Seminar, we discussed the Recipient of the Award for Small Building Projects, Balmain House, and the Recipient of the Award for Unusual Building Projects, Pyrmont Bridge Restoration.

Balmain House

The Balmain House project involved excavation depths of 10m; design of sandstone sea-walls; remediation of an 1880’s sandstone heritage cottage; expressed timber framing; a steel-framed tension tie roof and a steel helical stair; off-form cast insitu concrete structure; heated polished concrete floor toppings; brass balustrades and furniture items; bespoke large format steel framed windows with cast-in reveals; and a 5m cantilever floor plate hung from curved off-form concrete walls acting as deep beams with large voids in the back-span.

Pyrmont Bridge Restoration

Pyrmont Bridge requires ongoing maintenance commensurate with a public timber bridge that is over 100 years old. A significant percentage of structural components like timber trusses and piers required replacement. Stage 1 of restoration involved replacing the Timber Pier Sets, and Stage 2 would see the replacement of the timber trusses. Robert Bird Group was engaged to provide the construction engineering methodology for the now completed
Stage 1.

Presented by:

Peter Standen, Managing Director, Partridge

Mitchell Starkey, Structural Engineer, Robert Bird Group

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 4 May

2020 Winners of the Awards for Large & Medium Building Projects

During May’s Pub Seminar, we discussed the Recipient of the Award for Large Building Projects, the Pheonix Art Gallery, and the Recipient of the Award for Medium Building Projects, the Ken Rosewell Arena Redevelopment.

Pheonix Art Gallery

Phoenix is a multifaceted building with a performance space and a private art gallery, the two spaces connected by a central garden. As each half of the structure had its own architect, co-ordination between TTW, the architects, and the construction team was critical to the success of the project. Phoenix is a canvas for an open and changing art collection, music and yet to be conceived performance art. The result is a spectacular building.

Ken Rosewell Arena Redevelopment

The Ken Rosewall Arena at Sydney Olympic Park has received a new lightweight tensile roof structure – converting it into a multi-purpose, all weather facility to attract major sporting and cultural events. With the addition of operable walls between bowl and roof, the arena will be used through the autumn, winter, and spring for the Suncorp Super Netball, and other sporting and cultural events, finally achieving a significant and highly sustainable legacy for the venue.

Presented by:

Charlen Li, Senior Structural Engineer, Taylor Thomson Whitting

Xavier Nuttall, Structural Engineer, Arup

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 6 April

How to Become a Chartered Engineer

During April’s Pub Seminar, we discussed how you can make your mark on the engineering profession with a Chartered credential. Becoming Chartered puts a concrete value to the work you’ve already done. We found out what it takes to earn your status as a Chartered engineer and see your work recognised by your peers. As well as the mark of excellence, you’d gain:

1. Global recognition – Chartered engineers are recognised throughout the world over for their skills and their professionalism. Chartered is your ticket to global recognition and working abroad.
2. Career progression – Looking for a senior or consulting role? By demonstrating your skills with a Chartered credential, you gain a competitive edge and show commitment to the highest professional standards.
3. Leadership development – Chartered engineers are peer-assessed against industry-recognised standards. You’ll be benchmarked against the best across 16 key competencies, spanning technical, management and communication skills.

Presented by:

Chetan Kabra, Client Manager, Engineering Australia 

Greg Ewing, General Manager, Engineering Australia

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 2 March

International Women’s Day Pub Seminar

The winner of the 2020 Female Engineer of the Year Award, Emma Buis, was joined by the other nominees for this award to discuss some challenges in their careers and changes in the industry for the future.

The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day was #ChooseToChallenge We can choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world. From challenge comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge.

Presented by:

Emma Buis, Associate Engineer, Taylor Thomson Whitting
Emma is an associate engineer with Taylor Thomson Whitting. She has worked in the construction industry for 10 years and is currently the structural lead engineer for the $450 Million Pitt Street Metro Station South Project. Emma grew up in regional Victoria where job prospects, especially for women, were limited. The main local work was in local construction, with most young men pursuing Carpentry, Plumbing or Electrical trades. With her father as a builder, Emma spent a lot of her youth on building sites. She attributes this to the reason she pursued a career in construction. Emma discussed some of the challenges she has overcome in her career, and reflected on the growth of the industry during that time; and what she feels the future will look like for the industry.

Aubrey Bullen, Senior Structural Engineer, Robert Bird Group
Aubrey has eight years of consulting experience working on a range of projects in New Zealand, The United Kingdom and Australia. Over her career, Aubrey has gained experience working across a wide range of complex, cutting-edge projects and is a member of Engineers Australia holding Chartered Status. She is the lead structural engineer for 2 of the towers on the $800 million Residential Development, One Sydney Harbour, located in Barangaroo. Aubrey discussed her career, some of the inspiring female leaders she has come across along the way and how she aspires to be a leader and role model for younger engineers and endeavours to promote a more diverse and collaborative workplace for all engineers.

Siobhan Tapia-Smith, Technical Director and Leader, Aurecon Group
Siobhan has shaped her career to arrive in a position that she can influence the implementation of Aurecon’s strategic drive for Diversity and Inclusion. Siobhan’s career as a structural engineer has been rewarding and challenging in equal measure. She’s worked on a variety of projects such as Sydney Airport, data centres, the exhibition halls in Darling Harbour and the iconic one central park.
As we celebrated this years’ International Women’s Day, Siobhan reflected on how she “chooses to challenge”.

