About Us
We exist to enrich life and the world around us
Since inception, we’ve respected the profound effects that extraordinary built environments can have on people’s lives – it’s why we challenge ourselves to think bigger about the opportunities that we’re faced with every single day.
Xavier Knight offers deep technical expertise in everything we do – our senior leadership team hold a wealth of industry experience, and our business management systems are certified to ISO Quality, Safety and Environmental standards. However, it’s our collective desire to enrich lives and the world around us that differentiates us from the industry.
We’re not afraid to cast aside the status quo in order to design built environments in ways that have never been done before and, after we’ve brought them to life, will never be forgotten.
We amplify the outcomes of every project.
40
strong
TEAM OF ENGINEERS
AND TECHNICIANS
150
years
COMBINED LEADERSHIP
EXPERIENCE
>$5
billion
DOLLARS OF
COMBINED PROJECT VALUE
1000
plus
SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS
COMPLETED TOGETHER
Our Promise
We bring to life sustainable built environments that elevate human experiences
1.Respect for the creative vision
We’re passionate about exploring the interconnectedness of people, creativity and science, and approach projects in a dynamic, open-minded way that makes the creative vision viable – taking the designs of architects and developers and bringing them to life.
2.Collaborative Experience
We put people first always, communicating and collaborating strongly across the entire design and build process. We highly value the strong relationships that we build with all key stakeholders, as they ensure that our process is one of frictionless collaboration.
3.Sustainable Designs
We create sustainable built environments that elevate human experiences. We’re committed to creating a sustainable world; our designs are economically, environmentally and socially sensitive, and designed to enrich life both now and in the future.
4.Buildable solutions
Our deep understanding of the construction process ensures that our designs are practical, efficient, and clearly documented. We also provide value-adding advice during the build process to guarantee that your project is delivered with maximum effectiveness.
5.Commitment to Excellence
We’re relentless in our quest to always find a better way, searching for and employing innovative design principles to add value on every level. Absolute technical excellence is nonnegotiable – everything we design, we design well, using our expertise to create built environments you can trust.
Our values are at the heart of what makes us different.
These values aren’t just words on a page – they are deeply integrated into every aspect of our team, processes and approach, which is the reason why we’re able to deliver on our promises time after time.
01
Excellence
02
Curiosity
03
Stewardship
04
Integrity
Our Team
Feris Chehade
Feris Chehade
Feris Chehade is the Founder and Managing Director of Xavier Knight. With 20 years of experience in the industry, including working with some of Australia’s most prestigious firms,
he has extensive experience as a Structural and Civil
consulting engineer.
Passionate about finding opportunities to genuinely enrich the lives of those around him, Feris is committed to delivering extraordinary projects that are practical and cost effective, without compromising architectural expression or design intent.
Feris’ hands-on involvement across all stages of our process ensures that we deliver elevated social, cultural, ecological and economic outcomes for the projects entrusted to Xavier Knight.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Engineering, Civil (Structural), Honours – University of Sydney
Dean’s List of Academic Excellence + University of Merit Scholarship
Advanced Engineering Program Member of Engineers Australia (MIEAust)
Chartered Professional Structural Engineer (CPEng)
UDIA NSW Infrastructure Committee 2019 Member
Jyana Mareko
Jyana Mareko
With over 12 years experience in business development and operations management, Jyana leads the development and implementation of XK’s business strategy and oversees business operations.
Jyana has led significant achievements for our business, including the certification of XK management systems to ISO international standards, participation in the Australian Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme and XK’s acceptance to the NSW Government Prequalification Scheme for Consultants in Construction.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Business – University of Technology Sydney
International Business Program – Tongji University, Shanghai China
Hatchery, Design Thinking Program – University of Technology Sydney
Diploma of Financial Services – Australian Financial Markets Association (AFMA)
Kathy Chehade
Kathy Chehade
With over 10 years experience in operations and project management, and a passion for forming and fostering meaningful relationships, Kathy leads the people arm of our business.
She is driven to ensure people are at the heart of everything we do and that our values are evident in every interaction we have within our team and beyond, with our clients and partners. Kathy is an integral part of our Leadership team, helping lead and support many facets of the business, developing and implementing business initiatives.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Arts
Organisational Coaching
Training & Assessment Cert IV
Bassam Matty
Bassam Matty
Bassam is a technical expert in structures and their behaviour. He is an accomplished engineer, with a passion for innovation, value-engineering and sustainability. With over 30 years of engineering experience in the construction industry, spread across 3 continents, Bassam has successfully delivered elegant and economical solutions for complicated architectural forms and challenging site constraints.
His thorough understanding of structural behaviour along with his ability to utilise advanced computational techniques are key factors in the successful delivery of many unique, challenging and highly sophisticated projects.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Science, Building and Construction Engineering – University of Technology, Baghdad, 1986
Master of Science, Structural Engineering – University of Technology, Baghdad, 1989
Fellow of Engineers Australia – Chartered Professional Engineer (FIEAust CPEng NER APEC Engineer IntPE(AUS))
Member of The American Concrete Institute (ACI) and The Concrete Institute of Australia (CIA)
Paree Cordato
Paree Cordato
Paree is a Chartered Structural Engineer with over 20 years’ experience working for major multidisciplinary consultancies in Australia. Throughout her extensive consulting experiences, Paree has worked collaboratively with prominent clients, builders and fellow consultants on a number of key building and infrastructure projects.
Paree has coordinated and led design teams in Australia and internationally. From project feasibility through to detailed design and completion of construction, she works with her teams to deliver cost-efficient outcomes, applying the latest technologies to designs to produce innovative projects.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Engineering, Civil (Structural) Honours – University of Sydney, 1996
Member of Engineer Australia CPEng and NPER
Rail Safety Worker Competency – Principal Engineer
Johann Human
Johann Human
Johann has over 23 years of experience in the structural design and management of building and civil projects throughout Africa, the Middle-East, and the APEC region. He is a passionate collaborator with a strong belief that with teamwork, all project challenges can be overcome to provide solutions that are innovative, economical, buildable and sustainable.
Johann’s strategic insights into the key steps of the property development cycle ensure that the structural solutions we provide are able to fully achieve the ultimate goals of the projects we’re bringing to life.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Engineering, Civil – University of Johannesburg, 1994 (Cum Laude)
Master of Engineering, Structural – University of Johannesburg, 1996