Author: Katie Ager

Holmes is Accredited as a Technically Assured Organisation (TAO) by Transport for NSW

Holmes is proud to announce that we are accredited as a Technically Assured Organisation (TAO) by Transport for NSW (TfNSW) for our fire and life safety services.

TAO accreditation is held by only a small number of specialist fire engineering practices in Australia, and we are proud to be one of them. It recognises the technical capability, robust processes, and quality assurance our team brings to complex transport projects. It also reinforces Holmes’ position in adjacent-station and over-station developments, where fire safety requirements must be carefully integrated across all stages of design with careful consideration of the development’s connection with surrounding existing and future developments.

For us, this is more than just a credential. It reflects the specialist fire safety engineering capability Holmes has built over many years, and the trust our clients place in us to deliver on some of the most complex developments in the sector.

A big thank you to our team for the work that went into achieving this recognition. We are excited to keep working with TfNSW and contributing to the future of the transport network in New South Wales.

 

Celebrating 30 Years of Fire at Holmes

Fire Practice 30 Year Celebration!

This year marks an extraordinary milestone for our Holmes Fire Practice—30 years of delivering innovative fire engineering solutions.

Our Fire team has grown from a small practice to an industry leader, recognised for our commitment to technical excellence, innovation, and collaboration. To mark the occasion, we enjoyed a morning tea across our New Zealand and Australian offices, sharing stories and reflecting on the collective effort that has brought us here today. 

This milestone wouldn’t have been possible without:

  • Our team: the incredible dedication of our team, who bring passion and expertise to every project.
  • Our clients: the trust of our clients who have allowed us to be part of their journey.
  • Our community: the support of our project partners, who have advocated for fire safety across our projects.

Here’s to the next chapter of our Fire Practice! Thank you to everyone who has been part of this incredible story both within Holmes and for those connected to our business—this celebration is thanks to you.

 

 

ACSE Awards: A Night of Celebrations!

We’re incredibly proud to be part of the team for two award-winning projects.

Our team were honoured to attend the ACSE Excellence in Engineering 2024 Awards held in Syndey this month. Our team of talented fire and structural fire engineers were part of the following winning projects:

  • Michael Kirby Building, by TTW (Large projects category) 
  • Capella Hotel, TTW (Heritage projects category) 

Congratulations to all the other projects and teams who won awards on the night.

 

Michael Kirby Building, Macquarie University

Read more about our role in the project.

Michael Kirby Building., Macquarie University

© Nicole England Photography

Capella Hotel 

Read more about our role in the project.

Capella Hotel

© Timothy Kaye Photography

Holmes Supports the Wonder Project Mission

Holmes is proud to announce our recent partnership with the Wonder Project – Engineering New Zealand’s in-school programme to encourage science, technology, engineering and mathematic interests in young people.

At Holmes, we’re firm believers in their important work improving STEM education for tamariki and rangatahi in schools across Aotearoa, so we look forward to working together to inspire young professionals to explore the world of STEM.

Find out more about the Wonder Project and their mission here: The Wonder Project

Scholarship award for Timber Conference in Norway

Michael Williamson, Design Engineer at Holmes ANZ recently attended the World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE) in Oslo, Norway, after being awarded a scholarship by the NZ Timber Design Society. We had the pleasure of catching up with Michael to hear more about his amazing trip and what he learned about what’s new in the world of timber.

 

Q: How did you end up going on this trip? What was the process for being selected?

Michael: I was awarded a scholarship from the Timber Design Society. The application was a two-page proposal about how to increase the uptake of engineered timber in NZ. My proposal focused on how to give NZ practitioners the confidence to solve engineered timber challenges through sharing challenges and solutions on real world projects. There is plenty of uncertainty around many aspects of the delivery of engineered timber projects, and we need to share successes and failures on our NZ projects to help reduce this uncertainty and advance our industry.

 

Q: What inspired you to apply?

Michael: After working on a mass timber project, I found that I enjoyed the technical challenge of timber, so I to gain exposure to the wider industry. Designing in timber is a great way to reduce carbon emissions from construction, so it’s an opportunity for us structural engineers make a difference towards mitigating climate change. Going to Europe was a bonus too!”

 

Q: What was the top 3 take aways from the event?

Michael: My main learnings were around how the the world of timber is changing in regard to structural engineering.

  • Fire performance is still the most limiting, challenging and contentious aspect of mass timber buildings. There were a lot more questions than answers.
  • CLT is really becoming the hot engineered timber product. It’s being used for diaphragms, floor plates in point supported contexts (no gravity beams) and walls as part of the lateral frame. There appears to be strong potential for CLT, but there is still plenty of research and work to be done to increase its uptake.
  • It’s a lot easier to design a mid or high rise mass timber building in regions without earthquakes, but there are some cutting-edge, seismically resistant timber buildings coming out of the West Coast of the States and the Pacific Northwest. We should start to see similar buildings popping up around NZ in the next few years.

 

Q: In your opinion, where do you think NZ ranks currently in relation to the rest of the engineering world when it comes to mass timber and sustainability?

