Reverse Testimonials 

Once sentence blurb about celebrating the mentors, partners, & influential colleagues.

Steve Richardson

Kane -Tony Isaacson-Jonathon Forster

First Principles- Kane gave me the best foundation for a career in the built environment. Respect for client and supply chain, solution oriented- British model of being in business for hundreds of years-(Jonathon Forster). Sustainble growth-Break things down to first principles-labour cost/hr and material vary, but productivity remains constant through time.Building on a mountain- labour productivity rate same- applied this logic to retrofitting 230K lights given the travel time was variable but once at the workface the productivity was the same. You won’t hear a bad thing about Kane in the market. 

‘Squeaky wheel gets the oil’

‘If you can’t understand it, draw it”

‘Building should be fun’

Bob Jeffs - Bob was auditor on a tough project I inherited- asbestos riddled project in distress that skyrocketed from $16M to $60M. Bob was empathetic, and his words of encouragement were golden ..“You learn more from one bad job than you do from seven good jobs’ 

Maria Atkinson OAM- the champion of Green Building in Australia. Maria has been an inspiration to me. I would listen to her speak in derelict auditoriums as the grass root movement gained momentum, which became five star as she gained traction. We would catch up In Dubai, Sydney or Melbourne- sharing war stories on the path we had taken; the torturous path, the path of greatest resistance.

Mick Pearce- Working alongside Mick Pearce for 3 years on CH2 was an effectively PhD in eco design-biomimicry and the laws of thermodynamics. Physics, nature and human endeavour led the design for the World’s Greenest Office Building

Prof Rob Adams- Rob was the Project Director of CH2 and an inspiring and encouraging mentor. Rob hand-picked Mick Pearce for CH2 and responded to the groundswell in Melbourne by being the ‘hero’ that commissioned the experimental project that was CH2. Rob leads the cities agenda at the annual Davos convention.

The Hon Denis Burke- Denis spoke of my enthusiasm being an excellent quality. He taught me the art of long term think strategic thinking and risk identification and the military process of ‘appraisal’. Denis you are not remember for your successes, rather how you recover from crippling defeat. Resilience in a nutshell.

Cassian Drew- I first worked with Cassian when he was at Booz and Co. He was impressive, bright and highly responsive to any deliverables. Cassian and his boss schooled me on how to streamline my peer review and recommendation for the STEP tunnel (42km long 3m diameter  gravity sewer tunnel into only six powerpoint slides. Cassian was involved in salvaging the beleaguered Collins Class submarine program, which Denis  Burke informed me of, and I too  shared Denis’ admiration. Cassian later helped establish the Abu Dhabi Quality Control Council which set the product standards for Abu Dhabi. Longheld British interests (entrenched by UK standards) were challenged by Cassian as he looked for more suitable standards. He forthright and dynamic in battle, a heroic bureaucratic warrior.

David Scott- Abu Dhabi Govt-Energy and Economic Affairs-Former advisor to Donald Rumsfeld, David Scott is one of the most inspiring colleagues Ive ever had the privilege of working alongside. Fluent in written and spoken Arabic, David was instrumental promulgating multi-billion dollar projects including Masdar City and UAE Nuclear Power program. We worked together on the Demand  Side Management program where he commissioned the RTI (Research Triangle International) to develop the data platform to inform the strategy. David commanded respect through enthusiasm, knowledge and good sense of humour and nobody was ever late for his meetings, such was the respect he garnered. I always feel he has the potential to be the US President. David has been described as ‘scary smart’ to which I agree wholeheartedly.

Steve Richardson- PHD is construction- worked together on salvaging the top down distressed project that had hit an aquafer and turned the site into swiss cheese. Steve’s adage “Line, level and grid”-emphasises the importance of discipline in design documentation.

