Emma turns 10!

One of our favourite Inertians reached the big decade milestone this week, the one and only Emma Clements. From admin to marketing, to launching the Civil team, to raising three kids, to Flood Principal, the impact that Emma has had on Inertia is immeasurable. We asked her to have a look back on the last 10 years and recount her favourite moments, it’s a pretty special read.

“Early 2011,  I left the large engineering consultancy game, after the loss of our second child who was stillborn at 39 weeks gestation. It was a difficult time in our lives and I wanted to focus on family and also support Scott & Dave with their small but growing business, Queensland Structural engineering (QSE). I was the admin lady, answered the phones, booked in inspections and dabbled in some marketing. However, my passion for engineering started to creep back and off the back of the Brisbane 2011 floods, I found myself back in the game doing flood projects for QSE clients. This wetted Scott’s appetite to branch out of just structural engineering in Queensland and so we rebranded ourselves to ‘Inertia Engineering’ in late 2011”

“Over the next few years, the flood projects and clients started to build and then came the civil projects and ten years on our Land & Water team is 20 people strong. During this time, Scott and I have had two more children bringing our brood to three energetic, super awesome boys. Back in August 2011 never did I think what started as answering phones with QSE would turn into now being the client engagement and flood principal at Inertia Engineering, a business that has well and truly made its mark in Queensland. None of this would have happened without the ever-present love, support (and at times pressure) from Scott, he sure is the driving force behind many of us at Inertia. Hence where our name was born – Inertia is a force that ensures our designs stand the test of time whilst our service is always moving”

“Here are some of my top 10 memorable Inertia moments:

1. Receiving our first DA approval flood study for a house renovation in Wilston.
2. I had to forgo maternity leave for our 3^rd child, due to a heavy workload, so was back in the office when Joseph was 10-days old. The Inertian team accepted breastfeeding as the norm in team meetings and helped rock ’Joey the baby’ back to sleep when clients came in. They did this without hesitation, which I’m still truly thankful for.
3. Competing in the Gold Coast Corporate Triathlon. We were fully kitted out and had a great time all competing together
4. Winning our first flood court appeal case. It was a challenging site; we were up against new planning schemes and policies but delivered a fantastic solution for our client and helped Council with their flood mapping. This led to Inertia’s first substantial land subdivision project – The Reserve at Dakabin
5. Being nominated in #100 Top Women in Engineering in 2018
6. Inertia’s MasterChef BBQ challenges, which came with bragging rights on being on the winning team two years running
7. The creation of the Inertia Cultural Committee, which has really helped bring the wall down between our civil and structural crews
8. Celebrating International Women in Engineering Day with 10 other Inertian women, so grateful for how far we have come
9. Taking part in Dream Big Australia’s mentoring program (online due to Covid) to guide up and coming women through their career choices in STEAM opportunities
10. Sitting here at my desk now, listening to the buzz of the land & water team working together over a beer after the announcement of one of our awesome senior engineers who just received his RPEQ certificate”

Thank you for a decade of hard work, big smiles, and an ever-present fun attitude, Inertia wouldn’t be where it is without you!