Mumbai, early 2002 ...the headlines read:
Nikhil Salunkhay joins Pell Frischmann!!
Actually, that’s not quite true but it was big news for my family, and I was very excited about the prospect of joining a multi-disciplinary team dealing with large scale projects.
As a young architect and urban designer, I have worked within India and supported many other Pell Frischmann projects internationally. Throw a dart at a world map and you’ll probably hit one of them (give or take a few hundred kilometers)
Pell Frischmann is unusual these days because the managers are keen to "throw people in at the deep end". Daunting in many regards but it’s definitely "the way" to learn quickly, and there's always a lifeguard (normally a technical director) supervising this sharp learning curve.
My most challenging task was leading a dedicated team for the Delhi Metro Project by relocating to the capital for more than 15 months. The demands of a time bound project, and design coordination between technical and government clients proved to be a Herculean task. I was supported by a capable team in Delhi and technical staff in Mumbai and London.
My choice in working for Pell Frischmann was primarily guided by my background in Urban Design and the company offered me the right platform for my career. No wonder I ended up working on a major rail project...!