James Rajesh

I work for WorleyParsons as a Senior Structural Engineer.

I decided to study Civil Engineering when I was living in India at the age of 10. My dad was my inspiration and I always used to watch him preparing drawings and performing engineering calculations. Since then I was fascinated by the engineering marvels across the world. I realised that as a civil engineer I have the responsibility of serving the society and influence the development of the communities. I have never looked back and continued with my post-graduation in Structural Engineering. This improved my confidence in making decisions in various projects. I have worked with numerous clients abroad and within Australia on various engineering projects ranging form massive bridges to bins and mining structures.

One of the highlights of my career was my first full time job where I worked as a Structural Design engineer at Dubai, United Arab Emirates. During this time my principal clients was a Dubai Municipality and Al Nakheel. I was part of team that provided transportation and structural engineering services for their various Highway design projects. I was also part of the prestigious Palm Island development in Dubai.

The project I still cherish a lot is the Gardens’ Interchange, Dubai. This is the only bridge, I designed, on which I was able to drive my car and enjoy the proudness of my design. Most of the other projects were under construction while I moved to Australia. This particular project consists of two bridges and other infrastructure development related to it. The bridges provide access to the Gardens development from the Sheik Zayed Road. I was responsible for the complete design and managing of the bridges in the project. The longest span of this dual carriage bridge is 62m with a total length of 204m. I have adopted post-tensioned cast in-situ construction method for these twin celled bridges as this is the most common method adopted in the region.

During this project we faced many challenges, including clashes with existing utilities in the project area, incorporating design changes due to future Dubai Metro project, traffic management and construction difficulties. Even with all these challenges we were able to complete the project with in budget and schedule and have received appreciation from the client. The extensive experience and strong mentoring that I received in this role gave me a strong base for my future career in Australia.