Summer 2012/2013 Consulting Matters

SUMMER 2012

Celebrating consulting excellence

Are you developing leadership value?

Safety in Design Toolkit launched

2012

Policy & Advocacy wins

2012 Awards for Excellence

It’s always good to be first.

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Consulting Matters

CONTENTS

2012 Awards for Excellence Friday 7 December 2012 - Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, QLD

National Strategic Partner:

Diamond Sponsors:

Industry updates Industry updates

2

What’s on in our industry

4

What’s happening in Consult Australia From the President

6

From the CEO

7

Champions of Change

8

State updates FutureNet updates

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Features

Protecting your business

Industry comment

New guide for better building and construction procurement

64

New technology delivers more than just bells and whistles

What should I advise DIAC when an employer sponsored worker or position is made redundant?

66

Super for a stronger future

67

Liability for sub-consultants

68

Corporate social responsibility Clean water forever

70

Invaluable experience

71

No good food should go to waste

71

2012 Awards for Excellence

21

2012 Policy & Advocacy wins

58

Are you developing leadership value?

60

Our industry

Driving excellence with leadership at every level

62

Ballina Bypass Overcoming Road Blocks

72

Getting your business noticed

73

South West Rail Link

74

Systemising processes to create a platform for success

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Consulting Matters

Industry Updates

Industry updates NEW APPOINTMENTS

MAJOR WINS Australian architects triumph at World Architecture Festival Awards

AECOM appoints new environment leader Professional technical services consultancy AECOM has appointed a new leader for its environment business in Australia and New Zealand. As Managing Director – Environment Australia New Zealand, Sydney’s Frank Mohen will guide AECOM’s environment business across a wide range of sectors including: defence; mining; oil and gas; property and construction; power and utilities; and transport.

Parsons Brinckerhoff appoints new Director of Sales for Australia-Pacific Parsons Brinckerhoff has appointed Greg Milford to the new role of Director of Sales for its Australia-Pacific operations. In this new position Mr Milford will provide leadership and strategic direction with a focus on winning new work, expanding the firm’s profile, enhancing relationships with clients and developing new markets.

Australian architecture firms have taken on the world and triumphed at the prestigious World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards winning eight out of 33 categories.

Congratulations to: Billard Leece Partnership and Bates Smart; Kerry Hill Architects; HASSELL; Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (FMJT); and John Wardle Architects.

Richard Kelly wins annual prize for excellence in geotechnical engineering practice Coffey Geotechnics Principal, Dr Richard Kelly has won the 2012 Shamsher Prakash Annual Prize for Excellence in Geotechnical Engineering Practice for younger professionals. He was recognised for his ground improvement and foundation engineering research and expertise, his strong contribution to the multi-award winning Ballina Bypass highway project, and his work in establishing a national soft soil test facility in Australia.

Coffey wins triple gold at Western Australian Safety Awards Coffey’s geotechnical, environmental and materials testing businesses have all taken out top merit awards for safety at the Western Australian annual 2012 Industrial Foundation for Accident Prevention (IFAP)/ CGU Workers Compensation Safe Way Awards.

Coffey won three Gold Safe Way Achiever Awards and two Lost Time Injury Performance Awards.

Hyder sees double at 2012 Engineering Excellence Awards Hyder Consulting enjoyed double success at the Engineering Excellence Awards in Sydney on 21 September, receiving a joint win in the Buildings and Structures category for their work on the Westfield Sydney project and a High Commendation in the Welfare, Health and Safety arena for the company’s best practice safety program ‘Wellbeing by Design’.

Logan Water Alliance wins engineering award for its quality planning The Logan Water Alliance, comprising Logan City Council; Parsons Brinckerhoff; Tenix; and Cardno, has received the Reports, Procedures and Systems award at the Queensland Engineering Excellence Awards.

The Alliance is one of the largest water infrastructure delivery programs of its type in Australia.

INDUSTRY ANNOUNCEMENTS SLR announces merger acquisition of GSS Environmental SLR Consulting Australia Pty Ltd, part of the international SLR Environmental Consultancy Group, has announced the merger acquisition of GSS Environmental (GSSE), a leading Australian provider of environmental consulting and project management services to clients in the mining, minerals, land development and natural resource sectors.

