Meet Andrew John Layson

Andrew started his career as a commissioning engineer working on water projects in power stations and desalination, before moving into process engineer and senior process engineer roles. The scope of his work quickly expanded to cover integration of various aspects of design into complete solutions, which led him to process engineering manager, engineering manager and later general manager roles. After nine years as general manager, he returned to his roots as engineering manager for two companies before joining Jacobs, where he now applies his skills and knowledge as a senior principal water engineer.

Andrew challenges today and reinvents tomorrow by breaking down walls between disciplines and imagining himself in the shoes of those who will interact with the plants we design. He likes to understand the “why” and loves to ask, “Why not?”

Andrew has 40 years’ experience in the water industry spanning diverse applications and organizations. His water reuse experience dates back over 30 years to the Eraring Power Station Wastewater Reuse plant — the world’s first industrial scale dual membrane reclamation plant. He has been integral to several globally significant reuse projects and lectures on membrane technology.

He’s worked across a range of industries and applications in various regions of the world, giving him a unique understanding of various stages and types of delivery models and a proven ability to integrate varying disciplines into innovative, optimized solutions.

One of Andrew’s recent projects at Jacobs is the design of a purified recycled water demonstration plant. He’s also passionate about developing the skills and understanding of the next generation of engineers.

Andrew believes waste is the enemy of sustainability. Pursuing innovative, holistic engineered solutions focused on the needs of an application reduces wasted materials, energy, chemicals, water and human effort.

Andrew is a member of Engineers Australia and holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering with First Class Honors from University of Sydney in Australia.