Aurecon Design Academy named Best in Class at Australian Good Design Awards
Aurecon Design Academy wins Best in Class at the 2026 Australian Good Design Awards, celebrating the company's decade-long investment in developing its people.
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Asia Pacific design, engineering and advisory company, Aurecon has won the Project of the Year gong for engineering Western Australia’s first mass-engineered timber building, at Engineers Australia’s 2023 Excellence Awards.
Murdoch University’s Boola Katitjin has transformed the university campus, through its connection with Country, sustainability credentials, showcase of robotics in construction, engineering excellence and its potential to support the health and wellbeing of occupants.
The embodied carbon within the building has been reduced by 55 per cent through implementing sustainable, renewable and circular methods in construction. The project was praised by the judges for the innovative use of mass-engineered timber in constructing a spacious, column-free building, benefitting the community.
Aurecon, with partners University of Technology Sydney and Murdoch University, conducted a robotics in construction trial on the building to demonstrate how robotics could change the nature of construction. Aurecon calculated that the world-first robotics technology could mean a 15-20 per cent reduction in timber construction schedules.
"Boola Katitjin demonstrates how great engineering can advance society and showcases what is possible when engineering assumptions are tested and boundaries pushed."
Tim Spies, Managing Director, Built Environment, Aurecon
Engineers Australia described the project as an example of “a perfect fusion of modern engineering and ecological stewardship, along with a focus on community service” and an “engineering influencer”.
Aurecon Managing Director, Built Environment Tim Spies said, “We’re elated to bring home this much-coveted award. Boola Katitjin demonstrates how great engineering can advance society and showcases what is possible when engineering assumptions are tested and boundaries pushed.
“We thank our client Murdoch University and our major project partners Lyons Architects and Multiplex for working together to bring this game-changing building to life.”
Collaboration among industry, academia and Indigenous groups played a critical role in the success of Boola Katitjin. Working alongside the partners, Aurecon supported on civil, structural and geotechnical engineering, robotics incorporation and pedestrian and traffic modelling.
Nine projects across Australia had been shortlisted for the Project of the Year award this year, including Central Station Metro Works in Sydney, for which Aurecon delivered detailed design for all civil, structural and building components of the new and upgraded rail infrastructure.
Key criteria for the award included contribution to Engineers Australia’s purpose of “advancing society through great engineering”; formulation of resourceful, innovative and elegant engineering solutions or pioneering use of materials or methods; contribution to sustainable, inclusive and ethical practices; and extent to which the work had delivered excellence.
Established over a century ago, Engineers Australia’s excellence awards program promotes the prestige of the practice of engineering while recognising the outstanding achievements of individual engineering professionals.
Boola Katitjin has won the FIDIC Project Awards 2023 – Outstanding Project of the Year – Small to Medium 2023, the Australian Financial Review Most Innovative Company Award 2023, and the Australian Timber Design Awards (ATDA) 2023 – Engineered Wood Product and People’s Choice. The project was also showcased at the World Timber Engineering Conference in Oslo and the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat Conference in Singapore.
Group Director, Brand, Marketing & Communications
Aurecon Design Academy wins Best in Class at the 2026 Australian Good Design Awards, celebrating the company's decade-long investment in developing its people.
Aurecon wins multiple honours at Engineers Australia's state and territory Excellence Awards, including Project of the Year for Adelaide Aquatic Centre.
Aurecon is the technical advisor for the Australian Government's $30 million GET Grant Program, funding 14 projects to enhance energy grid resilience.
