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Approach to Complex Marine and Coastal Infrastructure
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Designing Where the Rules Run Out: We caught up with Lead Structural Engineer Jay McIntyre.
Marine and coastal infrastructure sits at the outer edge of engineering predictability. Waves, tides, corrosion, seismic risk and environmental regulation rarely align neatly with standard solutions. For MLEI, this is where their work begins.
For more than three decades, Lead Structural Engineer Jay McIntyre has operated in this space, delivering complex marine and coastal infrastructure across Australia and abroad. His career has been shaped by projects that demand judgment, research and experience when established design codes fall short.
“They’re not easy projects,” he says. “You can’t just pull a standard methodology off the shelf and expect it to work.”
BUILDING SOLUTIONS FROM FIRST PRINCIPLES
When guidance runs thin
In a high-seismic region, Jay encountered a retaining-wall wharf for which available codes provided insufficient guidance.
“I spent weeks searching for a workable approach. Eventually, I found a research paper that could be adapted, but it required careful validation.”
This depth of investigation is typical of MLEI’s marine and coastal work. Rather than forcing projects into prescriptive frameworks, the team builds solutions from first principles, supported by research, testing and global precedent where relevant.
From ports and wharves to offshore decommissioning
The firm’s portfolio spans ports, wharves, marine retaining systems, coastal protection structures and offshore energy facilities.
One recent challenge involved the decommissioning of large offshore gas platforms, with individual components weighing up to 5,000 tonnes. Jay explains, “Environmental restrictions ruled out conventional piling for the footings supporting these components, which would have greatly simplified the footings designs. We were dealing with massive loads, complex staging, and very tight constraints, so the load transfer and staging strategies had to be rethought entirely.” He adds, “It’s not something you can solve by plugging numbers into a spreadsheet.”
These projects demand an integrated understanding of structural behaviour, constructability, environmental approvals and risk. Madsen Giersing’s design input often extends beyond feasibility advice, option development and construction sequencing.
Research-led, not template-driven
What distinguishes Madsen Giersing’s approach is a willingness to challenge assumptions and invest time in developing defensible design pathways. This often means researching international case studies, adapting methodologies from adjacent disciplines, or developing bespoke analytical approaches.
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If we can’t find an example of someone else doing it before, we’ll do the research and work out how a methodology can be applied to this specific case.
This mindset is particularly important in marineenvironments, where each site behaves differently. Local bathymetry, sedimenttransport, wave direction and operational requirements mean that even similarstructures can demand entirely different solutions.
Jay McIntyre | Lead Structural Engineer | MLEI Group
Knowledge built over time, not automated
While digital tools and automation continue to advance, Jay is clear that marine and coastal engineering remains deeply reliant on human judgment and accumulated experience.
“It’s the war stories and the built knowledge that make the difference. This isn’t something you can cookie-cutter or automate. You need people who have seen how structures behave over time.”
For public and industrial assets, that judgment carries weight. Durability is not theoretical; it is measured in decades of exposure.
Designing for longevity in harsh environments
At its core, MLEI’s marine and coastal infrastructure work is about durability and resilience. Assets must perform for decades under constant exposure to excessive loading, corrosion and environmental variability.
Technical rigour and research matter. So does understanding how infrastructure is constructed, staged and maintained. The firm delivers solutions that respond to real-world conditions rather than idealised assumptions.
“In these environments, small misjudgements compound. If you underestimate a force or oversimplify a condition, lifecycle risk is locked in, and the structure will eventually reveal it. Experience is what allows you to see that trajectory before it becomes a problem.”
For clients operating at the edge of land and sea, that depth of thinking can be the difference between an asset that merely functions and one that endures.
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