Chris Swanepoel has more than three decades of global experience delivering complex energy and infrastructure projects. His career spans multiple continents and sectors, from control systems, transmission and distribution, renewables, oil and gas, mining, and industrial power, giving him a breadth across the full energy lifecycle that\u2019s rare to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chris\u2019 career has found him leading multidisciplinary teams on technically challenging projects; substation upgrades, rail electrification, floating LNG facilities, and large-scale battery storage. He\u2019s helped clients navigate complex technical, commercial and operational challenges. His specialty is delivering projects that are sustainable and fit for long-term operation, on time and on budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s your career journey, and why have you joined AECOM?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I started my career in South Africa working on control systems for substations and interconnected networks. It gave me a solid technical grounding and an appreciation for how vital reliable power is. My career then took me across industries and continents, from consulting to software development, and to Australia, Korea, France and Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Along the way, I\u2019ve worked on everything from substation upgrades and rail electrification to floating LNG facilities and long-duration energy storage. The common thread has been problem-solving, bringing together multidisciplinary teams to deliver technically challenging, high-value projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n I joined AECOM because I wanted to apply that experience to a new adventure in a new place. The scale and complexity of the energy transition here excites me, and AECOM\u2019s mix of local capability and global expertise is a powerful combination. <\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n What\u2019s your approach to delivering successful projects?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, it comes down to three things: preparation, timing and people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \n I always start with the end in mind, asking, \u201chow will we commission and operate this project?\u201d. Then, I work backwards to shape the engineering and delivery. <\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n I\u2019ve seen again and again that spending a bit more time upfront on planning saves significant construction time. Timing is everything. You can have a great design, but if you sequence things badly, costs and schedules blow out. Do the right things at the right time. And none of it works without the right team. Skilled, motivated people make the difference between a project that struggles and one that succeeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are the non-negotiables of delivering major, complex projects?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s next for AECOM\u2019s Energy team in Western Australia?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The energy transition in Australia is moving fast. Our unique geography, scale and heavy industry reliance, especially in Western Australia, make it one of the most challenging markets in the world, but also one of the most rewarding to work in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can play a key role in helping clients decarbonise while keeping operations running, whether that\u2019s renewables integration, transmission augmentation, or supporting the safe decommissioning of coal assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n We can draw on solutions developed by our colleagues globally, but tailor these to our unique West Australian geography and market. <\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n What makes AECOM stand out?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our ability to combine technical depth with delivery know-how. We\u2019re not just advising; we\u2019re helping clients make confident investment decisions and then turning those into reality. We also bring insights from across industries, transport, water and environment, which gives us a broader perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chris brings over 30 years of global expertise in energy and infrastructure, spanning renewables, oil & gas, mining, and industrial power across the full energy lifecycle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1070,"featured_media":20253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,172],"tags":[228,6491,1984,6666,6685],"yst_prominent_words":[887,458,582,4964,3192,635,829,528],"class_list":["post-20252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-environment","tag-energy","tag-energy-transition","tag-environment","tag-renewable-energy","tag-transmission-and-distribution"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1070"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20252"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20300,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20252\/revisions\/20300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20252"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=20252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n