Peter Hollingsworth qualified as a civil engineer from the University of Queensland in 1951 and as a licensed surveyor in 1954. He worked in North Queensland and Papua New Guinea until the end of 1956. He was involved in the construction of Warragamba dam, design and construction of precast prestressed concrete structures and problem foundations throughout Australia.

In 1962 partnered the founding of Coffey & Hollingsworth consulting in Geotechnical engineering in Australia and Southeast Asia. In 1974 he founded Hollingsworth Consultants specialising in Environmental impact studies and Geotechnical Engineering in Australia and Papua New Guinea. In 1989 the firm merged with Dames & Moore and entered the world of waste management engineering. He retired from the firm in 1993 and now consults as Hollingsworth Project Consultant in business development in engineering.

Peter has received a number of awards and accreditations including the member of Order of Australia 2004, Professional Engineer of the Year 2001 and Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia 2002. He has been the president of AGS, president of EA QLD, Vice-president of EA Australia, and chair of Association of Consulting Engineers.