It is with great sadness that we farewell Jeffrey Robinson, who passed away far too early following an accident on Sunday 7 April 2024.
Jeff was a legend in our industry, an unrelenting champion for a better built environment. He was a wonderful colleague and friend to many.
With a degree in Building Services Engineering from Trinity College at the University of Dublin, Jeff went to work for Arup in London, setting up its Cork office in 1991 and its Melbourne office in 1997. In 2003, Jeff joined Connell Mott MacDonald, which later became Aurecon.
Apart from driving innovation on countless projects as global sustainable design expertise leader at Aurecon, Jeff’s advocacy engagements were possibly the most extensive in our industry. They included roles at the Victorian Heritage Council, the Australian Passive House Association and the Property Council’s Victorian Sustainability Committee to name a few.
If there had been an award for the person most engaged in industry across disciplines and through countless events, Jeff would have won it, hands down, year on year. In fact, he was in a league of his own.
As many colleagues recall, whenever Jeff wasn’t presenting or on a discussion panel himself, you could always count on him to ask the first question at any event. But more importantly, his questions were always thoughtful and constructive.
Jeff was a great supporter of the architectural profession and a jury member in many architectural awards. Good architecture, for him, always meant evidence-based and sustainable design. He contributed his deep understanding of passive design – and of integrating it with mechanical engineering – to the development of the Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star tools, which have become industry benchmarks in many sectors.
The list of projects in which Jeff was instrumental is long and illustrious. It includes the first retrofitted office building in Australia to achieve 6 Star Green Star certification, 40 Albert Road in South Melbourne with SJB Architects; and the world’s largest educational building to achieve Passive House certification, Monash University’s Woodside Building with Grimshaw Architects.
Jeff was a highly respected technical specialist for sustainability on the Victorian Design Review Panel run by the Office of the Victorian Government Architect. We fondly remember when he called in from his native Dublin at two o’clock in the morning for a design review, where his unique skillset was needed for a key Victorian project. He was adamant he was happy to make time to attend and did so with his innate professionalism and limitless enthusiasm. Jeff was passionate and charmingly relentless in trying to make a positive difference wherever he saw an opportunity.
Whoever met Jeff could not be untouched, so infectious were his joyful manner and zest for working together to make things better. Jeff had the rare ability to call out the pressing issues of our time and frankly point to the improvement potential on projects, while radiating positivity and encouragement.
It is cruel irony that we lost Jeff, a passionate advocate of good urban design for walking and cycling, to poor traffic planning that failed to protect pedestrians like him. We sincerely hope that by inspiring eventual improvements to urban environments, this tragedy – and Jeff – will save others’ lives.
We sorely miss Jeff and can only vow to continue working harder towards what he cared about: a healthier and more sustainable place to live. Our thoughts go out to Jeff’s wife Carolyn, their daughters and their wider family at this incredibly difficult time.
A memorial forest is being planted to celebrate Jeff Robinson’s life and legacy. Administered by Greenfleet, the forest will be legally protected for 100 years, allowing it to grow into a self-sustaining ecosystem that will thrive beyond this century – an appropriate recognition of Jeff’s passion for and commitment to sustainability.
If you have been touched by Jeff or what he stood for and would like to contribute to Jeff’s forest, you can do so here.
