Growing up, my experiences outdoors always involved water.  Surfing the east coast, hiking up rocky creek beds, or a family favourite, checking out stormwater drains in our neighbourhood.  See, my father was an engineer, so we grew up visiting construction sites and every storm was a chance to see which roads were flooding.

It was a natural progression to study civil engineering, where I developed a strong appreciation for environmental engineering and completed a major project which involved quantifying elements of a natural stream for application to waterway restoration projects.

Throughout my career I have been fortunate to work on many innovative projects, from the early days of water sensitive urban design, to projects such as the Ephemeral Wetland at Torhaven by DHA at Deebing Heights.  This project grew from an understanding of naturally occurring flood plain wetlands to deliver a system which could be integrated with existing mature trees while meeting multiple objectives for the development including flooding, water quality and amenity.

I am very pleased to be a member of the 2020 Stormwater Queensland committee and hope to see a continued focus on valuing stormwater within our cities.  This will include highlighting the role stormwater can have in enabling greater collaboration across government, utilities and developers and new ways to design our streets which prioritise green infrastructure and the use of stormwater as a source of irrigation.