How did you become interested in transport engineering?

I had one really good lecturer on transport engineering during my fourth year of Bachelor of Engineering, which convinced me to pursue a job in transport after studying several other streams of civil engineering. It’s obviously an important component of society ‒ getting people to and from places ‒ so I definitely see the work I do as an important cog in the wheel.

What makes a good transport engineer?

Surprisingly, I would say people skills. A lot of our work involves dealing with stakeholders, clients and authorities, and negotiating those relationships and expectations.

What areas do you consider your speciality?

I do a lot of bread-and-butter classic traffic engineering, working at the town planning stage of projects primarily alongside private developers on any type of land use ‒ residential, commercial, industrial, retail, subdivisions, masterplanning etc. I enjoy working on large inner-suburban infill sites, typically on old industrial sites in a suburban location which presents a good opportunity to create an impressive small community with a wide variety of land uses close by.

I also got my foot in the door from the early days of my career with major event transport planning. It’s a niche market where there’s a little bit more involved than just putting down some traffic cones ‒ it’s primarily about stakeholder engagement and management. We will typically also take on the role of a transport superintendent for the event managers to lighten their load during the event delivery phase.

What’s your favourite part of the job?

I’m a hard worker by nature and enjoy work that shapes developments for the better. After years of reviewing too many car park layout plans, unfortunately, any time I drive through a bad car park now I can’t help but think ‘this could have been better,’ so ensuring good outcomes in my projects for future users is important to me.

What’s a favourite project you’ve worked on?

There’s been a couple of good suburban infill sites I’ve worked on. The Alphington Paper Mill site is a classic ex-industrial site that has just been intensified through a masterplan development and will approximately double the population of residents in Alphington once complete. It’s a small vibrant community under construction at the moment, partially occupied and nearly finished.

The Moonee Valley racecourse is another very similar one at an earlier stage. The racecourse is basically demolishing and redeveloping its existing facilities and the track while a private developer will redevelop part of the existing site. There’s a whole master plan and integrated transport plan for the precinct. Those sorts of sort of projects are the ones I want to sink my teeth into since they’re long burners and go for years, allowing you to build good ongoing client relationships and slowly see your work come to fruition.

What are you most looking forward to getting out of your time at Ratio?

I’m looking forward to working in a mid-size business where things are agile and flexible, and being able to know all the people I’m working with. In terms of the type of work I’m doing, it will really be the same thing I’ve always done, so looking forward to hitting the ground running!

Tell us something about you your team might be surprised to hear.

Several years back I somehow managed to make my way to representing Australia in a university basketball tournament held in Korea, after our team won the Australian Uni Games. We were treated like royalty – transported all around town on a private coach, private tours of the city, restaurant lunches and dinners every day, and all of this courtesy of the event organisers. An amazing experience we were lucky to have!