Reshaping design by going beyond technical specifications
Source: Aurecon - www.aurecongroup.com
02
August 2016
Aurecon: The Global Director, Excellence &
Expertise of engineering and infrastructure advisory firm Aurecon, Dr
Kourosh Kayvani, today announced the appointment of eight Design
Directors as the firm continues to elevate its investment in Design as a
source of competitive advantage.
According to Dr Kayvani, as the world becomes increasingly complex,
ambiguous and volatile, creative and innovative design needs to underpin
engineering and engineered solutions.
“Design is more than having an understanding of technical specifications
and applying these to deliver new infrastructure,” said Dr Kayvani.
“Great design is about coming to a challenge without preconceived ideas
or rigid sets of rules. It is about imagining what can be and then
creating solutions to deliver great outcomes for clients and
stakeholders.”
“In recent years in our industry, the power of Design has been subsumed
by too much focus on conventional systems and narrowly-defined
functional elements, rather than exploring holistic options and
incubating innovation to create unique design solutions,” said Dr
Kayvani.
In the same way that computing and robotics have disrupted blue collar
businesses, they are disrupting professional services companies today.
For engineers and infrastructure advisors, this disruption comes in many
forms and Aurecon’s response is multi-faceted, including a focus on
innovation, digital and design thinking.
“Aurecon’s Design Directors are leading practitioners, representing the
pinnacle of technical mastery within our company,” said Dr Kayvani.
“As Design Directors, these experts will focus on problem finding and
problem solving for our clients and will explore the essence of great
Design, just as the best design engineers did in the past.”
“In helping our clients navigate uncertainty, Aurecon embraces the view
that delivering truly meaningful design solutions requires acknowledging
the importance of human attributes like observation, creativity, as well
as a deep understanding of, and empathy with, stakeholders’ desires and
needs.”
“Building strong, design-focused relationships with our clients means
empowering our best designers and allowing them to imagine and connect
deeply with projects. Our creative objective is to conceptualise,
provoke, refine, plan and deliver excellence across the lifecycle of
client’s projects.”
“Aurecon’s philosophy is to embrace, not fear business and marketplace
disruption. Our Design Directors have deep technical, project and client
relationship skills. These experts are the ‘custodians’ of the quality
of our global design solutions.”
“Our Design Directors offer our clients a channel through which they can
question everything, seek to understand change and partner in order to
deliver great projects,” said Global CEO Giam Swiegers.
“Great design, doesn’t happen in isolation. Responding to feedback from
clients, we identified that if you want to create exemplar, memorable
and highly valued projects, it’s essential to engage and explore ideas.
Our Design Directors will bring this to our clients and their projects,”
added Swiegers.
Inaugural Aurecon Design Directors
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Dr Harry Asche – Aurecon Design Director – Tunnels
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John Hilton – Aurecon Design Director – Bridges
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John Leech – Design Director – Industrial Machines
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Paul Stephenson – Aurecon Design Director – Manufacturing
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Dr Verno Jonker – Aurecon Design Director – Water Resources
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Stephan Logan – Aurecon Design Director – Building Mechanical & Electrical (MEP)
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Dr Andy Davids – Aurecon Design Director – Tall Buildings
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Julian Briggs – Aurecon Design Director – Water & Wastewater Treatment
Dr Harry Asche
Design Director – Tunnels
Harry has acted as design leader and design manager on a wide range of
transportation projects involving tunnelling and
rail. Harry’s expertise
within tunnelling, includes managing large teams who strive to better
understand settlement induced by tunnelling, groundwater and the design
of rock support across geotechnical diversity of forms.
John Hilton
Design Director – Bridges
John is a highly experienced bridge engineer with a 40-year project
history working on bridges within Australia, the Middle East, Southeast
Asia, New Zealand and Africa. His experience encompasses a wide range of
loadings, spans and structure types. John is passionate about real
innovations in bridge design.
John Leech
Design Director – Industrial Machines
John is one of Australia’s pre-eminent bulk materials handling
engineers. He has led or guided the innovative design of a substantial
proportion of the Australian resource industry’s export capacity. In
2016, John was recognised as one of Australia’s 50 most innovative
engineers by Engineers Australia and create magazine.
Paul Stephenson
Design Director – Manufacturing
Paul is passionate about finding new ways to help our manufacturing
clients meet their ever increasing need to be price competitive in an
environmentally sustainable way. For more than 40 years, Paul has
specialised in projects and operational improvements across the dairy,
food, fish, minerals, forestry, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.
Dr Verno Jonker
Design Director – Water Resources
Verno has 20 years’ experience as a water resources engineer in the
fields of catchment hydrology, flood hydrology, integrated water
resources analysis, planning and management, decision support systems,
hydraulic analysis, flood risk and hazard assessments, surface water
monitoring, river hydraulics and environmental flows.
Stephen Logan
Design Director – Building Mechanical & Electrical (MEP)
Stephen leads a team delivering structural and building services and
specialist building sciences for the building construction industry. He
has extensive experience in major project design, including sports
stadiums, airport terminal buildings, casinos, large commercial office
developments, hotels and resorts.
Dr Andy Davids
Design Director – Tall Buildings
Andy has been responsible for many of the Super Tall projects undertaken
in the Middle East and around the world. The guiding principles of
Andy’s designs are to consider the design of Super Tall buildings in a
holistic way, and to then weave the best construction system into the
fabric of the design.
Julian Briggs
Design Director – Water & Wastewater Treatment
Julian’s primary focus is on process design and modelling of wastewater
plants, nutrient removal and membrane bioreactors. Across projects,
Julian has develop innovative treatment approaches through detailed
design, construction, commissioning and early stages of operation.
Contact
Danielle Bond - Head of Marketing & Communications, Aurecon
T +61 3 9975 3138
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