Meet Ian Costley
What led you to a career at Duratec/Atec?
“I joined Duratec to support the delivery of the Central Park, Perth recladding project and broader national recladding works, bringing a strong technical background developed from a Sheetmetal apprenticeship through to Operations Manager.
“Prior to joining Duratec/ATEC, my experience spanned fabrication, supply, and installation across major Western Australian projects, including Perth Arena, Perth Stadium, Perth Airport Terminal 1, and Perth Children’s Hospital.
“I was drawn to Duratec for the opportunity to further develop my professional growth by working on largerscale, technically complex projects, where I could have greater design influence and help shape outcomes from early design development through to delivery.”
How does your role safeguard and extend asset and infrastructure?
“My role focuses on protecting and extending the life of both existing and new assets through quality-led façade delivery. By ensuring façade works meet or exceed applicable building codes, engineering design requirements, and performance standards, I help safeguard building integrity and long-term performance.
This approach supports safer buildings, improved durability, and reliable performance across the asset lifecycle, delivering lasting value for owners and occupants.”
What’s your biggest professional achievement and why?
“One of my most significant professional achievements was leading the early design development of the Central Park, Perth recladding project under an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI).
The project commenced with only four Performance Mock-Up drawings and we undertook site inspections covering approximately 2-5% of the as-built configurations to data capture the fabricated design.
“I drove the development of a fully compliant façade solution with the project consultant group and our in-house design team that met engineering requirements, achieved the intended architectural outcome, and significantly improved the building’s overall appearance. This involved creating a complete and accurate drawing documentation set for the 51-storey office tower, enabling all panel types to be designed and fabricated prior to access to all areas of the building.
“As a result, every panel was installed on site exactly as intended without the need for modification, demonstrating the value of thorough design development, constructability-focused thinking, and quality-driven delivery on such a complex façade project.”
What do you enjoy most about working at Atec?
“I enjoy the fact that we look at complex challenging designs and break them down into executable processes. We then reverse engineer the pathway to the right project outcomes with great thought and consideration, to ensure we understand how to deliver the best result.”
What have you learned during your time at ATEC / what has inspired you?
“During my time at ATEC, I’ve continued to witness the significant knowledge that is in the industry as well as the rapid evolution of capability and skills. I’ve been particularly inspired by the growth of digital engineering, which is providing increasingly powerful tools to support façade design development, coordination with other trades, communication to stakeholders and more sophisticated tracking tools with the data developed during design.
“These advancements are driving a more sophisticated pre-site mobilisation approach—enabling more off-site fabrication, improved understanding of interfaces and scope gaps, and clearer visualisation of the end product allowing refinements. This shift not only improves project certainty but also lifts the overall quality and efficiency of façade delivery.”
What advice would you give to someone starting out in their career?
“No matter what you start doing, take all opportunities presented to you and always ask questions and be present. Never be afraid to admit you don’t know.”
