Xavia began her career as a mechanical engineer and has since specialised in fire engineering, both in fire protection design and fire safety performance-based engineering. She is passionate about raising the profile of fire safety within the industry and the importance of implementing innovative fire solutions on projects. Xavia is also passionate about promoting fire engineering as an exciting profession for graduates entering the property industry.
Xavia has been a true advocate for sustainable engineering and design solutions, consistently driving thought leadership within the industry. She has actively shared her expertise through impactful presentations, emphasising the role of engineering and design in combating climate change. Her focus on Electric Vehicles and innovative Fire Safety Solutions has been particularly enlightening.
Throughout her career, she has garnered experience across a range of sectors, including retail, civic, commercial, residential, health, defence, and industrial. Her landmark projects include the Gabba Stadium redevelopment and Commonwealth Games Carrara and Coomera sporting and entertainment centres. Through this work, she has developed expertise in CFD modelling, egress modelling for stadiums and high-population areas, and analysing security lines and the impact of media and athletes on buildings. Furthermore, she has made significant contributions to projects such as 101 Albert Street, River Street in Melbourne, Budds Beach Precinct, Pacific Epping redevelopments, Mater Springfield Hospital, and Valley Metro Redevelopment.
Beyond her technical prowess, Xavia is passionate about raising awareness of fire safety and promoting fire engineering as an exciting profession. Paving the way for future female leaders in engineering, she actively engages with school students and female graduates entering the property industry, inspiring them to consider engineering a rewarding career path.
At the very start of her career, Xavia was quickly thrown in the deep end when her team dropped to a team of two and describes the period as a ‘trial by fire’. Xavia rose to the challenge, delivering fire engineering across several sectors: from exhibition centres and hospitals to commercial and residential towers. This experience presented the opportunity to showcase her ability and has helped guide and shape her into the technical expert and leader that she is today.