Tom Crowe
Tom Crowe
Prepared by Freda Garnsey, 22 November 2002 from oral history interview conducted on 28 June 2001.
Tom Crowe was born in Roseville, Sydney, in 1940. His father was a wool classer who, after the war, became an accountant. He had one sister and his parents encouraged further education.
He attended Cammeray Primary School, though he later thought that he had been sent too young, and later Roseville Public School and North Sydney Boys High School
He gained a degree in Civil Engineering at the University of NSW in 1961 and a degree in Computer Science at Vancouver, Canada, in 1969. In 1979 he was awarded a master’s degree in building science, again at the University of NSW, in 1984 Building Visiting Committee from the University of NSW and in 1984 a Bachelor of Urban Land at the University of Western Sydney, and in 1989 a Master of Project Management from the University of Technology, Sydney.
In the last two years of university, he worked part-time on Gladesville Bridge, responsible for casting the 500 concrete blocks that made up the arch – all made to within an eighth of an inch, all tapered blocks and hollow, but only one was wrong. He met Backie James, Chief Engineer on Spit Bridge and his mentor for rest of his life. Crowe worked for James from 1958 until 1968, and then with Reed and Mallack, British Engineering firm.
He was the site engineer at Harwood Island, Clarence River in Grafton, responsible for precasting the headstocks and erecting them.
He returned to Sydney and was married, then worked on the Aston Street Bridge at Parramatta – his first project management role. Reed and Mallack decided to withdraw from Australia so he decided to go to Vancouver, Canada to work.
He worked for IBM as Salesman, becoming the top salesman in the first year. He lectured in critical path method (one of the main applications of computers) at the University of British Colombia.
On his return to Australia in 1970 he joined PA Management Consultants. During this time he was involved in programming of variety of things, including the Sydney Opera House.
In 1973 he left and formed a company in partnership with Alex McLaughlin (a colleague from PA) called McLaughlin and Crowe for ten years. This was the first stand-alone management consultant in project management in Australia.
In the early 1980s he worked on AMP’s Collins Place, and he believed this to be the first consultant project manager on a major project in Australia. This was a turning point in his career at 38 years old and managing a billion-dollar building. He was then the project manager for another AMP building, the National Australia Bank House, George Street, Sydney. By this time the partnership with McLaughlin separated and Crowe formed T W Crowe & Associates in 1983.
He introduced micro-computers to assist in project management and won an engineering excellence award for this. He invented a scientific refurbishment technique’, which was applied to city buildings as well as scheduling techniques. Tom worked in various capacities on hotels, resort project developments, hospitals, banks, the University of Technology, Sydney; and Police Headquarters. Other relevant experience includes projects in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia in the 1980s, Collins Place Melbourne, Sydney 2000 Olympic Infrastructure and National Museum of Australia.
In the 1990s he was involved in developing best practice/total quality management and introducing it to organisations such as the construction industry, government departments, architects, engineers, contractors and trade contractors.
About 2002 he undertook a PhD, examining achieving excellence and strategies for project deliveries. Case studies led to the conclusion that many things are being done wrongly in the industry. He hoped that his contribution would effect change in the focus of industry from profit to people and customers.
He lectured extensively at the University of NSW, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney University and Deakin University, in project management skills.
To access an oral history interview with Tom Crowe please use this link:'
https://heritage.engineersaustralia.org.au/wiki/Oral_Histories_Sydney
