Christopher Edwards

Stumbled into the industry via working with a parks authority in North Queensland in the late 1970’s.
So I started as an end-user who needed to learn to design – very quickly.

In the early 80’s I relocated to Brisbane, Queensland and worked for a major distributor of irrigation equipment. A part of the role was sales and design, with project management thrown in. Fortunately my CEO was a very good designer and the irrigation company was held in very high esteem: basically, everyone else aspired to our business model. Thus I have experience on the supply end of the scale.

In 1986, I started Commercial Irrigation Consultants (CIC) in Brisbane, Queensland. To my knowledge it was the first independent irrigation consultancy on the East Coast of Australia (the geographical equivalent of the East Coast of the USA). The formation of CIC coincided with the boom in commercial and residential development in South East Queensland and this allowed me to make good contacts in the landscape architectural field that still serve me well.

Having established a reputation for thoroughness and Independence, CIC were able to be involved in some of the major projects of the period: Brisbane Southbank Parklands (the Expo 88 site redevelopment), Roma Street Parklands, Northlakes Residential Estate, Toowoomba City Council Central / Satellite Control System, Harbour Festival and University of Central Queensland campus in Gladstone Queensland, Brisbane International Airport Terminal.

Looking for a sea-change after divorce in 2003, I relocated to Northern New South Wales (just south of iconic Byron Bay) and established Edwards Irrigation Consulting. We have aligned ourselves with a very good team of independent consultants specializing in groundwater, pump station and filtration design, civil and structural engineering, project management, soils and agronomy, and town planning. We are currently heavily involved with the water supply studies and irrigation redevelopment of a number race courses and golf courses.

Always happy to works overseas, too; we have undertaken projects in South Korea, Samoa and Tahiti (someone has to).