Northrop Consulting Engineers

Last night, our team joined over 300 industry leaders at the 2024 Boomtown! Property & Infrastructure Awards, hosted by the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue, to celebrate the outstanding projects shaping Western Sydney's future. A huge congratulations to the Moorebank Intermodal Precinct, which was crowned Project of the Year! 🏆 This $4 billion freight and logistics hub has revolutionised Australia’s supply chain, reducing road congestion, lowering emissions and strengthening our global competitiveness. We’re proud to have supported this project with Civil, Electrical and Sustainability consulting. It was fantastic to see several other projects involving Northrop recognised on the night: 🌟 Outstanding Projects AMRF – First Building, Mason & Main, URBNSURF Sydney, TAFE Institute of Applied Technology – Construction, Moorebank National Distribution Centre 👏 Highly Commended Light Horse Logistics Hub, Blacktown Mental Health Recovery Centre The awards evening was an opportunity to reflect on the collective effort behind these transformative projects. Thank you to the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue for a fantastic evening and our incredible clients and collaborators for making these projects possible. Ali Habibi Nicholas Boey Ian Van Eerden Annalise Smalley Hayden Davis #BoomtownAwards #WesternSydney #Infrastructure 

🛣️ How do you avoid taking a detour on a major highway project? By collaborating effectively. We partnered with PCI (Peregrine) to provide expert civil project management services and swept path analysis to keep the M1 Highway Service Centre development project in Cooranbong NSW progressing while saving several million dollars. Ryan Diercke, Senior Civil Engineer, values the collaborative and productive partnership with PCI saying, “Over the years, we’ve grown together, supporting their expansion from South Australia into the east coast market including delivering on a range of projects from very small upgrades to major service centre developments catering for current and future transport demands.” In Cooranbong, Northrop provided comprehensive civil project management services for the northbound and southbound sites by ensuring complexities of modifying the existing Development Consent, to implement an alternative layout proposed by PCI had to be navigated. Thorough investigations and design adaptations to address site constraints and opportunities ensured compliance with Council reassessment requirements. Ways in which we maximised cost efficiency and streamlined the construction timeline included: 🔴 optimising pavement design by reducing reduced concrete thickness, which lowered material costs without sacrificing durability 🔴 detailed swept path analysis allowed refinement of pavement extents, minimising the areas requiring heavy-duty pavement and further cutting costs, and 🔴 relocating key service structures, such as large fire tanks and building pads, to areas with higher bearing capacity, eliminating the need for piling. Reach out for more information on these cost efficiency ideas or to discuss how we can collaborate on project management, adaptive strategies and smart engineering. 🛣️ Mat Richards Ryan Diercke #EngineeringForValue #CivilProjectManagement #CostSavings #NorthropEngineering

Congratulations to Brad Gibson Associate, Structural Drafter and BIM Manager on 20 years of outstanding service at Northrop Consulting Engineers! Brad’s structural drafting journey has seen him work in Wollongong, Sydney, Townsville, the UK, and Newcastle. Brad is a mentor, leader, and all-round great guy. Whether it's leading his youthful, enthusiastic team, sharing his knowledge with colleagues, or having a good laugh with the team, Brad has built a reputation for being the heart and soul of the Newcastle office. He has been responsible for providing training, supervision and mentoring to numerous industry professionals and colleagues. Brad’s ability to think and design in 3D, combined with substantial technical skills in structural detailing has allowed him to create precise 3D (BIM) models which he has become very passionate about and his contribution to the construction industry in schools, healthcare and commercial is significant. Matthew Hart, Principal and Woologong Office Manager, describes Brad as “always having good balance between not taking things too seriously and switching it on when he needs to. I loved having Brad as part of the team here in the Gong, and know he is well respected across Northrop, especially amongst his peers in the drafting crew.” His cheeky sense of humour is legendary! From masterminding office competitions to keeping colleagues in stitches with his tales of fishing, boating, ACDC and his ‘unique’ culinary creations. Brad is a positive force and we are grateful for the last 20 years of technical skills, laughter, and leadership. #NorthropConsulting #Teamwork #Leadership #CheersTo20Years #ThankYouBrad

Congratulations to Bilal Babadagi, Mechanical Group Manager on receiving the AIRAH ‘Future Leader’ award at last Thursday’s gala in Melbourne. As an ACT AIRAH Committee member since 2020, Bilal has shown outstanding leadership in HVAC and electrification, notably through the ACT Government’s Road to Electrification Pathway. His dedication to empowering his team, engaging diverse audiences, and fostering growth makes him a true leader and an inspiration for the future of electrification. Well done Bilal on this achievement and recognition! 🎉 #Leadership #AIRAH #Electrification #NorthropEngineers

🎭 The Footbridge Theatre, located within the University of Sydney, holds a rich history as a cultural and educational hub. Since opening in 1961, its stage transitioned away from theatre performances to be used solely as a lecture hall for the last 20 years. The University sought to restore the building to its original use, whilst upgrading the theatre fit out to suit modern standards. Northrop approached this project with a clear goal: to minimise the cost of strengthening works by validating the structural integrity of the existing building. Ensuring fire safety compliance, completing remedial works, and certifying the structure for new loads were all challenges that had to be addressed without compromising the theatre's historical significance or functionality. The absence of original construction drawings added complexity to the project. Northrop addressed this by defining a clear scope for exploratory work during the investigation and feasibility phase, allowing for a more accurate forecast of project costs. Engineering tasks involved extensive structural investigations and analysis, specialist timber reviews, thorough fire-rating assessments and remedial works to extend the service life of the original steel fly-grid support structure. Creative, cost-effective design solutions to repair and reuse existing elements were identified, avoiding full replacements wherever possible. Pip Easling, Associate and Structural Engineer shared “Footbridge was the kind of project where there were no typical details; everything was developed on site as opening up works were completed. Northrop often attended site to workshop details with Hansen Yuncken and the relevant subcontractors whilst physically looking at the constraints to agree on the best outcome. This collaborative approach allowed us to streamline the construction detailing process where ideas came from around the table, saving our client time and frustration of emailing back and forth between stakeholders.” If we can assist with your project goals, we would love to help. Reach out to discuss how we can collaborate on adaptive strategies and smart engineering. Jonathan Low Isabel Duffy Pip Easling #EngineeringForValue #HistoricPreservation #AdaptiveReuse #CostSavings #NorthropEngineering

