Our Directors | Explore Expertise — Contact Us Today

A middle-aged man with a beard and short hair wearing a navy suit and a blue checkered dress shirt, standing with arms crossed against a plain white wall.

Paul Mitchell

Head of Operations / Design Practitioner

Paul is a co-founder of Assentra (est. 2025) and brings over 25 years of experience in the construction and engineering industry, encompassing both the design and construction of residential buildings and civil infrastructure. Prior to establishing Assentra, he held senior roles at BCRC and CRD Building Consultants and Engineers, where he specialised in remedial and forensic engineering.

Key Responsibility Areas

Lead the day-to-day operational delivery of engineering and design consultancy services.
Oversee project resourcing, workload allocation, priorities and delivery across the engineering team.
Provide technical leadership across structural, civil, façade, waterproofing and remedial engineering disciplines.
Act as Design Practitioner for regulated structural, civil and façade design work where applicable.
Maintain technical governance, quality assurance and consistency of engineering outputs.
Review and approve designs, reports, specifications, drawings and technical advice before issue.
Manage design risk, constructability, compliance and multidisciplinary coordination.
Lead the preparation and coordination of remedial engineering designs for existing buildings.
Structural assessment and design of repairs, strengthening and replacement works.
Civil, stormwater and drainage design associated with remedial building works.
Façade engineering and building-envelope remediation.
Waterproofing design to roofs, balconies, terraces, podiums, basements and external interfaces.
Assessment and design of flashings, cavity drainage, DPCs, joints and moisture-management systems.
Hydraulic and drainage coordination where water management interfaces with the building envelope.
Oversee preparation of regulated designs and Design Compliance Declarations.
Provide senior technical review of RFIs, contractor submissions, alternative solutions and construction methodologies.
Coordinate architects, engineers, consultants, builders and specialist subcontractors.
Monitor project performance, programme, technical deliverables and consultant obligations.
Support project directors in fee management, project profitability and resource planning.
Develop internal engineering procedures, templates, QA systems and technical standards.
Mentor engineers, consultants and junior technical staff.
Assist with recruitment, capability development and succession planning within the technical team.
Manage operational and technical risks across active projects.
Support client relationships, business development, proposals and tender submissions.
Represent the business in technical meetings, design workshops, PCGs and high-level stakeholder discussions.

Core Skillsets

Operational leadership and engineering management.
Multidisciplinary team management.
Resource and workload planning.
Technical governance and quality assurance.
Structural and remedial engineering.
Façade and building-envelope engineering.
Waterproofing design and diagnostics.
Civil, stormwater and drainage engineering.
Hydraulic/building-envelope interface assessment.
Concrete durability and repair design.
Design Practitioner compliance and regulated design.
Design risk and constructability assessment.
Technical peer review.
Project and commercial management.
Client and stakeholder management.
Mentoring and technical staff development.
NCC, Australian Standards and NSW DBP legislation.
Multidisciplinary design coordination and technical problem solving.

A man with curly hair and a beard smiling, dressed in a white shirt and blue blazer, standing near a large window with city buildings in the background.

Chris Zervos

Senior Building Consultant

Chris co-founded Assentra in 2025, following his previous roles as Senior Building Consultant at BCRC and at Crawford & Company (Australia). In this role, he inspected and reported on complex building matters, coordinated forensic investigations, and prepared detailed defect reports, scopes of work, and cost estimates. He also managed tenders, oversaw project delivery, mentored junior staff, and conducted technical reviews prior to client submission.

