Member Profile

MEMBER PROFILE: CHRIS BORG

Chris Borg Senior Associate at Barker Ryan Stewart

Chris completed his degree in Civil (Structures) Engineering at USYD in 2008. He spent 5 years carrying out structural design including a secondment to Regional QLD and NSW before moving to his local Council in NSW where he spent 5 years in the subdivisions team. In 2018 Chris joined Barker Ryan Stewart to commence their office in SEQ – providing engineering services in both NNSW and SEQ.

How did you begin your career and what inspired you to become an engineer?

I really fell into engineering without knowing what it was in Year 11. When I selected my electives in I had a combination of sciences and Geography. As it turned out Geography wasn’t going to be offered and the year advisor gave me an option to keep my timetable as it was by selecting either Dance or Engineering Studies.

Back in those days I thought I had reached my limits in dancing and wasn’t much suited for a choreographed style, so I chose engineering. Having been strong in maths and science it was a perfect fit for me and our teacher brought a great combination of in the field engineering experience and fun to the class – I was hooked!

My career began on a bit of rocky ground, I had worked for a structural engineering firm while I was in the last year of uni, and they had offered me a job for when I completed my degree. Making sure I didn’t have all my eggs in one basket I interviewed elsewhere and was offered a job at a different firm and had a decision to make. I ended up signing a contract with the firm that I was already working at, and recommended a good friend of mine to the second company who was offered and accepted the job. Shortly after I had signed the papers the GFC hit and the firm I’d committed to let 80% of their staff go – including me.

This led me to relocate from Sydney to Newcastle to work for Lindsay Dynan, which was an absolute blessing in disguise. I made lifelong friends here, learned a tremendous amount and began my love for an alternative to life in the big smoke of Sydney.

Some serious rip rap (NNSW)

What skills – technical and/ or soft skills – have enabled your contributions in your role, to team members and to projects?

Soft skills are so interesting because I feel they are so much a part of your personality you don’t really recognise them as being skills, but can be vital to your successes and failures.

For me it’s connecting with people – I really enjoy building relationships with colleagues, clients, other professionals in the development/ infrastructure industry, Councils, even competitors and building a team that trusts each other and gets the job done. Having good rapport makes the ride so much more rewarding, and those tough conversations a lot easier too.

You combine good people skills with a positive attitude and hard work and you’ll go a long way.

Which mistake, if any, provided you with the most valuable learnings?

The first structural engineering job I provided all the design for (under guidance) was an electrical substation building in the Blue Mountains of NSW. I’d

Challenging subdivision on steep site (NNSW)

Subdivision by the water (NNSW)

Dual Occupancy project example

spent a fair while optimising the design and cutting my teeth on detailing and whatnot, and after a number of months I was on site carrying out structural steel and concrete inspections.

Heading up to the site one winter morning it was particularly cold, and the news on the radio mentioned there might be snow in the area.

The penny then dropped – I hadn’t considered snow loads!

It was a pretty stressful few hours after the inspection before I got back into the office and begun calculating the snow loads. Luckily my wind and earthquake loads came out to govern, but that was a mistake I only ever wanted to make once.

Lesson – double check you’ve accounted for everything

What are the challenges, if any of working in regional Queensland?

I’ve only experience a short stint in regional QLD a few years back at Curragh mine. The challenges then included weather and getting the work crews to all rock up!

In terms of engineering though – the expenditure on infrastructure per capita must be enormous compared to urbanised areas. The thought of spending millions of $$ on long lengths of roads that see only a small amount of vehicles per day must be a real challenge for those Councils/ asset owners. Plus attracting and keeping experienced engineers and skilled trades in the area would be difficult – I think there should be incentives such as subsidised HECS debts for people who practice in the regions once leaving uni.

What do you enjoy most about your job and your location?

The variety of project and nonproject tasks is really enjoyable for me. Barker Ryan Stewart (BRS) is really encourage staff to build on their strengths that aren’t necessarily in their ‘lane’. I came to BRS as a Senior Civil

Engineer on a path to become a certifier, and along the way to achieving that I’ve become part of the tendering, marketing and strategic growth teams amongst establishing and manage our SEQ office. There’s always a challenge, and that’s the key to growing and enjoying work I believe.

Being located in Broadbeach there is a lot to enjoy, but you can’t go past being able to pop out for a pre-work, lunchtime or post-work surf. You add a surf to your day and it’s hard to have a bad one!

What role do you hope to attain ie what would be the pinnacle of your career and where would it be located?

Wow that’s a tough one. Becoming a Director at BRS would be a goal I’d like to achieve in the next 5-10 years, and from there I’d hope that I can continue to increase my focus on the strategy of the business, business development and mentoring the next generation.

I’m only relatively new to SEQ (4 years), and I couldn’t dream of being located anywhere but the Gold Coast for now. Some work related travelling throughout QLD would be great, but in time.

Do you have plans to become an RPEQ, and why or why not?

I made a decision probably three years ago to achieve RPEQ and CPEng status before kids came along – I can say it was a good one! I achieved RPEQ and CPEng ~18 months ago, and with the birth my wife and my little boy 6 months ago I would really struggle to find the time at the moment.

Who inspires you in your life and career?

In life – anyone who faces the day and everything that the world throws at them with a smile and a positive attitude. Dylan Alcott and Tye Angland are great examples of this.

In my career – I have fantastic mentors at BRS in the five Directors Garry, Glenn (x2), Ian

Council days BRS get togethers are always a staff highlight

and Andrea. They are probably the busiest people in the company but make you feel like they have all the time in the world for you – it’s an attribute I hope someone describes of me one day.

Also, the old school engineers you see in in those ‘Wonders of Engineering’ type documentaries. Engineers are made out to be boring and bland, and these guys/girls were anything but – they had real grit and courage to do what they did all in pen and paper, and their structures still stand.