Inertian Insight – May 2023

After an exceptional career in engineering, Inertia’s Hilton Reid is powering down his computer and putting his design tools away one final time as he starts a new chapter in his life, a well-earned and deserved retirement. After running his own successful consultancy for over 30 years, Hilton joined Inertia in 2020 when the two organisations merged and, since then, has become a key member of our team.

To mark the occasion, our team headed to lunch to farewell Hilton and wish him every success in the future. Inertia’s Industrial Lead, Associate Joshua Falco, paid tribute to Hilton, “Hilton has been a fantastic part of the growth of our industrial services, bringing his wealth of experience, ingenuity, design thinking and knowledge to every project. In addition, he has been an outstanding mentor to our team, advising and supporting us as we build our careers in engineering and support our clients’ projects. On behalf of every Inertian, I’d like to thank Hilton for all he has done in his time with us and wish him every success and happiness in his retirement.”

A very warm welcome to Greg Millwood, who has joined our team as Principal Civil Engineer! With over 40 years’ experience in the Civil Engineering Industry Greg has worked extensively in various fields of civil engineering in Australia and abroad.

Greg’s experience involves the Project Management in development planning, detailed design, all aspects of operational works design, construction management of roadwork’s, stormwater drainage, service infrastructure and associated major trunk infrastructure such as water/sewerage mains, storage facilities, treatment plants etc. Greg is also proficient in researching and identifying potential sites and preparing feasibility studies to determine economic viability, including liaising with relevant Local Authorities through the concept and to project completion. He has also been a key member of numerous Master Planning Consultant Teams for developments ranging in size from 100 to 4000 plus lots.

Greg will be focusing on technical leadership of our projects including project directorship, reviews and mentoring across our civil teams. One of Greg’s key drivers is to make a lasting positive impact to the people he works with via helping them grow their technical and project management knowledge to the next level.

Inertia Engineering is delighted to announce the promotion of Gregg Hoesman to Principal Engineer in recognition of his outstanding contribution to our projects, culture and organisation.

Inertia’s Scott Clements applauds this accomplishment, “Gregg has over 20 years of exceptional project experience and engineering leadership within the structural engineering space, delivering a variety of multi-disciplinary design projects throughout Australia and the UK. In his time with us, he has embodied the values that we aspire to achieve at Inertia and has been pivotal in leading large and complex multi-disciplinary projects and assisting in the growth of our team through his mentoring and training. We are delighted to recognise Gregg’s efforts and promote him to a senior leadership position within Inertia. We look forward to the ongoing contribution he will make as he brings his expertise, skill and passion to our clients’ projects and our team,” said Scott.

“I am delighted to have been promoted to Principal Engineer,” shares Gregg. “We have a fantastic team and are working on diverse and interesting projects across the health, residential, industrial and education sectors for clients who value our collaborative approach to creating the best possible project outcomes. It’s an exciting time to be part of Inertia’s growth, and I’m looking forward to being a part of our long-term success.”

Learn more about Gregg, his life outside of work and his commitment to teamwork, engineering the best possible solutions to improve people’s lives.

Read Meet Gregg Hoesman

Inertia’s Advisory Board Chair, Roger Collins Woolcock and Managing Director, Scott Clements hosted the first of our board room lunch series ‘Imagining Our Future’ in April.  It was a pleasure and privilege to enjoy the company of our guests who shared their insights on the current state of the industry.

Our conversation around the table centred on the unique opportunity we have in the development and construction industry in South East Queensland over the next 10 years, as well as the key constraints we need to overcome.  Unexpectedly, a major topic was the recent construction price escalation and limited available resources in the market to deliver on these opportunities.  We also discussed red-tape in approvals causing project delays, concerns around alignment of planning and urban design goals at the different levels of government and the lack of available housing which will act as a barrier to attract workers into the state, amongst a number of other areas.

In addition to the great company and insightful conversation, we were treated to a 3-course meal by the fabulous Madame Wu team, accompanied by some amazing (and rare) wines by our great friend Darren Davis from Davis White. We eagerly anticipate the next event of the ‘Imagining Our Future’ series in June.

Inertia Engineering wish to pass on a big thanks to Roger Collins-Woolcock – Collins Woolcock, Ryan Coyne – Hutchinson Builders, Ken Ng – Savills, Mathew Burke – ADP, Stephen Cameron – Cameron & Co, Paul Riga – Urbis, Kirsty Chessher Brown – UDIA, Alex Levy – Mirvac, Christina Cho – Cox and Steve Dunn – DMLA, for joining us at this memorable occasion.

Remote working, hybrid working, work-life balance, and life balance; are all terms that entered our consciousness in recent years, but ones that were rapidly accelerated into the mainstream as workplaces changed with the pandemic.

And with such a rapid change in the types of workplaces we use, our team is seeing the home office transformed from an occasional desk or kitchen table into thoughtfully designed ergonomic offices packed with technology and ergonomic features that support the transformation of work.

Inertia’s Housing Lead, Jed Michel has seen the rapid pace of change in what clients want from their home offices as he has delivered innovative design solutions to support changes in the way we work.

Read the latest on Home Design

Recently, our Inertian bebés born in March and April enjoyed a happy fiesta at La Carmela on Petrie Terrace. What is better than a mexican cuisine induced food coma for our customary Birthday Munch? Another fabulous venue crossed off the list – It’s a wonder if our amigos were seen catching a sneaky siesta back at their desk!

We ended the month of April with some fun office shenanigans as we held our Ping Pong Jamboree in support of Movember’s Know Thy Nuts Campaign.

Even though it is rare, over 100,000 men are diagnosed with testicular cancer each year, with the disease mainly impacting young men. If caught early, testicular cancer is treatable, however, essential ongoing research is needed to better understand and treat the disease, and we’re proud to do our part to raise awareness to support this cause.