Industry Updates

Consulting Matters

What’s on in our industry Global

New South Wales

March 7-8, Bangkok 2013 TCDPAP & FIDIC / ASPAC Conference www.tcdpap2013bangkok.com

March 4-5, Sydney 4th Road Safety International Conference www.roadsafety-4conference.com

Victoria

March 6-7, Sydney Green Cities 2013 www.greencities.org.au

March 21-22, Melbourne Consult Australia: Safety in Design www.consultaustralia.com.au

March 14-15, Sydney Consult Australia: Safety in Design www.consultaustralia.com.au

June 4-5, Melbourne Opportunity Green Summit 2013 www.greensummit.com.au

April 11-13, Sydney Consult Australia: Contracts for Consultants www.consultaustralia.com.au

Editor

June 10-12, Melbourne 6th Making Cities Liveable Conference www.healthycities.com.au

Queensland April 18-19, Brisbane Consult Australia: Safety in Design www.consultaustralia.com.au

South Australia March 19-20, Adelaide 3rd Annual South Australian Resources & Infrastructure Conference www.sainfrastructure.com.au

Cathy Mitchell

Editorial Coordinator Gillian O’Young

President Jamie Shelton

Chief Executive Megan Motto

Chief Operating Officer

Western Australia March 14-15, Perth Consult Australia: Safety in Design www.consultaustralia.com.au April 16-17, Perth 4th Annual WA Major Projects Conference www.waconference.com.au

Julia Lemercier

Director of Policy Jonathan Cartledge

Senior Policy Advisor Jonathan Russell

Senior Legal Policy Advisor Robin Schuck

Director of Marketing & Membership Cathy Mitchell

National Events Manager Alexandra Hopper

Designer Voltaire Corpuz

Marketing & Events Coordinator (Education & Training) Alexia Lidas

Finance Coordinator Violeta Sapteska

Executive Assistant Kerri Clifford

Operations Coordinator Sheena Nelson

DIAC outreach officer Sarah Gowing

Editorial Submissions gillian@consultaustralia.com.au

Advertising Enquiries ringo@consultaustralia.com.au Consulting Matters is produced by Consult Australia. Phone: (02) 9922 4711.

Website: www.consultaustralia.com.au

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Consulting Matters

Industry Updates

Power of Engineering lights the way For 26-year-old Felicity Briody being nominated in the Australian Financial Review’s (AFR) 100 Women of Influence as a young leader has reinforced the positive difference engineers can make within the community.

The AFR awards identify and celebrate bold, energetic women, capturing the spirit of change that’s required to help Australia shape a vibrant and inclusive future.

potential of an engineering career and connect universities, schools, industry and local communities.

Felicity was delighted to be recognised alongside her fellow nominees. “It’s wonderful to see the Power of Engineering up in lights – I hope it inspires other young women to consider a career in engineering,” she said.

Felicity was recognised for her work in co-founding Power of Engineering, an educational program supported by Engineers Australia for Year 9-10 high school students that aims to increase the number of women in engineering.

“My greatest satisfaction comes from realising that as engineers, we can change the world. We are the ones creating solutions for our clients and the wider community – it’s amazing to see your projects making a positive difference to people’s lives.”

The Power of Engineering workshops encourage young people to explore the

Working as a water resources engineer with AECOM in Brisbane, Felicity places high

value on the professional networks she has formed.

“Being so genuinely supported by some of the amazing people at AECOM has developed my own strategic thinking and communications skills which has allowed me to deliver the Power of Engineering Program.

Our Business Development Manager, Marketing Advisor, Strategy Leader and even our Managing Director have taken the time to share ideas and practical actions with me,” said Felicity.

“The most profound moment for me on this journey has been the realisation realising that the only thing that stops you doing what you want to do is yourself.”

To find out more, visit /www.facebook.com/ PowerOfEngineering.

John Grill supports future consulting excellence Excellence in our industry is often demonstrated through technical innovation, visionary design or complex project delivery.

It isn’t often that we see the exceptional foresight, generosity and leadership demonstrated by outgoing Chief Executive of WorleyParsons, John Grill who has made an extremely generous personal donation of $20 million to the University of Sydney — the largest single gift ever given by a living Australian to an Australian university.

The money donated by John will fund the establishment of a new industry-oriented centre of excellence that will position the University of Sydney as a global leader in project leadership, helping Australia to deliver national priority projects in resources and infrastructure that will bring benefits to all levels of society.

The John Grill Centre for Project Leadership will be a multidisciplinary and collaborative

partnership between the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies and the University of Sydney Business School, as well as many other areas of the University of Sydney.

The Centre’s activities and programs will enhance the University’s existing project management offerings, providing a learning pathway from starting a career in project management through to the leadership of multimillion dollar projects.

