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Three Arup game-changers recognised as Australia’s Most Innovative Engineers of 2018

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Trish Sunga Trish Sunga Australasia Press Office,Sydney
18 July 2018

Three Arup engineers have been recognised as among Australia’s Most Innovative Engineers of 2018 for their original approaches to overcoming complex problems in surveying, bridge design and infrastructure management.  

Daniel Messina, Kaitlin Langdon and Zoe Wilks have been identified by Engineers Australia for their “noteworthy contributions to the community, the industry and the profession”.

Daniel’s 3D scanning and surveying robot ‘Hermes’, Kaitlin’s detailed girders design and Zoe’s customised assessment tools have put them at the forefront of the profession this year.

Engineers Australia, the largest and most diverse professional body for engineers in the country, chose a shortlist of 30 local engineers.  

Daniel Messina from the Sydney office has been celebrated in the category of Manufacturing and Automation after inventing and testing Hermes, the 3D scanning and surveying robot. His design and concept saw the robot follow a predetermined path to initiate scans at desired locations -  a much more efficient method than the current process of manually moving the scanner every 10 minutes. To extend the potential value for clients, Daniel furthered Hermes’ capacity to continuously monitor and record site-specific data, providing value through asset management as well as monitoring and tracking construction progress.

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As plans are distributed to contractors and subcontractors, the robot can monitor progress and send large quantities of data to buildings services engineers. This will ensure any issues can be rectified before causing any further issues, such as a pipe being installed incorrectly impacting any further pipe installations. ” Daniel Messina headshot Daniel Messina Former Engineer

Kaitlin Langdon, a Senior Civil Engineer in Arup’s Brisbane office was recognised as Excelling in General Industry with her innovation, Quickcell Super 1 Girder, on the Port Drive Upgrade project in Brisbane.  Arup was contracted to duplicate the existing Lucinda Drive Bridge over Port Drive and Fisherman Island rail freight corridor. Kaitlin was the bridge designer, responsible for the detailed design of the very important girders.

Kaitlin successfully navigated a range of complex design considerations, including temporary design cases to ensure certainty for constructability of the girders. The complexity of the design was exacerbated with the challenging geometry, including high bridge skews and vertical crest away from the pier. Developing the girders required a collaborative design approach to incorporate all aspects of the design and construction, providing necessary certainty that the 140 t girders were constructible and designed to meet the relevant standards.

Jeff Booker, Australian Bridge Skills leader says the Quickcell Super Girder has mitigated major safety and constructability issues.

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The opportunity to work on this truly innovative project was brilliant and I am very grateful and honoured with this industry recognition. It is great to see that in the digital age, traditional engineering disciplines such as bridge design can find ways to innovate and evolve. ”

Kaitlin Langdon headshot Kaitlin Langdon Senior Civil Engineer

Perth’s Zoe Wilks impressed the judges of the Under 35 Young Engineers category with her work as Project Manager on the Curtin University Integrated Infrastructure Management Plan (IIMP) project. Zoe was responsible for delivering the management plan for a 20-year capital works program for all civil and transport projects across Western Australia’s largest university campus.

Her methodology involved a campus wide facility assessment using iPads along with a customised, web based spatial analysis tool. This allowed a more efficient assessment of the existing pedestrian, cycle and road networks at the university, resulting in significant cost savings for the client and providing the university with an extremely detailed geospatial file for other dependent projects.

Zoe’s innovative approach saw an eight-month project completed in just three months, allowing the university to accelerate the 2018 capital program of works.

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It’s pretty exciting as an engineer when your client trusts you to challenge their methodology and you are able to create innovative processes and designs with an incredible team around you. ”

Zoe Wilks headshot Zoe Wilks Project Manager