Member Profiles, Ray and Ryan Hicks

NEXT GENERATION RAY AND RYAN HICKS

Born and bred in Chinchilla, Ray commenced with Brandon and Associates Pty Ltd in November 1975 as a Junior Engineer, progressing through to become its Managing Director. Ray assumes ultimate responsibility for all facets of Brandon and Associates Pty Ltd and his ability to build strong relationships with clients and his team has ensured the sustained growth of the business. He is highly regarded and respected for his practical knowledge of local government engineering, particularly in the area of design and construction of rural road systems.

Ray consistently nurtures young engineers throughout the company’s offices and is committed to helping them succeed in the engineering profession. For the past 12 years this has also included his son, Ryan, who is a civil engineer.

Here they each discuss their role in the public works sector and their time working together.

It is the variety of projects that Ray can undertake with Brandon and Associates that keeps him enjoying his role in the public works sector. Working with both local government and private industry has been rewarding and brings interesting opportunities. He has worked across a developing spectrum of energy generation, providing civil and geotechnical services for coal fired power generation, gas fired power plants, through to renewables such as wind and solar power generation and battery storage. These projects include design and project management of roads and facilities on behalf of the various local authorities that Brandon and Associates consult to. Overseeing the design, preparing tenders and project management of the construction of external and internal roads for the Kogan Creek Power Station on behalf of Chinchilla Shire Council is a career highlight for Ray. The project consisted of over 20 kilometres of road works and two concrete bridges and was successfully completed under cost.

Similarly, variety is a draw card for Ryan. ‘I also enjoy the variety of work from building subdivisions, building new roads and highways and maintenance on old ones. As well as working across different sectors including local government and the Department of Transport and Main Roads (DTMR) as well as private clients and the resources industry’. One of his favourite aspects of his role is the opportunity to work across western Queensland from Toowoomba, through to the border of Queensland and South Australia. When asked, Ray knew that the variety was a motivation for Ryan, as well as the ability to work in a rural environment, alongside staff that he has grown up with.

Growing up around engineers was a factor in attracting Ryan to his role. ‘Getting to see Dad work on big projects as a young kid and watching large machines working on construction sites has been fascinating. I guess getting to build big things and knowing they will be there for years to come was also attractive’. Working together has enabled Ray and Ryan to work on many ‘big projects’, such as a couple of large subdivisions in Chinchilla, a career highlight for Ryan. It was early in Ryan’s civil engineering career, and he valued his father’s experience, knowledge, and

Kogan Creek Power Transformer Traversing Banana Creek Bridge January 2006 – Bridge designed and project managed by Brandon and Associates.

ability to solve any issues that arose. Ray has been able to provide mentoring and support to Ryan throughout his career. ‘There isn’t much Dad hasn’t seen working in public works for the last 45 years and having that experience to guide me through my career has been a big help’.

Both Ray and Ryan see mentoring as essential for graduate engineers, particularly to bridge the gap between the theory of engineering and its practical application. Having a mentor has been valuable for Ryan, ‘because when you finish university and start working you realise pretty quickly how much you don’t know’. Ray has impressed upon Ryan the importance of taking advice from people with experience in the work being undertaken before proceeding with the task at hand. ‘University can equip you with the theory, but experience is needed to get the job done’ says Ray. Ryan has learned that listening to experienced personnel is useful, as ‘most of these people have faced the same issues with projects and know what has worked and not worked to solve them’. Ray counts having to repair cracked prestressed concrete piles in the middle of the Condamine River as a particularly challenging engineering issue to solve. It took six weeks to repair completely, aided by the fortunate fact that the river did not run during this period. Being the Managing Director for two companies (Brandon and Associates and the now sold South Queensland Soils Pty Ltd) with a combined staff of 180 across offices and project sites has been another challenging aspect of his career in public works.

As a Managing Director, training is an area of senior leadership that Ray feels is vitally important. ‘The public works sector is desperately short of experienced engineers. We need public work engineers trained for the future as many of the engineers in the public sector are nearing retirement’. Both Ray and Ryan enjoy the opportunity IPWEAQ membership gives them to network with other engineers and suppliers involved in similar work to update their knowledge of the public works sector. The training provided by IPWEAQ helps them to develop their skills, assisting them to maintain their CPD requirements.

Ryan, as a younger generation engineer in the public works sector, feels that helping the community is one of the most rewarding aspects of his work: ‘It is a proud moment when you can see the project you have worked on makes the community a better and more enjoyable place to live’. Both Ray and Ryan enjoy the opportunity they have to share this positive aspect of public works engineering with each other – to share their experiences working with DTMR and various local government organisations to whom they consult.

Ray is passionate about his involvement in the community and has many professional and personal affiliations particularly in his hometown of Chinchilla. It is perhaps this link to the community that has been their home for so long that makes public works engineering the career that continues to give them both such satisfaction.