JOBS NEWS: Global architecture, engineering and planning firm HDR took its first step into appointing a full time sustainability leader with Simon Dormer joining the company in the role, in response to growing demands from clients, particularly government.
Dormer’s work will be to focus on embedding reconciliation, resiliency and regeneration into the company, which specialises in health, education, science, civic, justice and defence, in particular biomedical laboratory design.
HDR’s managing principal Cate Cowlishaw said the sustainability role is a first for the company’s Australian branch.
“It’s a new role, it’s the first time we’ve had a sustainability lead in an architecture practice in Australia.
“Since HDR is an integrated business, and we offer both architecture and engineering, we’re in a unique position to offer an integrated sustainability offer that draws on both architecture principles and engineering.”
Dormer was chosen from half a dozen applicants, and was selected because of his varied career in architecture and engineering, she says.
He previously spent a year at Northrop Consulting Engineers in the role of life cycle design leader and has also worked at Bupa, Hobsons Bay City Council, and K20 Architecture in sustainability.
As part of the new job Dormer will collaborate with Indigenous consultants to bring First Nations knowledge to the forefront of designs, and work alongside architects and designers to deliver buildings that are climate resilient and ecologically restorative.
Cowlishaw says that sustainability and Indigenous design are now highly requested by the company’s public sector clients.
“Sustainability aspiration and connection to Country in parallel are becoming more integral to science and health projects. Sustainability from a climate emergency point of view, and Indigenous design overlays in health infrastructure in rural and regional areas to address the community needs.”
Sustainability aspiration and connection to Country in parallel are becoming more integral to science and health projects.
It’s one of the important skills that Dormer will be able to offer with more significant government projects in the pipeline (more information to come). Cowlishaw also says that public ownership is one of the main drivers of sustainable design.
“Publicly owned assets, they want to last for a long time. That’s my interpretation. [We are seeing] more focus on sustainability from government agencies generally.
“Governments reflect the societies they represent… and there’s been a shift in society,” Cowlishaw says.
The company recently won some significant government projects, for which more than ten people were hired including Brendan Greyson who recently joined as an associate from Lyons to specialise in defence projects.
[We are seeing] more focus on sustainability from government agencies generally.
Governments reflect the societies they represent… and there’s been a shift in society.
The company now has around 11,000 employees across more than 250 locations, and is working on notable projects including the Westmead Health Precinct Redevelopment, the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness at CSIRO, the Sydney Biomedical Accelerator at the University of Sydney, and the Macquarie University STEM Masterplan.
If you can’t already tell, they’re part of the life sciences boom that’s been picking up momentum in Australia in the last few years.
Dormer added that sustainability macro trends are guiding the industry at the moment, with biomimicry, adaptive facades, urban greening, carbon positive infrastructure and climate resiliency at the top of the pile.
“For me, sustainability is a holistic practice and consideration of upstream and downstream environmental, social and economic impacts is critical to the success of any entity – we must be the change we wish to see,” he says.
“Covid-19 was the great unmasker of how to improve our resilience in both a material and social sense. With the Australian Architect’s declaring a climate and biodiversity emergency and mental ill-health on the rise, now is the critical decade to mitigate emissions, adapt to climate-related risks, and act on the interdependency between our health and the environment.”
He will be responsible for growing the sustainability team alongside global director of sustainable development Colin Rohlfing, creator of the company’s global Regenerative Design Framework, who is based in the US.
Dormer’s desk is in Melbourne alongside about 30 staff, but it’s the company’s Sydney office that’s been making waves.
The new 1050 square metre Gold WELL-standard design studio in Sydney’s iconic 25 Martin Place was designed with sustainability and wellness in mind, where Cowlishaw says there are 115 staff (90 in the architecture team and 25 engineers).
WELL is a global rating system that benchmarks how buildings can improve human comfort and enhance health and wellness.
The office has achieved this certification because it comes with breakout spaces, exercise and stress management rooms and programs, parent facilities and high-quality lighting and air conditioning.
The building is low-VOC, with repurposed furniture courtesy of a partnership with office fitouts company Steelcase, sustainable materials, and colourful rooms designed to accommodate over 100 people.
The US-headquartered company acquired the Rice Daubney architecture practice in 2013, followed by UK building services consultant Hurley Palmer Flatt Group in 2019.
Ahead of the office move, HDR restructured its staff to drive a new growth phase.
Cowlishaw was appointed in January 2021 as the first woman to lead the architectural practice, and one of few women leading major design studios in Australia.
Other strategic appointments last year included Jordan Kirrane as engineering sustainability lead, Jacqui Straesser, Bruce Crook and Mark Saunders in healthcare and education leadership, Simon Fleet as design director, Chetan Rajasekariah as defence specialist, and James Palmer as commissioning management leader.
Jordan Kirrane, who was at the company for seven years, has now left HDR to move on to Cundall.