Michael: NZ is a bit behind Europe in regard to the uptake of mass timber, however, our regulations around reducing our construction emissions to achieve the national net zero carbon emissions 2050 target should push us to be a leader in sustainability. There is good reason why NZ is probably a bit behind – we have to deal with a significant seismic hazard, and the knowledge around the seismic performance of mass timber buildings is still developing. In my opinion, NZ ranks near the front for mass timber engineering in regions of high seismicity – perhaps this also says that there is still a bit of work to do in this field.

Q: Tell us one weird thing you ate/drank/saw/did while at the conference. 

Michael: I tried reindeer at a restaurant after the conference!

Congratulations from all of us at Holmes ANZ on winning the scholarship! 

Holmes Announces Two Sustainability Leaders

We’re super excited to announce we have appointed two Sustainability Leaders to drive our commitment to sustainability forward—and embed sustainable design principles into our Practices at Holmes.

Sustainability is a hugely important topic to Holmes, and because it is so broad it requires a considered response to ensure that we can drive meaningful change. These new roles at Holmes will be focused on the areas of sustainability where our influence and contribution can have the most impact with our Clients and on our projects.

Megan Stringer (from Holmes US) and Lisa Oliver (from Holmes Australia & New Zealand) are Holmes’ first Sustainability Leaders. We’re very lucky to have two people of such great experience, quality and knowledge leading our Sustainability efforts, and we wanted to introduce and celebrate them!

Megan is an Associate Principal with Holmes and works out of our San Francisco office. Motivated by our impact on the built environment, Megan is at the forefront of reducing structural embodied carbon for Holmes US and the broader industry. She champions Holmes’ commitment to SE 2050 and has contributed to many sustainability focused projects. She has overseen mass timber construction for a range of projects, including North America’s largest (Microsoft Silicon Valley), low-carbon concrete pours at Intuit, and has completed many life-cycle assessments across a range of structures. She also speaks at conferences, writes articles, and is the current President of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California! .

Lisa is a Project Director with Holmes and works out of our Christchurch office. She is also deeply involved in the world of Sustainability, and has led the NZ Sustainable Design team for a number of years. She became a Green Star accredited professional (the first for Holmes!) more than a decade ago. Lisa has also been involved in the SESOC Sustainable Design Task Force, and has contributed to many papers, committees and conferences. Responsible and sustainable use of materials is vital, and Lisa has worked on many mass timber projects in NZ and has promoted the broad adoption of timber on Holmes projects. She was also recently on Radio NZ to talk about structural engineering and sustainability – check it out!

Megan and Lisa will be working closely with Hamish Nevile (Global Director of Design, Holmes Group) to help enhance our current commitment to sustainability and support our clients and projects achieve their own sustainability goals.

Congrats, Megan and Lisa!

Megan Stringer

Holmes US

Lisa Oliver

Holmes ANZ

Advancing fire safety through standards: Sarnia Rusbridge’s contribution to shaping industry best practice

“Involvement does not take up a huge part of your time, and the contribution you make has a lasting benefit for the industry – and for the country.”

Sarnia Rusbridge, Principal here at Holmes and National Chair of the Society of Fire Safety was recently interviewed by Engineers Australia about her contribution to shaping industry best practice.

Read about her career journey and the value of practical, people-focused design in the snippet below and the full interview here.

Sarnia Rusbridge has built a distinguished career in fire safety engineering, applying her expertise to major infrastructure projects and championing practical, people-focused safety solutions. As National Chair of the Society of Fire Safety, she has helped guide the profession’s future direction and strengthen collaboration across the industry.

We spoke to Sarnia about her journey into fire engineering, the importance of diversity in standards development and how more engineers can play a role in shaping the standards that underpin the built environment.

What initially drew you to engineering, and how did you discover your interest in fire safety engineering?

I had just finished a degree in mechanical engineering and was eager to get out of uni and move into the real world. Unfortunately, New Zealand was going through a bit of a recession and there was very little mechanical engineering work available. 

I remembered that we had someone come in and speak to our final year class about fire engineering, and it struck me as a field with good work opportunity and strong prospects. I didn’t know much about it going in, but pursuing fire safety engineering turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made…

Continue reading the full interview here: Sarnia Rusbridge’s contribution to shaping industry best practice.

SESOC Awards: Holmes Involved in Three Award-Winning Projects

SESOC Awards: Holmes Involved in Three Award-Winning Projects

A night of celebrations for our Holmes people and projects at the SESOC Awards!

Last week our team attended the Structural Engineering Society (SESOC) Conference in New Zealand—we’re thrilled to celebrate the achievements of our people and project partners.

First, Hamish McKenzie was awarded SESSOC Life Membership—well-deserved recognition for many years of service and representing Holmes on committees and other SESOC groups, including a term as President in recent years.

We also had an amazing night at the awards ceremony, where Holmes got more Ithan our share of the silverware. We entered three projects, and all of them got a medal! The three award-winning projects are listed below:

  • Observatory Hotel at the Arts Centre (won a commendation)
  • Te Pae Building (received best in category)
  • Christ Church Cathedral Stabilisation (received best in category)

These achievements were incredible recognition for some truly world class seismic engineering.

Congratulations to all the project teams involved and all the winners on the night.