Video and audio transcripts

Video transcript

Hi, I'm Peter Adcock and I'm a wetland ecologist.

To be a wetland designer is very rewarding ? I think there are a lot of people who would like to get into it ? it's actually a very hard thing to get into because there's not a wetland design university course so a lot of people try and get into it but just don't know how. I expect that to change but one of the benefits of being in it is it's very varied ? whether it is legal work, whether it is wetlands design, whether it is redesigning a creek or helping someone move a creek ? we've done all of that. So no two days are alike.

The other aspect which we like is developing the industry and at the end of the day it's very satisfying to know that the environment is better off because of what you have done. It's just a wonderful thing to visit a site like Blue Hills and know that shape is what you designed on paper, a hand sketch four years ago which became a design three years ago which was a construction project two years ago which is now a water quality and maintenance job today and to watch it develop over the next five years is satisfying.

We do a lot of different designs but what I like the most about the designs is problem solving. You get given a design challenge and quite often you get given the level of a pipe at a wetland and you get given the level of a pipe at the outlet of a wetland ? you've got to make water flow downhill and you've got to move it around corners, you've got to achieve all of your environmental outcomes and water quality outcomes and aesthetic outcomes ? it's got to look good ? generally in a little area which has dots around it that someone's given you on a plan. So it really is a problem solving exercise and the capacity to problem solve, the capacity to see the big picture is really exciting. A lot of people will go off and do very specific work, structural engineers will get involved ? design weirs and bridges and inlet pipes. Environmentalists will tell you what species of plants to put in and how many plants to put in. Occupational safety of the site will tell you how deep the water should be, how steep the banks should be but the capacity to bring that all in to one design is a challenge and it's an exciting aspect of the work.

Audio transcripts

Peter first became interested in wetlands because it was very practical.

To tell you the truth it was more opportunity ? as I say one of the reasons I didn't ever complete my PhD was the wetland industry didn't exist and I was doing my PhD in wetlands and all of a sudden the wetland industry started and there was a very commercial opportunity to move into it. The reason I chose it as my major research topic in my Honours degree was because it was the most practical subject ? wetlands for waste water treatment was very practical. Some of my friends at this stage were researching lizards and different breeding cycles of invertebrates and little bugs and that was all ? it just wasn't practical enough for me so it was more the very practical element which took me into it and then it became a job ? I must admit I never considered it as a career path.

Peter talks about how important it is for him to be able to bring together a team.

It's interesting, at my level I probably don't need to know too many things very well. It really is team balancing, the ability to put it together. I mentioned it has to be a multi-disciplinary team, you have to have an engineer, you have to have a wetlands scientist, you have to have an ecologist, you have to have a tree specialist, quite often a flora and fauna specialist to help you with frogs and snails, your soil scientist. You have to bring all of these people together. So the capacity to work people, to actually get a team that works together well to the common outcome. Because each one of those people has their individual slants on what they perceive success to be so the ability to work that team together for an outcome like Blue Hills Wetlands is just so important.

Peter talks about some of the skills you need to be a good wetlands designer.

To be a good wetlands designer as I say it is very important to have a good understanding of the basic science involved. So to do the basics of biology and environmental courses at school and then to have exposure to them at university, but the broader skills, where we talked about communication, listening, problem solving, the ability to think on your feet is very important so I'm also a big fan of extra curricular activities because I really believe they give a good rounding to someone. The capacity to communicate and interact quite often isn't in the classroom it's in the drama class or the Eisteddfod or the sporting field.

Listening skills are very important for a good design.

Quite often the difference between a good design and a bad design or satisfying a clients needs or not is listening. So often once you become a specialist in an area you have your pre-defined views. You have your thoughts on what something should be and it's very easy to not listen to what somebody wants. So the ability to listen to what somebody wants and then you apply your skills to best achieve that. It's a very important thing but so many people don't do that simple aspect of listening to what people want.

Peter talks about how important communication skills are for a wetland designer.

I guess the biggest thing in being a success as a wetland designer really lies in the art of communication, the ability to deal with people, to give them encouragement, to get them to feel confident with their own abilities. And once people have confidence in you they will back you and quite often that is your ability to speak around a table in meetings, your ability to write a concise, well worded report but if people have confidence in you they will use you again.