Episode 318: Liam O’Donohue, Managing Principal ANZ, Arup, on how AI is set to change the role of the engineer

Engineering has traditionally been understood as a discipline focused on solving technical problems—designing structures, calculating loads, moving people and water, generating and distributing energy, and ensuring the infrastructure around us works safely and efficiently.But that role is changing.Engineers are increasingly asked to think beyond individual assets and projects—and instead consider how infrastructure interacts with cities, communities, the environment, technology, energy systems, and an increasingly uncertain future.At the same time, artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape how design and engineering work is actually done — raising questions about productivity, skills, creativity, professional judgement and what the engineer of the future will look like.And then there is the question of uncertainty itself.Liam O’Donohue, Managing Principal for Australia and New Zealand at Arup, explains how you design infrastructure today when tomorrow's technology, climate, demographics, energy systems, and community expectations may look very different. 

Clinton Cole is a boundary-pushing architect and builder who believes we can all be a force for good. With industry-leading expertise in regenerative design, he creates premium homes that actively repair damage to our planet and give back to future generations. In the same spirit, he puts ethics and responsibility front and centre at CplusC, one of only five Australian architects to earn B Corp certification.Clinton holds two degrees in Architecture and is a registered Architect, a licenced Builder and accredited Construction Supervisor with over 20 years’ experience in the industry. A frank and fearless contributor to professional debate, he’s often invited to present to industry peers, academic panels and design publications.In this revealing interview, Clinton Cole talks about what it takes to build a genuinely sustainable home in Australia.This podcast was sponsored by CSR

In our first Shortcast in over two years, we talk with Will Messiter, Chief Operating Officer - Residential Communities and Home Building at Sekisui House Australia, at the company's manufacturing and assembly facility in southwest Sydney, about house building, the bottlenecks in Australia's building market, and how prefab and modular can offer a solution to our house affordability woes.

 As operational energy efficiency improves, attention is increasingly turning to embodied carbon—the emissions associated with extracting raw materials, manufacturing products, transporting them, installing them, and, ultimately, dealing with them at the end of their useful life. That puts materials and material innovation firmly at the centre of the conversation. Jonathan Mountfort, Creative Director at Autex Acoustics, has more than two decades of experience across design and manufacturing, with a career spanning mechanical engineering, product design, materials innovation, and acoustics. At Autex, he leads a team across design and engineering and has contributed to recycling technologies, product development, and the company's broader sustainability journey. In this episode, Jonathan shares a particularly interesting perspective from the intersection of product design, manufacturing, and architecture—three areas that increasingly need to work together if we're going to reduce the built environment's carbon impact. This podcast is brought to you in association with Autex Acoustics, proud sponsors of our 2026 Sustainability series of podcasts.

Tara Veldman, Managing Director and Principal at Billard Leece Partnership, has played a major role in growing BLP’s health architecture practice and has worked across hospitals, health hubs, research facilities, education precincts, and other complex environments. In 2025, Tara was named the inaugural recipient of the Australian Health Design Council Gold Medal, recognising her leadership and contribution to healthcare design in Australia and internationally. Her approach is particularly interesting because it goes beyond simply designing healthcare buildings. She’s a strong advocate for evidence-based, user-focused design and for thinking about how architecture can influence how people feel, heal, and connect. 

Kevin Hogan, Head of Design & Digital Engineering at Kapitol Group leads an in-house team of more than 20 digital engineers, design managers and architects, driving Virtual Design and Construction (VDC), Building Information Modelling (BIM), and the development of custom digital tools including Kapitol’s 3D Construction Tracker. He’s also become a leading voice across Australia’s construction sector, advocating for the practical use of BIM and artificial intelligence to reduce waste, improve productivity and fundamentally change how buildings are delivered. Kapitol now models every project before construction begins, helping eliminate costly clashes, reduce rework and improve project certainty. 

We talk with BVN CEOS & principals, Ali Bounds, Principal & Co-CEO (Sydney) and Neil Logan, Principal & Co-CEO (Brisbane) about the signifance of BVN reaching its' 100th birthday.In August 1926, Arthur Bligh, BVNs founding principal, set in motion a trajectory of architectural endeavour defined by curiosity, reinvention and collective effort that has endured for 100 years. Through recession, war, boom times, low times and a new millennium, 44 principals have passed on the baton of shared partnership and authorship, bolstered by thousands of alums, countless collaborators, clients, supporters and friends, united by a shared purpose to design a better future.So, a century later, BVN's journey is now all about looking to the future with optimism and gratitude for those who have persevered, fostering the belief that architecture matters to society and pursuing that with integrity, creativity and care.

After more than a decade with the HIA in senior leadership roles, Jocelyn Martin, Managing Director of the Housing Industry Association stepped into the organisation’s top position at a time when Australia’s housing sector is facing unprecedented pressure—from affordability and supply constraints to skills shortages, planning reform and the challenge of delivering enough homes for a growing population. In this episode, Jocelyn discussed her vision for HIA, the role of industry advocacy, what governments need to do differently, and how the residential building sector can innovate while staying firmly focused on people. This podcast was sponsored by CSR

Australia has committed to building 1.2 million new homes over five years, but there's one enormous obstacle standing in the way: people. According to BuildSkills Australia, the nation needs around 90,000 additional construction workers if we're to have any realistic chance of meeting that target. At the same time, automation, robotics, AI, and advanced manufacturing are beginning to transform how buildings are designed and constructed. So, can technology solve our workforce crisis? Or do we simply need to rethink how we attract, train, and retain the next generation of tradespeople? In this episode, Robert Sobyra, Executive Director of Research and Planning at BuildSkills Australia, whose research has become central to Australia's conversation about construction skills, housing delivery, and the future workforce, offers a range of solutions to our building industry skills shortage woes. 

In this episode, we're talking with Renee Gigliotti, Associate Director at The Studio Collaborative* at how thoughtful interior architecture can transform not just a venue, but the entire visitor experience. Australia's major entertainment venues are increasingly becoming destinations in their own right, where hospitality, technology, branding and design converge to create memorable experiences long before the main event begins.  One of the latest examples is the transformation of the hospitality spaces at Afterpay Arena, where two distinctly different bar environments have been reimagined to deliver unique experiences while maintaining a cohesive architectural language. The project also incorporates Australia's most comprehensive square-powered venue commerce deployment, seamlessly integrating technology into the hospitality experience.