Key Responsibility Areas

Client-side project management and superintendent/contract administration services.
Management of remedial building and façade projects from investigation through design, tender, construction and completion.
Building defect investigation, diagnosis and preparation of remedial recommendations.
Waterproofing and water-ingress investigations to roofs, balconies, terraces, façades, podiums, basements and wet areas.
Building-envelope condition assessments and failure investigations.
Development of scopes of work, technical specifications and remedial methodologies.
Coordination of architects, engineers, Design Practitioners, builders and specialist consultants.
Tender preparation, tender assessment, contractor interviews and recommendations.
Assessment of variations, progress claims, extensions of time and contractual correspondence.
Construction-phase inspections, hold-point inspections and quality assurance.
Defect identification, defect schedules and completion inspections.
Review of contractor methodologies, products, warranties and technical submissions.
Liaison with strata committees, owners corporations, insurers, builders and legal representatives.
Preparation of technical reports, condition assessments and project-management documentation.
Identification and management of project risks, scope growth, latent conditions and constructability issues.

Core Skillsets

Building diagnostics and defect identification.
Waterproofing diagnostics and remedial design principles.
Building-envelope assessment.
Moisture investigation and leak-source identification.
Construction methodology and sequencing.
Remedial construction knowledge.
Project and contract management.
Scope and specification preparation.
Tender analysis and contractor procurement.
Technical report writing.
Construction cost and variation assessment.
Stakeholder and consultant coordination.
Dispute avoidance and technical negotiation.
Interpretation of architectural, structural and services documentation.
Knowledge of the NCC, Australian Standards and relevant NSW building legislation.

Professional man in a light-colored suit with crossed arms, standing indoors near large windows with cityscape in the background.

Christos Venetsanos

Senior Forensic / Remedial Engineer

Christos is a co-founder of Assentra (est. 2025) with over 15 years’ of experience in the engineering industry, specialising in forensic and structural diagnostics. Prior to this, he held the role of Diagnostic Structural Engineer at Imparta Engineers, where he developed deep expertise in the investigation of complex building issues such as structural failures, foundation movement, water ingress, impact and fire-related damage.

Key Responsibility Areas

Forensic investigation of building damage, defects and failures.
Determination of the cause, extent and mechanism of building damage.
Assessment of whether damage relates to an insured event, pre-existing condition, deterioration, defective construction or maintenance.
Insurance-related building assessments for insurers, loss adjusters, brokers and property owners.
Assessment of storm, water, impact, escape-of-liquid, fire-related and other building losses.
Differentiation between resultant damage and underlying building defects.
Identification of required make-safe and emergency stabilisation works.
Preparation of scopes for demolition, repair, reinstatement and remediation.
Assessment of building-envelope failures involving façades, roofs, balconies, waterproofing and drainage.
Structural assessment of damaged concrete, masonry, steel and other building elements.
Investigation of moisture pathways and water-ingress mechanisms.
Assessment of façade deterioration, cracking, displacement, corrosion and material failure.
Development of engineered remedial solutions following forensic investigation.
Preparation of structural, civil, façade and waterproofing remedial designs.
Review of repair proposals submitted by builders, engineers and restoration contractors.
Preparation of technical reports for insurers, loss adjusters, solicitors and other stakeholders.
Assessment of repair versus replacement requirements.
Identification of pre-existing defects, betterment and maintenance-related components of proposed works.
Technical assessment of contractor quotations and proposed repair methodologies.
Site inspections during remediation to verify discovered conditions and design assumptions.
Provision of expert technical advice in disputed or complex insurance matters.
Coordination of specialist testing, destructive investigation and additional engineering disciplines where required.

Core Skillsets

Forensic engineering and failure analysis.
Causation analysis.
Insurance and loss-adjusting technical assessments.
Building-damage assessment.
Remedial structural engineering.
Façade and building-envelope diagnostics.
Waterproofing failure investigation.
Water-ingress and moisture-pathway analysis.
Concrete deterioration and corrosion assessment.
Crack investigation and structural movement assessment.
Stormwater and drainage failure analysis.
Make-safe and emergency remediation design.
Repair methodology development.
Scope-of-works preparation.
Cost and repair-scope evaluation.
Differentiation of event-related damage from defects, deterioration and maintenance.
Technical evidence and report preparation.
Dispute and expert-support work.
Construction methodology and practical remediation knowledge.
Multidisciplinary structural, civil, façade and waterproofing coordination.