Designing maritime structures for lasting resilience

Working on the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Sydney, which is front and centre in the harbour was iconic, but I think the project I’m most proud of is working at Ebeye in the Marshall Islands. 

Ebeye is a densely populated atoll that sits only around two metres above sea level, making it extremely vulnerable to waves, storms and rising sea levels. Our team designed coastal protection to help reduce the risk of waves overtopping the island and damaging people’s homes. 

The project tested me as an engineer. As a remote location, even getting the right information to inform the design was a challenge, alongside practical considerations like how to get equipment to the atoll and how to build there. 

But all those challenges fade when you see the community impact. When big waves strike, the impact is horrific, washing right over the island and destroying people’s homes. It’s so rewarding to know that our work is helping to provide real protection and strengthen community resilience. 

On any project, the client, consultants and contractors need to work as one team. Working collaboratively and communicating, gathering as much information as possible, is so important to being an effective, solution-driven team.  

This came to life on a recent project with Port of Newcastle, where we were needing to do some dredging work. There were a lot of constraints, approvals, environmental and constructability issues to resolve. By bringing the client’s operational, environmental and construction teams together in a workshop, we were able to come up with a great solution, including using dredged materials in the construction process to reduce waste and limit environmental damage.

Partnership also means working with clients to come up with creative solutions in the face of constraints. For example, a few years ago we were engaged by a client because a wave attenuator structure that had been designed by another company was failing after only six months. We were able to investigate the issues and plan for how to strengthen the design while still retaining as many existing elements as possible. I’m happy to say that our new design has been successfully in place for several years now. 

For me, that is what effective partnership looks like: bringing the right people together, understanding the constraints and using professional judgement to find a solution that works. 

Over the course of my career, the biggest change I've seen has been the impact of environmental change on our coastlines and waterways. Coastal erosion, more frequent extreme weather events and sea-level rise are already influencing how we plan, design and manage infrastructure. Today, designing for future sea-level rise is a standard consideration in maritime projects, whereas it wasn't something we talked about at the beginning of my career. 

Looking ahead, these challenges will continue to shape the engineering profession. We'll need to better understand how coastlines and waterways are changing, make informed decisions about when to protect assets and communities, and in some cases consider whether retreat is the most sustainable long-term solution. 

At the same time, new materials and construction methods will help us reduce environmental impacts and build more durable infrastructure. We're already seeing innovations in concrete and other materials, and I expect that progress to accelerate in the years ahead.  

AI and digital tools will help us work more efficiently, but engineering will still depend on experience, creativity and professional judgement. Every site and every project is different, and the best solutions will continue to come from people who understand both the technical challenges and the real-world context.