Time is running out for people wishing to enter this year's listing of Australia's most innovative engineers with the deadline day, Friday, 24 February, fast approaching.
One of the engineers in last year's listing, Dr Marianne Foley from Arup, says she was absolutely thrilled to be included for her work on 50 Martin Place in Sydney.
This landmark heritage building was recently transformed as the new global headquarters of Macquarie Group, simultaneously enhancing its heritage value while creating a sustainable and contemporary office environment.
The building’s principal feature is an expanded 11-storey open atrium, which increases staff connectivity, amenity and air quality, and sustainability from the original form.
Foley's responsibility was for the fire engineering design, a unique combination of smoke curtains, glazed panels and smoke exhaust, which worked with the air conditioning strategy, allowing smoke to spill from the fire floor into the atrium, and then be exhausted through the roof.
She says Arup were pleased to see a number of their staff make the listing because the company was set up "to do things differently in the design and construction industry". Her colleagues were excited as well because a large team worked on the project.
"It feels odd to be singled out for the award when we are much more used, as engineers, to be credited as a team," Foley said.
"But I do think as a profession we need to step forward more often to help people understand and appreciate what engineers do."
She says engineers, as a profession, need to keep pushing the boundaries and bringing all their education, training and experience, in collaboration with others, to develop the best ideas.
"I once read a survey of the public that said engineers were trustworthy but dull, and won’t be the ones to save the planet," she said.
"Most of the problems facing us now are science and engineering related. Engineers are the people to save the world, and we need to inspire creative thinking in both our current engineers and in our next generation to solve these really challenging problems. The best ways to do that are to showcase innovation, to be willing to speak up with our ideas, and to communicate effectively to be heard by decision makers."
Engineers can nominate themselves for the Most Innovative Engineers listing or be nominated by others and they do not need to be members of Engineers Australia. Nominations are open to all engineers working in Australia and Australian engineers working overseas.
Any technology, project or product mentioned must have been developed, commenced or completed during the period 2015-2017. Engineers who were included in last year’s list may enter again, as long as it is not the same project for which they were selected.
Details on how to nominate can be found at: bit.ly/innovative17.
[Dr Marianne Foley]