Northrop

When Senior Civil Designer, Steven Startin answered a job ad for Northrop Newcastle in the newspaper, there were just four employees in the office. Today that number is closer to 60 and Steve is now celebrating his 20-year milestone with the company.

One of the things Steve enjoys most about Northrop is the variety of work on offer. It can range from small scale projects through to large promotional and sub-division work. There is also real opportunity to develop both personally and professionally and to feel supported by the business throughout career highs and lows. Steve started at Northrop as a lead structural draftsperson and went on to become a qualified Civil Designer.

Steve always tries to nurture a positive environment within the workplace, taking his lead from retired former employee and role model, Kevan Meldrum. Kevan had always believed that a strong corporate culture would encourage good engineering practices and bring teams of people together. It was not always just about the technical side of things. Inspired by this thinking, Steve supports regular social activities and interaction in the office as well as external extra-curricular events like Friday morning bacon and egg roll cook-ups. He also likes to arrange social events for other organisations.

For Steve, three projects have stood out during his time at Northrop;

• The Medical Sciences Building in Newcastle, which saw the whole office work as a team, instilling a real sense of accomplishment.
• The Clydesdale Pavilion at the Royal Easter Show, which was made from exposed recycled timber and remains in good condition after 15 years.
• Kotara Homemaker Centre, with which he had the most amount of involvement, including earthworks road design, drainage and car parking documentation, intersection work, bridge work and numerous site inspections.

Currently, Steve is busy working on a 140 lot subdivision at Kings Estate in Terrigal; a development at High View Estate in Jindabyne; and Newcastle Beach Promenade, which is part of the Bathers Way project. He is also trying to organise Autodesk contracts for all offices.

But perhaps the coolest thing he is involved with right now is a software program called Civil Site Design used in subdivision work. The program incorporates a visualisation tool that allows the production of fly-through movies of the road designs, which are then sent to clients. The result is a 3D modelling animation that can help promote the sale of lots, particularly when off the plan.

All in all, it’s been a great year for Steve. He has celebrated 20 years at Northrop and enjoyed the satisfaction of finally seeing a project, which has been in the design and development phase for three years, come to fruition and commence construction. He’s also lost over 15 kilos in weight. In a few weeks’ time, he’ll be taking on his annual fundraising challenge of Movember!