“This unprecedented gift will also help Australia to deliver national priority projects in resources and infrastructure.”

John believes that as projects in our industry become more complex, the importance of leadership and project management skills are becoming increasingly important to professional and project success.

“Across the globe there are more large projects than ever before, many of which are vitally important to society,” said John.

University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor Dr Michael Spence described John’s contribution as truly visionary and transformational.

“Unfortunately the track record of delivering them against the primary objectives of schedule, cost and quality is not good.

“Mr Grill has had the foresight to recognise the need for a world-class centre of excellence to meet the demands of the future, and the determination to bring it to fruition,” said Dr Michael.

“The availability of appropriately skilled and experienced senior managers is a critical factor to improving project outcomes and I am confident this centre will play a key role in meeting this need.”

Industry Updates

Letters to the editor Agree or disagree with something you’ve read in this edition of the Consulting Matters? Want your comment heard on the issue? Send a letter to our editor (max 200 words) at cathy@consultaustralia. com.au.

Letters to Consulting Matters must carry the sender’s name and firm.

We do not acknowledge the receipt of unpublished letters. When submitting your letter for publication you agree that we may edit it for legal, space or other reasons.

Industry comments What do you think is the most pressing issue our industry is today facing? Submit an industry comment to Consulting Matters by emailing our Editorial Coordinator at gillian@consultaustralia.com.au.

You can speak about any subject matter you wish. Write about issues you feel are important to the consulting industry - government policy, business issues, opinions on consulting related topics, changes you feel the industry should make or anything in between!

Consulting Matters

Not a member of Consult Australia?

To find out more about how your firm can benefit from our: • Benchmarking; • Business support; • Staff development; • Business development; and • Policy Contact National Relationship Manager, Craig Spence on (02) 9922 4711 or email craig@consultaustralia.com.au www.consultaustralia.com.au

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Consulting Matters

What’s happening at Consult Australia

From the President all of our operations. Secondly, we facilitate excellence within our member firms through business support such as training courses, practice notes and business advice. This includes the Consult Australia Awards for Excellence, which identifies and promotes excellence within our member firms. The collective benefit of this work is to lift the standing of our entire industry. Thirdly, our thought leadership and advocacy work aims to achieve better outcomes for society by helping to shape agendas and influence on issues relating to the built and natural environment.

Consult Australia’s credibility as a key voice for industry, and the extent to which we can influence outcomes, is directly related to our reputational excellence - the foundations of which lie within each and every member firm.

Consult Australia understands the need to champion excellence within our industry. The benefits of defining, promoting and practicing excellence are broad and of enduring value to the industry, both as a whole and to individual firms. Our strategic plan recognises the role that we, as an industry association have in building the success of the professional service industry through the promotion and facilitation of excellence.

For Consult Australia, there are three significant elements involved in achieving excellence. Firstly, our operations need to be in order, set a high standard and lead by example - the core values of integrity, leadership, collaboration and support underpin

The excellence of Australia’s professional services industry is broadly appreciated. This recognition is a credit to us all, however as they say in building, “You’re only as good as your last job.” We must continue to strengthen and grow our industry to make the most of the opportunities ahead.

The government’s recent white paper, The Asian Century makes reference to the role of professional service industries with the goal to secure a more prosperous and resilient Australia. The paper states, “Capabilities that are particularly important for the Asian century include job specific skills, scientific and technical excellence, adaptability and resilience. Using creativity and design-based thinking to solve complex problems is a distinctive Australian strength that can help to

Excellence in business is a journey that at anytime can be measured through outcomes like increased competitiveness and market share, and the progressive development of systems and processes which improve decision making related to projects, talent, and profitability. The primary driver for business excellence is undoubtedly the success of individual firms, however the greater benefit is a profound contribution to the Australian economy.

meet the emerging challenges of this century.”

Australia’s professional service industry, of which consultants working in the built and natural environment are a major part, will be looked upon as an important contributor to help our economic prosperity beyond the current mining investment boom. According to Reserve Bank of Australia Governor, Glenn Stevens this transition within our economy will begin as resource investment peaks in 2013 or 2014.

If we look beyond the current challenges of market conditions, constrained capital and skills shortages, there are enormous opportunities for our industry - opportunities that hinge on our ability to respond quickly, competently and with confidence. These are qualities present in the Australian industry and are underpinned by valuing and practicing excellence at an individual business level.

