INTERVIEW | SASHA KRSTANOVIC Im a hippy. I like to be at the centre of the worlds peacemakers. Working with the UN is a massive honour MENTORING The support Sasha Krstanovic was given at the beginning of her career has made her keen to help the next generation of engineers. Two of her most prominent supporters were former BDP director and chairman of Environmental Engineering Bob Spittle and Hoare Lea consultant Paddy Conaghan. She says Conaghans belief that engineering should always delight has stayed with her. She also cites Aecom fellow Ant Wilson and Stanhopes her career. Krstanovic currently mentors one male engineer from Aecom for iMechE chartership, and a woman she met through Regen Women in Renewable Energy (ReWire). Its really important to learn a lesson and pass it on and its also an opportunity to be present in the minds of new engineers and understand how they think. I learn at least as much from them as they learn from me, she says. She is a CIBSE volunteer mentor helping women at the mid-stage of their career and where mentoring is not available internally at companies. She is also a director at the Equilibrium Network, which connects senior females and is focused on stopping the attrition of women in the construction industry. Mothers are seen as a liability in business and being overlooked for promotion, says Krstanovic but she believes they make the best project managers because parents of small children are the best managers in the world. Despite feeling lucky to be living in a time where people understand the value of families, Krstanovic still says too much female talent is being lost. Women leave the industry because theyve heard that stupid joke too many times, or heard something offensive too many times. The pay gap is also still an issue, she says. Krstanovic thinks more senior leaders should become mentors. Historically, it was thought that if you were very senior you shouldnt be mentoring junior people, because you should be doing your job, she says. I think thats rubbish. She says services engineers are now much more closely involved in early design than at the start of her career when they werent bought into the process until Stage B or C too late to integrate sustainable design. She believes the education system is helping by increasingly integrating engineering with other disciplines. Its getting better, and there are now good multidisciplinary courses that get architects to work with engineers and structural services early on, says Krstanovic, who has taught at Nottingham and Loughborough universities. Positive POEs She is a keen proponent of post-occupancy evaluation and believes all buildings should have a feedback mechanism. While at Aecom she co-created the Better Buildings Group, which led to new design standards that include sustainability and build performance checks in reviews at each stage of the project. Post-occupancy evaluation is a brilliant thing. Its a learning opportunity and offers the chance to fix issues. The best buildings I have been involved in are the ones I still go back to today, says Krstanovic. I would like to see a world where its not sold as a separate big package its not easy for someone to approve several thousand pounds to sniff around your building, she says. It needs to be woven into a process a lot earlier. Krstanovic is keen that buildings using new technology are closely monitored. With new technology, if the building fails, new products will be blamed. Often there is no aftercare, and no-one to asks if things arent working, With her experience working collaboratively on project briefs, it is unsurprising that some of msteps work is on the client side, including a prestigious project advising the UN on its Geneva office retrofit. Everyone understands the value of project managers and architects on the client side, but now people are also beginning to understand the value of engineers informing the brief, she says. Architects stay with their concept to the end, otherwise elements get changed on site, and nobody wants to sign off the project. We should be more like that. There needs to be an engineer from beginning to end to make sure the concepts dont get diluted, she says. The work with the UN chimes with msteps founding values and it is also committed to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Im a hippy. I like to be at the centre of the worlds peacemakers, Krstanovic says, smiling. Working with the UN is a massive honour. In line with the SDGs, mstep has been working with community energy groups to decarbonise existing housing stock. It is collaborating with not-for-profit community group Power Up North London (PUNL) and is looking at creating a development assessment tool, which will enable councils to make informed decisions about the buildings they should tackle first. It is using information from display energy certificates to help create the tool, which mstep says will enable councils to make decisions about 70% of their stock, without having to spend money on individual surveys. With an accurate energy assessment of stock, Krstanovic says councils can prioritise tenants affected by fuel poverty and groups such as PUNL will be able to attract privatesector funding and apply for grants. Krstanovic is keen to make a difference in her new venture, particularly to those with no means of decarbonising their building stock. You have to put your knowledge where it is useful, for the greater good, she says. Even if something else might be more interesting and better paid. CJ You have to put your greater good, says Krstanovic 26 September 2021 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Sep 21 pp24-26 Sasha Krstanovic.indd 26 27/08/2021 11:02