HDR has appointed Kate Macdonald as associate principal, defence and aviation, to bolster its strategic expertise within the Australian firm.
In her role, Kate will collaborate with Architecture Managing Principal Huai Lim, Federal Principal Tim Napper, and the country’s 120-strong architectural practice to deliver complex, highly technical projects and programs. Additionally, she will engage with HDR’s global multidisciplinary practice – including building engineering, aviation and transportation – to meet the evolving needs of these highly technical sectors with integrated, high-performance solutions.
“I’m looking forward to pairing HDR’s global knowledge exchange with my Defence and aviation expertise to deliver human-centred projects that will enhance our minimum viable capability edge,” Kate said.
“With challenging drivers for Defence infrastructure, I am committed to fostering collaboration with clients and contractors from the outset of a project – drawing on my people-centric approach and strong client relationships to deliver successful outcomes for all stakeholders.”
Kate joins HDR from Cox Architecture. Prior to this, she spent 20 years as director at Alasdair Macdonald Architects, a renowned Australian practice founded by her father.
With transdisciplinary experience across Defence, aviation, transport and tertiary education, Kate has delivered deeply technical projects for the Department of Defence, Qantas Airways Limited, Airservices Australia, Northrop Grumman, Transport for New South Wales, Newcastle Airport Pty Ltd, Wagga Wagga Airport, Albury Airport, the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales.
Kate’s well-regarded expertise in aviation has seen her design everything from airport terminals to
aerobridges, aircraft hangars, simulator training facilities, freight and logistics buildings, offices,
amenities and associated ancillary buildings. Her specialised knowledge has culminated in the delivery of multiple commercial aviation, Defence aviation, and customer-centric projects.
“My diverse sector experience has cultivated a more innovative, multilateral approach to my work in Defence and aviation infrastructure design,” Kate said.
“It has not only fostered a more holistic understanding of place-based innovation, but it has reinforced the importance of measuring social, ecological, cultural, workforce and financial subsets of projects at every stage of the design journey, regardless of the project’s scale.”
HDR is leveraging data-driven design tools, spearheaded by Computational Design Director Jeremy Graham, to streamline processes and find evidence-based opportunities for Australia’s Defence estate and facilities projects. Kate is looking forward to working with the Data-Driven Design (D3) team to address the increasingly challenging programmatic needs of Defence projects and identify data-driven, minimum viable solutions.
“Kate’s depth and breadth of experience will supercharge our Australian practice at a time when our
markets and services are focused on delivering mission- and data-informed, human-centred projects
that serve as a force multiplier for Defence,” said Susana Erpestad, global director of federal architecture at HDR.
“It is a pleasure to have Kate on board at a critical time for Australia’s national security. We look
forward to providing integrated solutions to clients as one HDR.”
Ranked No. 3 in the World Architecture Survey of Top 100 Global Architecture Practices and No. 6 in Engineering News-Record’s Top 500 Design Firms, HDR has been delivering projects for the Department of Defence for over 30 years.
They were the first practice to deliver a project under the Managing Contractor model, introduced in 1993, and were part of a design consortium that in 2004 delivered the first ever Defence Public-Private Partnership project.
Key projects include the $1.8 billion Riverina Redevelopment Program; Robertson Barracks Base
Improvement Program; RAAF Base Tindal Redevelopment Stage 6 and U.S. Force Posture Initiatives,
Airfield Works and Associated Infrastructure Project; AIR5428 Pilot Training System Program; and AIR 9000 Phase 8 MH-60R Seahawk Romeo Facilities Project.
About HDR
HDR is a 100% employee-owned professional services firm. Founded over a century ago to bring
electricity to a changing world, we are now a global company specialising in architecture, engineering, environmental and construction services. Our success in built and natural environments continues as we collaborate to solve our clients’ and communities’ most complex challenges.
