Disruptive technologies and a view of the future for geotechnical practice
Dr James Glastonbury
About the Presentation
James’ presentation will provide a view on the role that emerging and established technologies can play in shaping the future of geotechnical practice – both in terms of ground characterisation and construction activity. James will discuss technologies that sit at various “technology readiness levels” – some having benefits to projects of today and tomorrow and others that are in their infancy. He will draw on some real-world examples where emerging technology has been deployed on projects to gain a deeper understanding of ground characteristics or soil-structure interaction.
About Dr James Glastonbury
James has over 20 years experience working across a range of sectors including transport, heavy industrial, mining and tunneling. He has specialist skills in geotechnical and civil engineering as well as experience in the assessment and application of innovative practices and technology in both fields.
James started his career with Coffey working on mining and tunneling projects across Australia. He then completed a PhD in landslide risk assessment under the supervision of Prof. Robin Fell at UNSW. Following that, he worked in the United States and Europe for several years – principally on transport and heavy industrial projects. This included several large-scale LNG projects in locations such as Chile, Italy and Russia. Returning to Australia, he managed Parsons Brinckerhoff’s geotechnical practice across the Australia-Pacific region before moving to the construction sector.
In his current role as a Director of Laing O’Rourke’s Engineering Excellence Group, James provides high-level engineering advice to project delivery teams on civil and geotechnical related matters. He is materially involved in influencing the innovation agenda across Laing O’Rourke’s business, challenging conventional practices and identifying opportunities to apply new technology or methods to enhance project and client outcomes.
He is heavily involved in the internal development of “smart infrastructure” technology linking to predictive asset maintenance, adoption of smart digital tools for both engineering and communications purposes and technology mapping from non-engineering sectors.
He is currently playing an instrumental role in the “challenge and innovation” agenda within Pacific Complete – the delivery partner JV working with RMS on the 155km section of Pacific Highway upgrade from Woolgoolga to Ballina.
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