A Northern Territory structural engineer has won the national Young Designer award in the biennial Australian Steel Institute (ASI) Steel Excellence Awards.
Shannon Kieran, 25, is a structural engineer working in the Darwin office of consulting engineers Aurecon.
Nominated for the award by lead engineer Haydn Brown, Ms Kieran has provided structural design services for more than 50 projects since joining Aurecon as a Master of Engineering graduate in 2020. She has consistently performed in the top 10% of Aurecon employees.
During the past 18 months, Ms Kieran has focused mainly on the Charles Darwin University (CDU) Education and Community Precinct. The centrepiece of the NT Government's 10-year strategic plan for the development of Darwin City, the $250 million project involves the design and construction of a new 10-storey campus building. Structural steel forms a crucial design feature of the building through a sloped façade, which enables a major portion of the building's sustainability initiatives.
Ms Kieran has been a key designer on all steel elements on the project, including rooves, canopies, the sloped façade, feature stairs, and studwork, from concept design through to complex connection detailing. Where she has not directly designed an element, she has reviewed more senior engineers' work and regularly identifies areas
