Respected Queensland property experts
A strong track record of delivering property and infrastructure projects in Queensland underpins the pragmatic advice offered by experienced civil engineers in our Brisbane office.
View Full WidthWith almost 100 years of collective experience, three of our senior civil engineers have comprehensive knowledge of the local market, which informs the strategic solutions we can offer our clients.
The expertise accrued by Keith Howells, Archie Venitis and John Harrison through their careers also supports professional development for the growing Queensland team.
Since opening its doors in 2022, our local office of civil engineers, town planners and landscape architects has built a portfolio of work throughout south-east Queensland’s growth corridors and across the state. The core start-up team of staff has also expanded, adding breadth and depth to our capabilities.
Contributing to local communities
Respected urban development specialist Keith Howells was one of the founding members of our Queensland team, with more than 35 years of experience designing civil engineering solutions for prominent projects in the greater Brisbane region.
Keith is driven by the satisfaction in building something that leaves a legacy for the community. Having started out as a cadet civil designer while studying at QUT, he is now in a position to revisit projects decades later and see how they’ve evolved.
“I can drive around suburbs now that I was involved with designing 30 years ago. If you’ve done a good job, you can see the people living there enjoying their way of life,” he says.
Keith is also motivated to pass his knowledge on to the next generation of engineers and urban development professionals.
“I’m always looking for new ideas and ways to help the team get better at what they do,” Keith says. “The mentoring and creative problem solving are what I enjoy most.”
Veteran civil engineer Archie Venitis echoes the reward of seeing a project through its full life cycle, to its ultimate impact on the people who live and work there.
“It’s leaving behind that positive legacy and contributing back to the community,” Archie says.
In his tenure as Principal Engineer at Economic Development Queensland, Archie worked on landmark projects that transformed pockets of Brisbane, including the Queen’s Wharf and Northshore precincts.
He says his role in the urban renewal at Northshore was a career highlight. He can now see its goals coming to life in the success of initiatives like the popular Eat Street market and the community enjoyment of the expansive open spaces.
Understanding multiple stakeholders
Having worked in the public sector for a decade, in both the greenfield and urban development teams, Archie brings authoritative knowledge of south-east Queensland’s Priority Development Areas (PDAs). This now informs our work on developments located within these PDAs, such as Amory at Ripley.
“I was in there at the grass roots to get the system up and running,” he says. “It’s so valuable to have that firsthand knowledge of how to navigate PDAs and government processes.”
In his 25-year career, Archie has held multiple roles in the private and public sector. Growing up in central Queensland, he studied in Rockhampton before working as an engineer for a regional Council. He then moved to Brisbane to initially work in construction, before getting into the property sector as project engineer, and later, development manager.
“That all-round experience gives me an understanding of so many aspects of land development and different stakeholders,” Archie says.
A keen appreciation for different stakeholders’ needs is something experienced engineer John Harrison has developed over more than 35 years in the sector.
John says the relationships and understanding he’s built with different parties involved in a project life cycle, from Councils to contractors, are an asset for future projects.
“The value I can add is in getting projects on the right track, knowing the different standards, and seeing potential issues that can eventuate,” he says.
Achieving positive outcomes
In John’s long career as a consultant civil engineer in Brisbane, he’s worked on a wide range of projects, from subdivisions to highways, schools and hospitals.
He says his experience working through all kinds of challenges helps him see problems in advance and know how to resolve them.
John is particularly proud of his work at Peet’s Flagstone estate, a substantial residential community including a town centre, parklands and schools. He says the site’s complexities included access issues, environmental rehabilitation and challenging earthworks, which were managed largely through the strong working relationships with various stakeholders.
For Keith, he credits his tendency to think outside the box with helping him identify unconventional solutions.
“I bring an open and different viewpoint that proves useful when navigating difficult problems,” he says.
One example of successfully employing this creative thinking, and his passion for Water Sensitive Urban Design, was Keith’s work repairing an eroded creek at a flood-prone site in Walloon. As an alternative to the costly approach of bringing in significant volumes of fill to create flood-free development land, Keith advocated for a reduction of the flood impacts through the re-creation of a healthy waterway system through the site. The waterway provided subsequent benefits to the community and become a focal point for the development.
“The solution added a lot of value to the site, creating a linear parkland and increasing the revenue from its blocks,” Keith says. The project’s innovative thinking was recognised in 2018 when it won the National Award for Strategic or Master Planning from Stormwater Australia.
