An award-winning civil engineer shares highlights from 25 years in public infrastructure management — and why incarcerated people deserve access to the same engineering services as everyone else.
Some engineering professionals are motivated by the physical outcome of their work: the machine, the building, the sequence or the product. For the 2023 Engineering Associate of the Year Robert Ladd EngExec CEngA, it’s all about recognising the human connection to the project.
Ladd was recognised for his outstanding contributions to infrastructure delivery across 25 years in the private and public sectors, but when he reflects on his career he said it is the soft skills that have proved most important to his success.
He was introduced to collaboration early in his career when working with the Pyrenees Shire Council on a project to put major flood culverts under the railway line to protect the Beaufort township from flooding.
“I was this young 29-year-old engineering manager from a small regional council meeting with deputy secretaries of departments — highly influential people in their 50s,” Ladd, who is General Manager of Facility and Assets at Corrections Victoria, told create.
“They [looked] at me asking them to give millions in funding, ‘Can you shut down a major regional public transport service for four weeks — and by the way, we can’t make any financial contribution.’”
Ladd did get the funding needed, however, and the town flooding has since been alleviated. He said the experience was a great learning opportunity.
“You can be as technically minded as you want, but it’s [about the] soft skills,” he said. “You have to be able to sit down and bring people on a journey. If you can’t get that journey across, if you can’t sell the hardship of the community [and] the devastation people have been through, then nothing’s going to happen.”
He said the intimidation he felt at the time helped make him a better person.
“Now, when people who are my junior come to me, I can sit there and look sour-faced and intimidate them, or I can actually be welcoming and [ask] ‘What’s the governance behind this? How is it supported by policy?’” he explained.
“[I can be] upfront with them [and say] ‘Look, this is never going to fly’ or ‘You have my interest, but I need you to tick these boxes before we meet again.’”
Focusing on human impact
Ladd also spent several years as Manager of Engineering Services for Court Services Victoria, which included assessing the impact on regional courts after bushfires swept through parts of Victoria and New South Wales.
“People would say … ‘They’re courthouses, how much can you do?’, but these are the lifelines of justice for the small towns,” he said. “They are critical justice buildings for regional areas in Victoria.”
He said he and his team were “lucky” that some buildings emerged with little to no damage.
For Ladd, one of the best parts of working for Court Services was that he had the opportunity to work on some magnificent buildings, including restoration work on the Portland, Mansfield and Nhill courthouses.
“[Nhill is] not a famous courthouse, but [it] has been there forever and is immensely important to the community.”
Focusing on the human impact of projects also underlines Ladd’s current position in Corrections Victoria.
“People say ‘You’re working in prisons with offenders.’” he said. “Yes. But their punishment is being imprisoned. So if their taps don’t work, we fix them.
“[Sometimes they] also have a broken shower screen, or their roof is leaking or their gym equipment is broken. We will provide those essential services and we will provide protection [via] essential safety measures, because unlike any other building, when there’s a fire in a [prison], we don’t throw the doors open and let [everyone] run out.
“They deserve that because they’re human beings.”
More than a number
Ladd said that even though he manages the infrastructure, not the prisoners, he still needs to have great relationships with the governors of each prison to ensure proposed works cause minimal disruption.
Looking back over his career, Ladd believes he is a different engineering professional now to when he started.
“When I first started, it was just a number, it was just a pipe, it was just a building,” he said. “Now, it’s not just a pipe, but a pipe that affects [the lives of] people.”
Nominations for the 2024 Excellence Awards open in April — learn more here.