Phil O'Hara
Phil graduated from Sydney University in 1977 and joined Northrop in 1981. He became a Director in 1985, and moved to Sydney in 1988 to open and manage Northrop's Sydney office.
Phil has 45 years' experience as a structural design engineer. His projects range from houses and house extensions, educational facilities, correctional centres, industrial buildings and the occasional timber roller coaster and civil project. He strives to satisfy the requirements of the builder and architect, and has a particular interest in the design of architecturally sensitive structures.
In 2001 Phil began passing management responsibilities on to the next generation whilst maintaining his technical involvement at the detail design and job management level on structural projects. His passion has always been to build the foundations of a business with the right corporate culture. That corporate culture includes empowering engineers with 8 to 10 years’ experience to step up and “grow the pie” whilst at the same time becoming owners of the business.
Phil was President of the ACSE in 1996, being the first of 5 Northrop ACSE Presidents.
In 2022, to mark an incredible 45-year long career, Philip was awarded with the Gold Medal in the annual ACSE Awards. The Gold Medal is awarded to a distinguished NSW based structural engineer, nominated by the board, to recognise an outstanding and long-term contribution to the structural engineering profession. See more of Phil's career highlights in the ACSE video here.
