Leo Addicoat
ADDICOAT Leo, BE(Hons) MIEAust (1929-2018)
Leo was born in Mount Lawley, Perth, on December 19, 1929, the son of motor mechanic Leo Addicoat and his wife Sarah (Sadie) Addicoat nee Leivers.
He sat his Junior in 1945 and his Leaving in 1947. In 1948 he enrolled in Engineering at the University of Western Australia. In 1949 he was awarded the G M Nunn prize for Surveying and in 1950 travelled to the eastern states on the Gledden Tour. In 1952, he was President of the University Engineers Club. He graduated in March 1953 with an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Leo married nurse Joan Mary Fleury in 1958. Joan was the daughter of Wilfred Fleury MIEAust, the former Cottesloe Municipal Engineer. Leo and Joan had six children.
Walter Tauss, a part time University of Western Australia lecturer, had met Leo at University and was keen to recruit Leo to his expanding building services consultancy. In 1958, Leo had made a commitment to join David Norman and Kip Grieve was recruited by Walter Tauss instead.
Leo returned to Australia in December 1958 with his new wife on the “Orsova”, having spent time in Canada. In May 1959, Leo and Joan moved to New South Wales to take up a partnership with his fellow University of Western Australia graduate and co resident of St Georges College, David Norman forming Norman and Addicoat. Leo was responsible for the electrical, general mechanical and lifts, while David Norman focused on the air conditioning, ventilation and refrigeration aspects of the work. They soon moved into a bigger premises at 50 Miller Street in North Sydney, in the corner of the structural consultant’s office of Taylor Thompson and Whitting.
David Norman continued aggressively pursuing work while Leo held down the drafting during the day, with spare moments few and far between for both of them. By early 1960, the workload necessitated adding a design draftsman, and Alan Disney came on board. Initially, Norman and Addicoat worked on smaller projects, such as office blocks, bowling alleys and RSL clubs, but the big break for the company came in 1963 when they won two major city contracts – Goldfields House project on McKee Street and also the Sydney County Council building at the corner of Bathurst and George Streets.
The company secured the air conditioning contract for the ANZ Bank in Perth, under the condition that Norman and Addicoat open a branch in Perth, which they did in 1964. Engineer David Rae was tasked with managing the Perth office. Melbourne was the next target for expansion, and Peter Young was tasked with managing the new Victorian office. It took some time to gain momentum, due to the depressed economy and business climate.
In 1971, Leo and David Norman had differences of opinion on the direction and structure of the company. The result was that Norman and Addicoat was dissolved, with Addicoat taking control of the electrical, mechanical and vertical transportation contracts in Sydney, while Norman was left with the air conditioning, ventilation and refrigeration, along with the Perth and Melbourne offices.
Leo then founded the consulting engineering firm, Addicoat, Hogarth and Wilson (AHW) based in the previous Norman and Addicoat head office at 48 Chandos Street, St Leonards in Sydney.
An early project for the new partnership was the High Court on Lake Burley Griffin constructed between 1975 and 1980.
Leo retired around 1996 and renewed his pilot’s licence. He spent four years and three thousand hours constructing a kit aircraft. The Glastar was registered as VH MED in 2001.
In July 2002, AHW joined forces with the Waterman Group PLC, a large United Kingdom based consulting engineering company and then operated in Australia as Waterman AHW Pty Ltd.
Leo became a Student Member of the Institution of Engineers in 1950 and became a Member in 1959. He was active in consulting engineering organisations being President of NSW Consulting Engineers Group, Vice President of the building industry reform group in NSW and NSW representative on the Consulting Engineers Federal body for 13 years.
Leo died in Sydney on September 13, 2018, aged 88 and was survived by his ex-wife and six children.
References:
West Australian, 24.12.1929, p. 1.
West Australian, 28.3.1953, p. 10.
From Rockets to Recirculation – the story of how David Norman founded NDY (accessed 16.12.2022), Norman Disney & Young.
Addicoat Family Papers.
