Building resilience where people and water meet

I have always loved the natural environment. In high school, I completed a geography project at my local boating harbor, Bobbin Head, exploring how recreational boating affected water quality and biodiversity in the surrounding mangroves and waterway. That experience showed me that civil and environmental engineering could bring together my interest in nature with work that serves communities.

That motivation has only grown. Today, I might be working on flood barriers for flood-prone communities, coastal protection designed with the environment in mind, or water-quality and drainage improvements in Australia and across the Pacific.

What keeps me motivated is seeing how engineering can make a practical difference to both people and places.

The Hunter Valley Flood Mitigation Scheme repair works, delivered for NSW DCCEEW, have had the biggest impact on my career. The 2021 and 2022 floods damaged key flood levees protecting thousands of people in the Hunter’s rural residential areas. We carried out investigations and detailed designs for repairs at 14 sites along the Hunter, Paterson and Williams Rivers and their tributaries. The program covered around 7.6 kilometers of levee and riverbank works, including riverbanks, levees, floodgates and drains.

I spent two years on the project, expanding my technical knowledge across geotechnical, hydraulic and design challenges. I also developed my coordination skills by helping to manage the design of several sites, from concept through to issued-for-construction design.

Most importantly, the experience showed me how much this work matters. These repairs strengthen the resilience of Hunter communities against future floods and a changing climate.

For me, Enhancing Society Together means creating a positive impact for communities and their environments through the projects I am fortunate to work on. It means developing solutions that build climate resilience while supporting community safety, wellbeing and social value.

The Hunter Valley Flood Mitigation Scheme brought that purpose to life for me. Our designs helped repair and strengthen levees and riverbanks that protect homes, farms and livelihoods. It was a privilege to see the importance of this work to the communities affected, while also ensuring the design respected the river environment.

That balance in protecting people, caring for the environment and working closely with clients and communities is what Enhancing Society Together means to me.

From my experience, clients value Haskoning’s deep technical expertise and our ability to turn that knowledge into practical, pragmatic solutions. Our specialists across flooding, coastal, maritime and environmental engineering can examine complex challenges from different perspectives.

Technical depth is only part of the answer. We focus on building long-term relationships and finding the right outcome for each client rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach. That means listening carefully, understanding the local context and being honest about what will work.

By combining global experience with local knowledge and following a problem through to a lasting solution, we give clients both specialist expertise and genuine partnership.

Over the next 15 years, I would like to continue working on projects across the Asia-Pacific region, developing coastal and flood-engineering solutions that make a practical difference to local communities.

As climate change brings more intense storms, rising sea levels and more frequent flooding, pressure on coastal and riverside communities will continue to grow. I want to help those communities become more resilient and better prepared for what lies ahead.

If I can do that while continuing to grow as an engineer and, over time, mentoring others entering the profession, I will be very happy.