The drivers at a firm level to invest in the development of better business practices are driven by market challenges and opportunities which create a need to innovate and differentiate. The firms that can improve the way they manage clients, deliver services, manage talent, and provide operational excellence will meet the challenges with significant competitive advantages.

Excellence in business is a journey that at anytime can be measured through outcomes such as increased competitiveness and market share, and the progressive development of systems and processes which improve decision making related to projects, talent, and profitability. The primary driver for business excellence is undoubtedly the success of individual firms, however the greater benefit is a profound contribution to the Australian economy.

Through our re-vamped Awards for Excellence, Consult Australia is recognising and promoting excellent business practices within the industry. The Awards provide great value for the individual businesses involved in the program.

Jamie Shelton Consult Australia

What’s happening at Consult Australia

Consulting Matters

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From the CEO As 2012 draws to a close we find ourselves once again both reflecting on the year that has been and looking towards the year ahead.

I’m pleased to say that 2012 has once again been both an extremely busy and successful year, even in the midst of difficult business conditions. Some of our achievements this year include: electing in a new board under our new governance framework; significantly improving the organisation and processes of the board; striking a deal with Deloitte Private to revitalise our Practice Performance benchmarking; initiating an executive salary survey extension of our existing salaries survey; releasing our very popular and timely Safety in Design toolkit; instituting our new Resources Roundtable; launching “Diverse Approaches” and achieving a raft of policy wins on member’s behalf.

These come on top of our business as usual products and services, including the very successful delivery of a value packed program for FutureNet and the FutureNet Business Leaders courses.

And there is a lot more planned for members in 2013 so watch this space!

2 S afer, sustainable and more productive workplaces

• Supporting national harmonisation of Workplace Health and Safety legislation and developing guidance for firms complying with a changing regulatory environment.

• Facilitating a more diverse workforce, with ensuing productivity benefits, across the industry.

• Improving access to skilled workers against identified shortages.

• Benchmarking and leading the development of industry best-practice for more sustainable and productive businesses.

3 Better urban environments and infrastructure investment

• Sharing our firms’ expertise to deliver more evidence-based public policy outcomes; supporting investment in infrastructure providing more productive, liveable and sustainable urban environments.

Stronger, more collaborative business relationships

Importantly, however, 2013 will bring a Federal election, and Consult Australia is already well advanced in developing and implementing our election strategy. We are engaging strongly through both existing and new relationships with all major parties, and working where it is appropriate to do so with other associations and stakeholders in the built environment sector.

Consult Australia’s advocacy aims to eliminate waste, enhance productivity and embed sustainability across our industry and the wider economy through:

1 B est practice procurement and fairer contracts

• Campaigning for fair allocation of risk between contracting parties, standard contract terms and liability reform at all levels of government.

Any members interesting in understanding more about our campaign strategy, or wanting to get involved are encouraged to contact us.

Finally I would like to say a very public thank you to Jamie Shelton and the board for their boundless energy and support, to my fabulous staff led by Julia Lemercier, Jonathan Cartledge and Cathy Mitchell, and to you our members for your contribution to Consult Australia’s success. Onwards and upwards for 2013!

4 Stronger, more collaborative business relationships

• Fostering more productive working relationships between consulting firms and private and public sector clients across jurisdictions.

5 Industry innovation, growth and excellence

• Showcasing industry excellence, leading innovation and the adoption of new technologies such as Building Information Modelling and Integrated Project Delivery; delivering a more competitive industry in the longer-term.

Megan Motto Consult Australia

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Consulting Matters

What’s happening at Consult Australia

Champions of Change The Consult Australia Champions of Change are 10 CEOs from some of our most high profile member firms who are passionate about workforce diversity. They met for the first time on 12 November.

The Champions of Change program is open only to CEOs and regional Managing Directors of Consult Australia member firms who want to explore ways to improve workforce diversity in the industry. The concept mirrors the Male Champions of Change initiative that was created by the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick.

The need for such a group is clear. Last year, Consult Australia ran a survey of member firms to measure the extent to which women are represented in the industry, with a focus on technical and managerial roles. The findings showed significant imbalances in the number of women employed in these positions. Sadly, the levels at which these women operate and are paid, were not a surprise.

What the results also did, was act as a catalyst for renewed action. A best practice benchmarking report was released in March and the overarching advice gleaned from that document was to get CEOs more involved.

There are many reasons for them to become public advocates for workforce diversity, not least of which includes the productivity benefits that come to those firms that can get it right.

We now have 10 CEOs who have put their name to efforts to address workforce diversity.

