ACSES Engineers

Rose Carlingford was a six-storey residential build in Carlingford over two basement levels.

Our scope:
- Geotechnical modelling and analysis
- Structural modelling and analysis
- Shoring and bulk excavation, with lateral support and underpinning for the adjoining structures
- Foundations and superstructure across concrete, steel and timber framing
- Conventional reinforcement for the concrete elements
- Specialist Engineering Assessment Reports for Sydney Water, full calculation packages
- Pre and post construction dilapidation reports
- Construction supervision and pre-pour inspections against the design documentation

Sydney Water had their package well before the dig.

Project: 35-39 Jenkins Road, Carlingford

Building Relationships Beyond Structures

Jacota was a six-storey mixed-use in Neutral Bay, two basements down.

Our scope:
- Geotechnical modelling and analysis
- Structural modelling and analysis
- Shoring and bulk excavation, with lateral support and underpinning for the adjoining structures
- Foundations and superstructure across concrete, steel and timber framing
- Pre and post construction dilapidation reports
- Construction supervision and pre-pour inspections against the design documentation

Geotech and structure off the same desks, checked on site at every pour.

Project: 17 Young Street, Neutral Bay

Building Relationships Beyond Structures

Sierra was a six-level residential build in Crows Nest over two basement levels.

Our scope:
- Geotechnical modelling and analysis
- Structural modelling and analysis
- Shoring and bulk excavation, with lateral support and underpinning for the adjoining structures
- Foundations and superstructure, concrete frame
- Conventional reinforcement for the concrete elements
- Post-tensioned slab reinforcement design
- Specialist Engineering Assessment Reports for Sydney Water, full calculation packages
- Pre and post construction dilapidation reports
- Construction supervision and pre-pour inspections against the design documentation
- Value engineering
- Risk assessment

Value engineered down, Sydney Water signed off, and no safety factor touched.

Project: 84 Atchison Street, Crows Nest

Building Relationships Beyond Structures

Mt Colah was a seven-level residential build on the Pacific Highway, two basements down.

Our scope:
- Geotechnical modelling and analysis
- Structural modelling and analysis
- Shoring and bulk excavation, with lateral support and underpinning for the adjoining structures
- Foundations and superstructure across concrete, steel and timber framing
- Conventional reinforcement for the concrete elements

The geotech model came first, and the frame grew from it.

Project: 530-532 Pacific Highway, Mt Colah

Building Relationships Beyond Structures

Marquis was an eight-storey residential build in Gordon over a single basement.

Our scope:
- Structural modelling and analysis
- Shoring and bulk excavation, with lateral support and underpinning for the adjoining structures
- Foundations and superstructure across concrete, steel and timber framing
- Pre and post construction dilapidation reports
- Construction supervision and pre-pour inspections against the design documentation

Shoring and structure carried straight through to the last pour.

Project: 28-32 Dumaresq Street, Gordon

Building Relationships Beyond Structures

The difference between a DA that clears in eight months and one that drags on for four years - is rarely the design.

It’s whether the team understood the constraints before they drew a single line.

Councils and authorities work to a fixed set of rules - planning controls, setbacks, height limits, and what the site can actually deliver.

These aren’t suggestions - they’re parameters and guidelines.

Design with them and the assessment flows.

Design against them and you’ll spend the next few years in an expensive loop of revisions, RFIs, and holding costs you never allowed for in your feasibility.

The developers and consultants who move fast through approvals aren’t lucky. They did the hard work early. They learned the real constraints first, then designed a building that fit inside them from day one.

Speed, through the DA process, is bought at the planning stage - long before the first submission ever lands on Council’s desk.

ACSES - Building Relationships Beyond Structures

The Place was an eight-storey mixed-use in Ashfield over three basement levels, hard up against the rail.

Our scope:
- Geotechnical modelling and analysis
- Structural modelling and analysis
- Shoring and bulk excavation, with lateral support and underpinning for the adjoining structures
- Shoring design report for RailCorp
- Foundations and superstructure, concrete frame
- Conventional reinforcement for the concrete elements
- Post-tensioned slab reinforcement design
- Engineering Assessment Reports for Transport for NSW, full calculation packages
- Pre and post construction dilapidation reports
- Construction supervision and pre-pour inspections against the design documentation
- Value engineering
- Risk assessment

RailCorp and Transport for NSW both had their reports in before excavation.

Project: 7-9 Cavill Avenue, Ashfield

Building Relationships Beyond Structures

A young engineer sat across from me in an interview recently.

Sharp. UNSW. The whole world in front of him.

I asked him one question:

“Have you thought about how AI is going to change your career?”

He just looked at me. Blank.

I was genuinely shocked by his silence.

Here’s what I wanted him to understand.

The work juniors used to cut their teeth on (the repetitive analysis, the basic checks, the grunt work that used to fill the first five years) is exactly what’s getting automated first.

Your competition is no longer the graduate sitting next to you.

Your competition is Artificial Intelligence.

Technology that’s learning faster than any of us, and it doesn’t sleep.

This isn’t doom. It’s a warning with time still on the clock.

Learn the tools. Understand what sits underneath it.

And go become genuinely useful in ways the machine cannot replicate.

Because the real question isn’t whether AI will change your career.

It’s what you’re going to bring to the table that it can’t.

ACSES - Building Relationships Beyond Structures

Maclaurin Parade was an eight-level residential build in Roseville, three basement levels under it.

Our scope:
- Geotechnical modelling and analysis
- Structural modelling and analysis
- Shoring and bulk excavation, with lateral support and underpinning for the adjoining structures
- Foundations and superstructure, concrete frame
- Conventional reinforcement for the concrete elements
- Post-tensioned slab reinforcement design
- Specialist Engineering Assessment Reports for Sydney Water, full calculation packages
- Pre-construction dilapidation reports
- Construction supervision and pre-pour inspections against the design documentation

Sydney Water cleared, and the post-tensioned slabs detailed for the steel fixers.

Project: 4a-10 Maclaurin Parade, Roseville

Building Relationships Beyond Structures

“It can’t be done.”

I’ve heard it too many times.

And if I’m honest, I’ve said it too.

But there’s a real difference between “can’t be built” and “never been done before.”

Physics sets the hard limits. Everything else is negotiable (if you’re willing to do the work).

The job isn’t to be the person who says no the loudest.

It’s to find the narrow path that respects the design, the budget, the codes, and the client’s ambition — then prove it works with numbers, not opinions.

These days, when someone tells me it can’t be done, I don’t argue anymore. I just ask to see their calcs and their models.

**Show me your numbers.**

If the maths and physics are sound, I’ll agree immediately.

But don’t try to convince me that 1 + 1 = 3 when we both know the answer is 2.

ACSES - Building Relationships Beyond Structures