David Pitchford- I have worked with David four times across my career. He has inspired me to  be an excellent communicator, a big thinker and an example of humility in civil service. David has a Churchill like persona. David was COO of Commonwealth Games, CEO of City of Melb, effectively the Mayor of the Palm Jumeriah, CEO of infrastructure UK and CEO of Urban Growth NSW

Che Wall- working with Che on CH2 and the fledgling GBCA was am immersion into the science of green buildings- Che highlighted the glaring  gap in tertiary education system compared to the UK; in the UK services engineer are trained in ALL services disciplines (mechanical, electrical and hydraulics)where in Australia they are only drained ins a single discipline. The skills-gap was why it was difficult to integrate services for optimal performance (a key tenet the green building movement.  Che later won the Banksia Award for Environmental Leadership,

Ahmed Shareef- Undersecretary DMA

Holly Chant

Guy Scott-Don’t take a phone call while I’m in a meeting with him.

Mark Prentice

Colin Grey

Dylan Brady- ‘we can put a man on the moon, we can surely save the planet’-cigarette break between lectures, Melbourne Uni 1994

Don Bates

Lawrence Katz-“Isreali general’-play the man 

David Jarm- among many things David taught me, was the discipline of preparing the minutes of meeting in a timely manner. “There may be days you may not be motived but you must always be disciplined” 

Socrates Calpoluous- the importance of the building surveyor- particularly in the ME

Val Lehr- LCI Val was the services engineer on the Nakheel tall Tower. A truly innovate engineer (and gentlemen) who along with his equally gentle late son Dan (RIP) worked on gravity defying system to achieve the tough mandates of a LEED Gold tower at 1.4km high and in the desert context. Val had worked on numerous tall building including Taipei 101 the then tallest building (check Patronas towers) as Burj Dubai (later Burj Khalifa) a was still under construction

Marcus Lee (Waterfront)-Mr 20% he would call me…never rude, always happy and accommodating.. 

Greg Clarke- I had the good fortune of receiving Greg Clarke in 2015 on his inaugural trip to Sydney as an advisor to UrbanGrowth NSW on Bays Precinct and other major developments. I had to brief Greg on the history, geograohy and demography of Sydney in under an hour I what can only be described as n jaw dropping intensity (ask the cab driver!) I had been a fan greg’s work since being introduced to it by Jeff Austin in 2007. Greg worked on rating cities World City, Aplha,, beta and Gamma. The rating system had a number of key indicators-  There were inficators for diversity “ Boho Index- artists/wrietrs/ (cretoives)  population and my personal favorite, the Shanghai Index which measures academic institutions with the indicated by number of nobel prizes per poulation.

Brian Cullinane Arup- I have a fan of Peter head and Dongtan and so when charged with the eco-city manadate I rang the local branch of Arup. I spokee  to Brain Cullianane Arup’s local environmental specialist. Brian was an essential part of my team

Conrad Groen

Peter Sharrat- WSP-

John Roberts Arup

Peter Head Arup- Dontan- Leadership

Tina Perritino-5th Estate

Lisa Rippon Lee –I asked Lisa why her team were so repsponsive and dynamic-she answered me simly ‘Mutual respect’

Steven Goldie 

Richard Smith-Atkins UAE- Burj al Arab- Integrated Utility Model-Sounding Board

Gareth Luken

Andrew Muir

Ian Jones-Vipac-Microclimatic simulation to shape a new new city -based on ancient desert city science 

Rem Koolhaas OMA-tMicroclimate scientist to mass it, we will make it look good

Ken Yeang

Didi Pei-

Frank Koning-allowed the new CBD of waterfront to be simulated and planned using microclimatic  simulation- built form protecting against hot desert winds and cool breezes drawn from the gulf flushing the heat from the city

Jeff Austin-Introduced me to the work of Greg Clarke- Jeff was great mentor in city governance and supported the low carbon city strategy.

Lisa- delivering the low carbon strategy- got ripped to pieces-Lisa came to my aid

Nick Green- waste to energy- navigating the politics -got the eco-city strategy (hatt Conrad championed) to Chris O’Donnell CEO

Simon Pagett- adopted the UGNSW sustainability strategy across his portfolio of champaign projects

Bruce Taper- Kenisis-a data enabled friend- a lifeboat in the sea of resistance.

Matt Beggs- mirrored enthusiasm

Dan Bright- ‘Harden the fuck up”

Kate Kennedy

Michael Mobbs

Peter Cowling

Trisha Caswell

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