None of them has all of the answers and indeed, most have a lot of questions. They want to know how companies can pro-actively take action to achieve their diversity and inclusion goals.

What they share is the courage to take on an issue that is bigger than they are, and work collaboratively to build a stronger industry.

Hyder Consulting Managing Director – Australasia and Chair of the Consult Australia Champions of Change, Greg Steele explained why he has become a public advocate for workforce diversity, simply stating, “Diversity of thinking leads to better outcomes and better performance.”

Change takes time but having the most influential leaders of our industry working together means that change will be possible.

Deloitte Australia CEO and member of the original Male Champions of Change initative, Giam Swiegers gave a peer-to-peer pep talk at the November meeting of Consult Australia’s

Last year, Consult Australia ran a survey of member firms to measure the extent to which women are represented in the industry, with a focus on technical and managerial roles. The findings showed significant imbalances in the number of women employed in these positions. Sadly, the levels at which these women operate and are paid, were not a surprise.

Champions, highlighting the performance outcomes that are possible with a diverse workforce.

focus on workforce diversity and the action required to achieve that, no company can hope to have the best talent,” said Giam.

Mr Swiegers referred to the flexible working arrangements that are required to keep young parents in the workforce, but which are difficult to get right in industries that have an emphasis on superior client services.

CEOs of Consult Australia member firms—of all sizes—who are interested in becoming a Champion are encouraged to get involved. To learn more about the group, please contact Consult Australia CEO, Megan Motto at megan@consultaustralia.com.au.

“I am unaware of ever losing a client due to staff operating on flexible working arrangements, but I do know that I win clients because I have the best talent. Without a

Jonathan Russell Consult Australia

As at 13 November, the Consult Australia Champions of Change are: Arup Australasian Chairman, Peter Bailey ERM Managing Director - Australia, David Wills Hyder Managing Director – Australasia, Greg Steele, MWH Managing Director – Australia & Singapore, Mark Bruzzone NDY Chief Executive Officer, Ian Hopkins Opus Managing Director Australia, Melvyn Maylin Pitt & Sherry Managing Director, John Pitt SKM Chief Executive Officer, Santo Rizutto SMEC Managing Director Australia, Hari Poologasundram URS Managing Director for Asia Pacific, Jim Mantle

What’s happening at Consult Australia

WA POLICY UPDATE Main Roads Western Australia’s website now includes a link to their Infrastructure Delivery Plan which provides an indication of proposed works above $1.5m. The plan can be found at the following link and is updated regularly as projects develop. http://www.mainroads.wa.gov.au/BuildingRoads/ ContractingToMainRoads/FutureMajorWorks/Pages/ Future.aspx

Consulting Matters

2DEFINE Architecture, and continues the work on the Shanghai Tower as the client’s Chief Architect. Marshall is an award winning architect, who lectures worldwide on design and specializes in complex, high profile projects.

Thanks go to the sponsors of this joint event: BST Global; Cox Architecture; and BG&E. Architects and Engineers Roundtable: The WA Division also held its annual Engineers and Architects Roundtable in October which was another resounding success. The main topic of conversation was, “Is the government employer of last resort? And are consultants becoming irrelevant to the selection process?” More than 15 high profile attendees came along and a fantastic night was had by all with some extremely positive feedback.

WA RECENT EVENTS

Josephine Howlett State Manager – WA Phone: (08) 9324 3383

Tall Buildings – Does Size Matter?: On Friday, 30 November, Consult Australia and the Association of Consulting Architects joined forces to deliver a very special event featuring a presentation by Award winning architect, Marshall Strabala. Very soon, Marshall will hold the accolade of having designed three of the world’s ten tallest. These include the 450m high Zifeng Tower and the 828m high Burj Khalifa. In 2010 Strabala founded

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WA DIVISION STRATEGIC PARTNER:

WA DIVISION PLATINUM SPONSOR:

6 - 7 March 2013

Principal sponsor

Address: Old Swan Brewery 173 Mounts Bay Road Perth WA 6000

Email: josephine@consultaustralia.com.au

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Consulting Matters What’s happening at Consult Australia

Amy Lowe State Manager – NSW & ACT Phone: (02) 9922 4711 Adrress: Level 6, 50 Clarence Street Sydney NSW 2000 Email: amy@consultaustralia.com.au

NSW RECENT EVENTS

ACT POLICY UPDATE

Marshall Strabala, Tall Buildings – Does size matter?: On 3 December 2012, the NSW Division held a very special event with a presentation by world renowned architect, Marshall Strabala. As Design Partner for 2DEFINE Architecture, Marshall leads the next generation of super tall building designers. With the completion of the new 632m high Shanghai Tower in 2014, Marshall will have designed three of the world’s ten tallest. These include the 450m high Zijeng Tower and the 828m high Burj Khalifa.

