ANDREW TAYLOR – MANAGING DIRECTOR
Andrew is a degree qualified Mechanical Engineer; he joined Southerly Designs in 1999 after spending several years working in a diverse range of mining construction and engineering roles. Over the last 25 years Andrew has worked closely with the John & Chris to further develop our designs; and technical and engineering capability of the company.
As Managing Director, Andrew is responsible for the day to day running of the design office and the management of the design process from concept through to sea trials, ensuring continuous improvement in the level and quality of detail provided to our always expanding shipyard & owner/operator client base.
JOHN FITZHARDINGE - DIRECTOR
John has been a professional fisherman for more than 40 years and has many years involvement with the Geraldton Fishermen’s Co-operative as a Director. Geraldton Fishermen’s Co-op is the largest exporter of seafood in Australia, boasting an annual turnover of approximately A$400 million. John’s design experience is long and hard learnt as he had to prove his designs by using them for his own boats. The development over a number of boats proved to other owners that his design was far superior to others being offered on the market. Since the beginning of his design career he has kept pace with the varied demands of clients by developing a very successful range of commercial & leisure vessels with the Southerly Designs team.
CHRIS SMART - DIRECTOR
Chris has a background in mechanical engineering. He started his marine career with Geraldton Boat Builders in 1994 working as shipyard draftsman and developed his capabilities over the next 3 years to become responsible for developing John’s designs for the company into complete design packages. In 1997 John and Chris branched out to form Southerly Designs and over the next 10 years Chris took the lead role in the sourcing & implementation of CAD/CAM/CAE into the design process, collating vessel data & developing performance algorithms for new designs. During this time Chris was responsible for training new staff & also progressively took over new vessel design from John. Chris has developed a strong reputation for his leading edge 3D design & visualisation capabilities.
TECHNICAL STAFF
In addition to Andrew, John & Chris; Southerly Designs have a team of 5 highly qualified & capable full time staff Naval Architects & Mechanical Engineers who bring a Southerly Design to sea – from initial project scoping, general arrangements, structural design & advanced FEA, performance & seakeeping analysis, 3D modelling/visualization, shipyard build management & more.
Our staff are University degree graduates with many years of experience & are trained in the use of specialist naval architecture & CAD/CAM/CAE software & its application to all aspects of our designs.