HDR has made key leadership appointments and promotions to strengthen its defence capability at a critical time for Australia's national security. The new leadership team comprises Directors Stuart Aslett, Maurice Valentinuzzi, and Alex Wessling. The trio of directors will be supported by Michelle Addley, Michael Shelley, Huey Moo, Brendan Grayson and Design Director Simon Fleet, and will leverage their combined 100-plus years of experience to deliver complex projects and programs for the Department of Defence.
HDR’s expertise includes base redevelopments, capability facilities, and operational and training environments that can sustain military capabilities for the next decade.
“HDR has been delivering defence projects for over 30 years,” says Stuart Aslett, HDR’s Director of Defence. “We were the first practice to deliver a project under the managing contractor model, introduced in 1993, and were part of a design consortium that delivered the first ever Defence public-private partnership project in 2004.
“With this depth of experience comes a deeply nuanced understanding of the shifting challenges and complexities of the sector, and the capability to deliver base redevelopments, capability facilities and operational and training environments that can sustain military capabilities for the next decade.”
HDR is working with GroupGSA to design the Riverina Redevelopment Program, a $1.8 billion project spanning three Defence establishments. The company is also developing data-driven design tools to expedite processes, reduce embodied carbon and produce climate resilient infrastructure.
“Our multilateral approach to defence design means that the growth and development of the sector is being continually shaped by the breadth and deep expertise of our national and local resources,” says HDR Managing Principal Cate Cowlishaw. “With a strengthened and diversified leadership team, we are well-positioned to build on our capability edge and operate in a digitally charged and increasingly complex geopolitical climate.”
HDR has also recently designed two NEXTDC colocation data centres in Melbourne that are set to house Australia’s largest and most comprehensive cloud ecosystem. Constructed by Kapitol Group, M3 Melbourne, a 100,000 sqm data centre in West Footscray, and M2 Melbourne, a 16,000 sqm data centre in Tullamarine, will collectively deliver 210 megawatts of critical IT infrastructure. Graeme Spencer, HDR’s National Director of Education and Science says: “By thoughtfully integrating deeply technical, data-driven processes, while still maintaining focus on community well-being, we have conceived two resilient, sustainable and high-performance campuses that enable digital transformation.”