Following a strategic review, HDR has announced that Tim Napper will become the practices new Defence Principal, leading its defence team at a time of growth in the sector.

Napper will work between Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra supported by its leadership team. He says he is delighted to be working alongside a number of defence experts.

“It’s inspiring to be leading a team with such breadth and depth of industry experience,” he says.

“With a cohort of emerging talent rising up the ranks, and an interconnected global defence, science and technology exchange, we can truly operate at the cutting-edge of design to deliver human-centred solutions that solve some of Defence’s most critical challenges and build workforce attractiveness.”

Napper was previously a Project Director at the Department of Defence’s Capital Facilities and Infrastructure Branch, delivering a number of infrastructure projects in programs across Australia, the Middle East and Papua New Guinea, notably the $3.1 billion Garden Island Redevelopment Subprogram and $1.3 billion Armoured Fighting Vehicles Facilities Program.

Napper is additionally a chartered Professional Engineer, Adjunct Lecturer at UNSW, a Fellow of Engineers Australia, and the Deputy Chair and secretary for Engineers Australia’s College of Leadership & Management (Canberra Division).

“Speed of delivery is more critical than ever before, and HDR’s data-driven design team will enable us to deliver on Australia’s Defence enterprise priorities at a never-seen-before pace, while not compromising on design excellence,” Napper says.

“By challenging business-as-usual thinking and processes and using innovative tools and methodologies to address key industry drivers, we have a unique opportunity to set a new benchmark for the sector.”

Computational and generative design have become cornerstones of defence design, along with operational data that is utilised to identify trends to make informed decisions around space, cost and occupancy. HDR’s innovative Regenerative Design Framework and Tool will become a major part of Napper’s design delivery, which assists in reaching carbon, water, air, biodiversity and social targets.

“This, coupled with fostering a digital-first design culture, will enable transparent, data-driven justifications that accelerate government infrastructure decision-making and foster living collaboration from the outset of a project, rather than static documentation that can be disconnected from the human element of the design,” Napper continues.

“Not only this, but through encouraging a digital shift in the format of deliverables, which we can do without changing Commonwealth contracts, we’ll be able to leverage comprehensive virtual replicas of base developments and high-tech military capability facilities to address workforce, ecological, social, cultural and financial challenges faster and more holistically.”

HDR’s Global Director of Federal Architecture, Susana Erpestad, says Napper is a welcome addition to the practice’s team.

“With Tim Napper at the helm, our Australian defence sector is well positioned to enter its next phase of growth and expand its market capture” she says.

“As strategic partnerships continue to grow in significance, our multilateral, borderless approach to defence design across the U.S. and the Commonwealth countries will propel our capability edge and strengthen our nations in these times of uncertainty.”

Napper will be tasked with leading the team on a number of key projects, including 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.

Architecture & Design Team

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