“Continuous improvement, that’s what engineering is all about.”

23 June - International Women in Engineering Day

Today, we’re celebrating International Women in Engineering Day. At BESIX Group, there’s no shortage of talented female colleagues in the field. We had a chat with Project Engineer Maddy Gabrielli from BESIX Watpac in Australia. She joined our Australian subsidiary this year and shares her story.

Hi Maddy, what do you do at BESIX Watpac?

I’m a project engineer, which can mean a lot of different things. It changes from project to project, but typically you are involved in overseeing the quality assurance on the job and working with the site team to ensure that any issues with the design get resolved before we build it. You’re also trying to find opportunities for improvement and propose those to the client. At the start of a project, you are mainly in the office, but as the project progresses, you transition to being more on site and overseeing the construction. This is perfect for me, as I like to be outdoors and get to do a little bit of everything.

What did you study?

I had a bit of an odd path. I grew up in a family that was in construction, but I studied chemical and environmental engineering at the University of Queensland. I then did the T.I.M.E exchange program to ECP in Paris, where I studied industrial engineering. That’s also how I learned about BESIX.

Why BESIX Watpac?

I was very interested in the merger of a strong local company like Watpac with BESIX Group a few years ago. I love big infrastructure and the idea of working at an engineering-led building company, rather than heading down a pure design or civil path appealed to me a lot.

It’s a great team with plenty of opportunities. For instance, if you want to learn about other areas of construction like design management or contract administration, they’re happy to train you and move you around in different roles so you get to see the different aspects of a job. There is also great internal mobility. A colleague of mine is about to start a new position on a project in New Zealand. It’s great to have the opportunity to spend a couple of years in one city, then move on to another and discover new people and places.

What do you like most about the company?

I love the collaboration between the different generations and the focus on safety and quality. We have a regularly scheduled meeting on a Monday morning where the Queensland teams reviews lessons learnt with a focus on developing best practice details for future use. That collaboration and knowledge sharing, in which you have the older generation actively teaching the younger one, is incredibly valuable. It’s lovely – and quite unique - to see a building company with an engineer’s focus on continual improvement.

“It’s lovely – and quite unique - to see a building company with an engineer’s focus on continual improvement.”

What inspires you the most about engineering?

Problem-solving! As a kid, I spend a lot of time taking things apart and often not being able to put them back together. Analysing a whole system and looking at what’s wrong and why – or what could go wrong - always attracted me to engineering.

What are good skills to have has an engineer?

Apart from critical thinking, courage and curiosity! Never be afraid to ask a stupid question, because if you don’t ask you will never learn. Especially when you’re a young engineer, it can be hard to ask those questions, as you assume everyone else knows and has seen it all before. However, it’s often from those type of questions not only you, but the entire team learns. The learning aspect is a big one for me. There’s always something you don’t know or have never seen before, since no job is ever quite the same.

Are there other aspects you particularly like about your job?

Yes! The fact that you interact with a wide range of people. From tradesmen to business owners, other engineers, clients, etc. You come across so many different perspectives.

If you could snap your fingers and become an expert in something, what would it be?

3D modelling and VR! It would be awesome to be really good at that and be able to use all that new technology to find new angles for dealing with difficult issues. It will be amazing to have holographic interfaces on site some day in the future. A picture is worth a thousand words and a good model can convey so much more detail than a drawing.

“It would be awesome to be really good at 3D modelling and VR and be able to use all that new technology to find new angles for dealing with difficult issues.”

What project are you working on now?

The Technology Innovation Complex (TIC) at James Cook University in Townsville. It’s a four-storey, 9,400 m² project and will bring all the STEM disciplines together in one collaborative environment.

It’s really quite fun as an engineer to be working on a new engineering building that the future students are going to enjoy. Even more so since I grew up in Townsville, and I’ve hopefully got some younger cousins coming through who will be studying in the building that I’m working on.

What’s particularly challenging about the project?

It is a very architecturally detailed project. Some elements in it have never been built or certified for this region before, so there’s a lot of innovation and testing involved. You don’t always know if something is going to work until you try it, but that’s one of the exciting things about this project. You can spend months trying to figure out how to deliver on the concept the architect had in mind.

For instance, we have a suspended cantilevered stairs and an oculus in the centre of the building atrium that have been a great challenge. It will be a very satisfying as a team to be watching those elements go in, and to look back on the whole journey of how it all came together.

What is the best advice you were ever given?

Someone once told me that “everyone you will ever meet knows something that you don’t”. No matter what industry, trade or technical background someone is from, every person knows something that you don’t and that you’d be grateful to learn, and it is important to make time to listen to what they can teach you. I’m still close with some of the incredible maintenance crew from Brisbane Airport who took me under their wing and taught me all the ins and outs of their buildings as a young engineer.

“I’m still close with some of the incredible maintenance crew from Brisbane Airport who took me under their wing and taught me all the ins and outs of their buildings as a young engineer.”

What advice would you give to young engineers?

Don’t be afraid to ask questions and look for a way to take the initiative! Don’t wait around to be told what to do - always look for how you can contribute to and support the team, because that’s how good teams get even better.

Thank you for talking to us, Maddy!