Key lessons in leadership, resilience and grit from our newly promoted Associates to those starting out in their careers:    ❓ Develop a habit of asking questions either to yourself, colleague, and mentors.   👁️ Focus your energy on the things within your control.   🚣 Do the work and you will be ready for any scenario.    It’s nearly time for our graduate program to start taking applications. Follow Northrop to learn more about our graduate program.     What lessons have you learnt from others that you apply in your career or study? Let us know in the comments. 

💥 8 projects recognised in Western Sydney! 💥 We’re pleased to announce our projects have been acknowledged by Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue Boomtown! Awards for promoting transport, infrastructure and property projects in Western Sydney. AMRF – First Building, Mason & Main, URBNSURF Sydney, TAFE Institute of Applied Technology – Construction, Moorebank Intermodal Precinct and Moorebank National Distribution Centre have been selected as ‘Outstanding Projects’ while Lighthorse Logistics Hub and Blacktown Mental Health Recovery Centre have been highly commended in their respective categories. We’re proud to share these nominations with our Industry partners and clients who continue to help build Western Sydney. Bradfield Development Authority Coronation Property URBNSURF Institute of Applied Technology Woolworths Group Charter Hall Western Sydney Local Health District Check out more about our involvement in these projects ⬇️

🎉 Big news - Powerhouse Castle Hill has received the prestigious Sir Zelman Cohen Award for Public Architecture at the Australian Institute of Architects National Architecture Awards celebrating the advancement of architecture across Australia. A huge congratulations to lahznimmo architects for receiving this very prestigious award. The jury praised Powerhouse Castle Hill as “an exemplar of architecture as an interface between the public and research, preservation and curation.” Northrop provided Civil, Structural, Building Services and Sustainability consulting for the facility expansion. Rodney Pratt, Principal and Structural Section Manager describes it as “dead set one of the best projects that we’ve worked on. There was a really fun, collaborative relationship between the main parties. Key to the project’s success was getting the design team engaged early. We were able to work closely with the Lahznimmo team to lock in efficiencies before the architectural concept had settled down. Mechanical coordination was also front and centre to ensure that the ventilation, humidity and thermal controls were optimised for guest comfort and careful preservation of the half a million arts, design and technology objects. This was a very memorable project which we are so proud to have been part of.” The 130-metre-long facility provides a versatile space for storage, exhibitions, research, events, conservation, photography, and archives.  The variety of spaces, including wet lab environments, gallery and storage facilities, required close collaboration using 3D modelling to ensure accuracy between systems. Our Sustainability team consistently implement measures which would reduce the upfront carbon for the project. The approach involved designing a high performance building envelope, implementing a centralised and energy conscious HVAC system and selecting building materials which reduce the buildings heat gains. As a result Powerhouse exceeded Australian Best Practice Sustainability benchmarks as defined by the Green Building Council of Australia. Congratulations to all the project collaborators on the team effort: Create NSW Powerhouse Taylor | Australia ASPECT Studios Electrolight To learn more about our work on this project, contact Rodney Pratt, Ian Van Eerden or Shaun Burgess. 📷 Rory Gardiner, courtesy of Powerhouse. #Powerhouse #PublicArchitectureAward #NorthropEngineering #CommunityImpact

It’s been awards season recently! Northrop attended the NAWIC ACT Awards on Friday where we proudly had 3 finalists. 🔴Elli Painter was nominated for the Achievement in Design. Elli combines her skills in both structural design and project management to help guide her clients throughout the design process, to achieve their project ambitions. 🔴 Emily Lukasiak was nominated for the Mentor of the Year Award. Emily has mentored and inspired numerous draftspersons and drafting teams over the years. 🔴 We also received a team nomination for the Innovation & Sustainability in Construction Award, for our Electrification work, run by our Integrated Buildings team. By its nature, the construction industry is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, globally and within Australia. Northrop proudly joined the Engineers Declare movement in 2021 where we’ve made a public commitment to act on Climate Change. Electrification has become a huge part of how we deliver this promise. Over the last 12 months, our electrification team in Canberra and nationally have made huge strides in delivering feasibility studies to tender design works for projects across the ACT. We’re proud of the level of female participation in leading roles within our electrification team. Females are still underrepresented within the engineering, drafting, and construction industry and it’s pleasing to highlight the wonderful work these women have been doing in this space, which is contributing to achieving net zero by 2045 and making Canberra a greener city. If you have any questions about electrification or Northrop’s lessons learned to date, please reach out to Bilal Babadagi, Jessica Kennedy or Gavin Saldanha. We are very passionate about doing what we can to move toward a greener future. #nawic #nawicact #awardsforexcellence #womeninconstruction #NorthropEngineering

Our Structural team are on site every week, discovering design opportunities, checking progress, inspecting reinforcement, and ensuring everything runs smoothly across their projects. We challenged them to grab a few ✨aesthetic✨ shots while they’re at it. ➡️Swipe through to see some familiar structures coming to life through their eyes.   #NorthropEngineers #StructuralEngineering #Construction