Market Pulse: Architecture and engineering firm HDR have appointed Huai Lim as the managing principal of its Australian architecture practice. Lim will take over the role from Cate Cowlishaw, who has stepped into the newly created role of regional business development director.
The company says the changeover and Cowlishaw’s new role are motivated by its ambitions to accelerate its growth across the Asia Pacific region.
Prior to her appointment, Lim was managing director of places at Arcadis and led the architecture and engineering team at Jacobs across New South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand.
Lim said she will continue to focus on delivering the company’s “data driven design” methodology (known as D3), which includes integrating data and advanced computational tools into its design process.
Jeremy Graham, computational design director at HDR tells The Fifth Estate that the approach allows project teams to evaluate the project at each key decision point to see how it impacts the project outcome in terms of cost, functionality and performance, this could include how to optimise budget, energy efficiency and daylight.
Known as the company’s D3 capabilities, the company has focused on developing proprietary tools and processes that would streamline the accessibility of data throughout a project’s lifecycle – allowing teams to make informed and evidence based decisions that are “functional and sustainable”.
Graham adds that the D3 methodology becomes increasingly crucial for delivering projects on time and within budget as projects are becoming more complex, and material and labour costs continue to rise.
“We are increasingly working with our project teams during the feasibility stage to seamlessly integrate relevant data into planning and design.
“At the same time, we’re shifting our focus towards regenerative design, which transcends basic high-performance goals to deliver net-positive outcomes with measurable, metric driven targets.”
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