Meet our People:

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Everybody knows it’s the people that make a place. However with Arup, you get both. The best people. The best place. Don’t just take it from us. Read what our employees say about life with Arup:

Finola

Senior Associate - Acoustics Group
With Arup for 17 years
 

I chose Arup when they came to our university and gave a presentation about the company. That was enough to convince me. Since then I’ve worked all over the world, before settling here in Australia. We miss our family, but we love the lifestyle and enjoy the friendships we have made here.

On any given day I am doing a combination of meeting or talking with clients, attending design team meetings, carrying out site visits, doing or checking design calculation work with our team in the office and on fun days, listening to the final results!! I enjoy the variety, the team I work with, the profile of the work, the responsibility, the constant learning and the sense of achievement when a project goes really well.

On other days I am enjoying my other profession – as a mum to two young boys.

The interesting thing about being a specialist is that I get to work on lots of different types of projects. From the design of concert halls and international airports, to high-profile high-rise office buildings and even industrial projects like new printing presses and co-generation plants. Some of the biggest thrills come from taking a project from a green or brown field site right through to the official opening.

Outside of work, I love spending quality time with my family and friends. I enjoy travelling and seeing new places and sailing and skiing, though with two small children I haven’t done as much of this as I’d like to recently.

One thing that people might not know about me is that I know how to pull a good pint of Guinness.

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Felix

Team Leader - Fire engineering
With Arup for 9 years.
 

I’d previously been with Arup for a little more than 6 years and in between I went to a competitor. This really made me appreciate Arup a great deal. They have the best projects, the best people, great clients, integrity and opportunities that couldn’t be matched by anyone else.

It’s difficult to say what I’ll be doing on any given day, as I’m lucky enough to have a highly variable job. I enjoy project design work - shaping the function and form of a building and assisting other team members to achieve the client’s wishes. As one of Arup’s strengths is multi-disciplinary design, I usually try to spend some time with my colleagues in other parts of the office, in addition to co-ordinating with other fire teams around Australia or globally.

What I like most about my job is that I get to communicate with and influence a broad range of people – NSW Fire Brigades, my excellent colleagues, exciting architects and far-sighted developers. That’s a very rewarding activity.

It also offers lots of interesting experiences. For example, undertaking a hot smoke test in one of the buildings I designed to see whether the smoke behaves as I’ve anticipated. It’s not something that gets done in the other countries I’ve worked in and I’m pleased to say that the smoke behaved just as predicted.

I’m sometimes surprised that there’s a world outside work, but my wife and I recently bought a house, so renovating is now our main hobby. When I get a chance, I love sport and games – golf, tennis, sailing, triathlon. And to relax, my preference is the opera, ballet or theatre.

People might not know that South Africa has had quite an influence on my life. I decided to move to Australia whilst working in South Africa and several people told me that if I liked it there, I’d love Australia. It’s pretty much what I expected – a great place to be with friendly people.

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Anna

Project Management Associate
With Arup for 18 months
 

I was working on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, a joint venture project, where my role involved working closely with many Arup people. I was impressed by their professionalism and the general culture of the firm and this influenced my decision to join the company.

At the moment, my ‘day-to-day’ consists of working on a tender for a large rail project. With partner organisations I’m putting together a document that will highlight how the project will be managed, what teams will be in place to run it, and a fee breakdown showing how we’d allocate resources if we win. The document will take the bid team about 3 weeks to put together.

What I like most about my role is the variety. As a project manager I’ve been involved in many different sectors – recently they’ve included projects in education, rail and defence. I also get the chance to work with lots of good people who are often leaders in their field.

Because I’ve only been in Australia for a few months, I’m spending my time exploring and also sampling the wonderful food and wine. Sydney’s such a vibrant and friendly place. After just three months of being here I feel that I know the city quite well. I’m going to explore the rest of the country over the next two years and have already planned lots of trips.

Something that people might not know about me is the most extreme sport I’ve done, which is a solo sky-dive. It took a weekend to do the training course, and just 10 minutes to do the dive. It was an amazing experience.

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