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 2 February

Exploring the insurance implications of the new D&BP Act regulations

The D&BP Act introduced a new statutory duty of care, compliance declaration obligations, insurance and registration regimes, all of which are significant changes impacting on engineers and the construction industry more broadly.  Simon and Charles discussed these changes and the recently released regulations to the D&BP Act, which contain a lot of the critical detail.

Presented by:

Simon Gray, State Manager NSW/ACT, Planned Cover
Simon is the State Manager at Planned Cover. Prior to joining Planned Cover Simon was a partner for many years at Hunt & Hunt, Lawyers. During his 12 years as a lawyer Simon specialised in insurance litigation and acted for the major insurance companies in defending public liability, CTP and professional indemnity claims. Since joining Planned Cover in 2006 Simon has been the State Manager and is also responsible for handling the company’s major professional indemnity insurance accounts as a broker. Simon’s unique blend of legal and insurance experience enables him to provide his clients with insurance and risk management advice that goes beyond traditional insurance broking.

Charles Thornley, Partner, Lander & Rogers
Charles manages the Construction and Engineering practice at Landers and Rogers. He is the lead advisor to insurance clients in construction and engineering; professional indemnity; and property sectors. He handles some of Australia’s largest and most complex construction and engineering disputes and he is regarded as a policy coverage specialist.

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 8 September

The unique design of Centrepoint and the role of structural engineers in ongoing maintenance 

Standing at 309 metres tall, making Sydney Tower not only the tallest building in Sydney but the second tallest observation tower in the southern hemisphere. Watch this seminar to learn about the history behind the design of the tower, its unique features and how structural engineers contribute to the ongoing maintenance regime of the asset for this iconic Sydney landmark to continue to be operational.

Presented by:

Elvin Candra, Principal Structural Engineer, Arcadis
Elvin’s involvement at the Sydney Tower dates back to 2015, when he began working alongside Scentre Group’s team who carry out regular structural and façade maintenance works at the Tower. As project manager for Arcadis’ structural and façade team, Elvin regularly carries out site inspections inside the Tower. His recent involvement is the fire safety upgrade project of the Tower where Richard Barnes (Bureau SRH) has been contributing to the project.

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 4 August

New rules for the construction industry in NSW: with an introduction by the NSW Building Commissioner 

During this online presentation, we discussed the new regime for design and construction introduced by the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (D&BP Act), and the Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act 2020 (RAB Act).

Presented By:

David Chandler OAM, NSW Building Commissioner has extensive experience across construction in Australia and the Asia Pacific region. He was the Construction Director for Australia’s New Parliament House. Deputy Chair of the BER Implementation review and has until recently been an Adjunct Professor in Construction Management at Western Sydney University.

Carrie Metcalfe, Partner at MinterEllison represents developers, landowners, contractors, tenants, financiers, government and other stakeholders throughout Australia. Her core practice she advises on risk allocation, contract drafting, contract negotiations and contract administration.

Download the presentation slides HERE

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 7 July

Steel reinforcement manufacture, types, processing, quality, welding and support, presented by SRIA
Engineers design with reinforcement nearly every day, but rarely consider issues other than the yield strength, commonly 500 MPa. This presentation will look at various issues regarding steel reinforcement and recent developments, highlighted by some of the technical enquires that we receive from the industry.

Presented by:

Eric Lume, National Engineer, Steel Reinforcement Institute of Australia (SRIA)
Prior to the last 5 years with the SRIA, Eric worked for a consultancy in New Zealand assisting with the repair of earthquake damaged structures in Christchurch, was Senior Lecturer at the University of Wollongong for 5 years teaching design of masonry structures and concrete technology, provided technical support and written many of the publications for Cement Concrete and Aggregates over a 15 year period and worked in consulting for some 15 years after graduation.

Download the presentation slides HERE

Support documents:
Nevada University Report
Stability of Bridge Column Rebar Cages

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 2 June

Finite Element Analysis Software
Practical consideration of finite element analysis of reinforced concrete structures for design engineers

June’s pub seminar addressed some of the issues of using finite element software in design, by reviewing the basic theory, modelling approach and providing some general guidelines as well as presenting some of the finite element software packages currently available.

Presented by:

Emil Jankulovski, BE ME MIEAust CPEng NER, Director, INDUCTA
Emil Jankulovski is the founder and director of INDUCTA. Over a career spanning 35 years, Emil has experience working as a consulting engineer, lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney and as a software developer specialising in computational numerical methods. He is the creator of the INDUCTA, finite element, software suite for the analysis and design of reinforced and post-tensioned concrete structures.

Download the presentation slides HERE

Download the presentation handouts HERE

Engineering in the Pub
Tuesday 5 May

Smalls Road School

Presented by the lead engineer responsible for Smalls Road Public School, Ravee Sellathurai is an Associate Structural Engineer at SCP Consulting.

Ravee has worked with SCP Consulting for 14 years. He was responsible for detail design development and documentation, attending consultant / client meetings and co-ordinating builders queries during construction stage.

Smalls Road Public School is a 3-storey circular concrete structure, it has a large column free space and triple-height school entry. It achieved structural completion in under a year and the redesign converted an insitu concrete scheme into an off-site prefabricated scheme.
Download the presentation slides here

References:
Austruss: Flyover footage of light weight steel roof structure being installed
Ultrafloor®: Flyover footage of the Ultrafloor® Megabeams  and
Footage from underneath the Ultrafloor® Megabeams 
Ultrafloor® Contact:  Richard Lorenzin, Sales Manager NSW
Email: RichardL@Ultrafloor.com
Tel: 0408 544 354