He was born in London to a Scottish father, Alexander Binnie, and Hannah Carr from Castle Sowerby, Cumberland.

[1] He trained as an engineer by being articled in 1858 to Terence Flannagan and afterwards to Frederic la Trobe Bateman.

He then worked on railways in mid-Wales before moving in 1868 to India to engineer the Nagpur water supply system.

[6] He also designed, with Sir Benjamin Baker, major parts of London's drainage system, including east London sewage treatment works at Crossness and Barking on the south and north sides of the Thames respectively (these were sited at the ends of the sewer outfalls created by Sir Joseph Bazalgette during the late 19th century).

In January 2021, the Europe and Asian water businesses of Black & Veatch were acquired by RSK Group and renamed Binnies.