The ACT Division are currently working on a policy strategy for 2013 which will outline the priority items for the division. If you have or are experiencing any issues relating to government policy that you would like to division to investigate, please contact the State Manager, Amy Lowe via email amy@consultaustralia.com.au outlining your concerns.

In 2010 Stabala founded 2DEFINE Architecture, and continues the work on the Shanghai Tower as the client’s Chief Architect. Marshall is an award winning architect, he lectures worldwide on design and specializes in complex, high profile projects with offices in Shanghai, Chicago and Seoul.

A full day seminar titled, ‘Understanding the Harmonisation of WHS’ will be held in Canberra on Friday, 1 March 2013. The seminar will cover topics such as:

ACT UPCOMING EVENTS • WHS legislation; • Hazard identification; and • Accident analysis.

NSW UPCOMING EVENTS Smart Cities Series: The NSW Division has partnered with the Green Building Council to bring you the Smart Cities Series. The launch event will take place in February 2013 and will run for half a day. The series will then be held in two hour breakfast sessions focusing on a number of topics throughout the year.

NSW Gala Dinner: The NSW Gala Dinner will be held on Friday, 7 June 2013 at Doltone House. We have secured the delightful Liz Taylor as Master of Ceremonies and will be entertained by the Singing Waiters and the String Diva’s.

NSW DIVISION STRATEGIC PARTNER:

NSW DIVISION GOLD SPONSOR:

Further information will be distributed about this course in early December. If you would like additional details, please don’t hesitate to contact the ACT Division on 02 9966 4966.

ACT DIVISION STRATEGIC PARTNER:

ACT DIVISION GOLD SPONSOR:

What’s happening at Consult Australia Consulting Matters

QLD POLICY UPDATE Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR): Consult Australia’s QLD Division met with TMR Senior Officers on 10 October. TMR provided an update on their organisational structure along with electronic copies of the structure of the five new divisions, which have been forwarded to Consult Australia members. Due to resourcing issues and competing priorities, the review of the pre-qualification of consultants system is currently on hold. The Brownfields Guidelines project is continuing with a draft soon to be released for comment. TMR are also developing an Innovation Guide that they are aiming to finalise before the end of the year. An update was also provided on the Principal Arranged Insurance (professional risks) business improvement project. A final decision on this project is expected by the end of 2012.

Consult Australia provided TMR with feedback on some recent procurement strategies, including the double Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) approach. The group discussed using the right procurement strategy for the current market and made the assessment that the whole of industry is finding it difficult to fund the investment required to tender for projects. Consult Australia agreed to provide TMR with suggestions for dealing with this issue.

The discussion led to the need to review the requirement for unlimited liability. We have also undertaken to provide TMR with input into the need to amend this in their standard contract conditions.

Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (ERH): Consult Australia representatives Satyajit Datar (GHD and Division Chair), Clint Verhagen (AECOM) and David Chubb (GHD) met with Department of Environment and Heritage Protection Chief of Staff, Troy Collings on Friday, 26 October. This first meeting was to introduce Consult Australia to the Department and to understand their key drivers. Consult Australia will continue to develop the relationship with this Department and will be inviting representatives to address our members at breakfast seminars and/or boardroom lunches in 2013.

QLD RECENT EVENTS QLD Division annual dinner: This year’s dinner focussed on celebrating our future leaders. Guest speaker, 2012

Young Australian of the Year, Marita Cheng provided a personal and inspirational account of her journey in creating Robogals. She touched on how she came to study engineering and noted the challenges of delegating responsibility and the benefits of having a great team.

Marita then joined three of our recent Consult Australia/ FutureNet essay competition finalists: Emma Healey; Christian Duell; and Marina Kozul to discuss how the built and natural environment professions can improve their standing and influence within wider society, and engage the community, industry and government with greater effectiveness. We were pleased to have Brisbane City Council CEO, Colin Jensen and Department of Transport and Main Roads Director General, Michael Caltabiano join the discussion to provide a more experienced perspective on this topic.

QLD industry breakfast with Transport and Main Roads (TMR) Director-General: Michael Caltabiano provided an update on the new direction of TMR to attendees at our sold-out October breakfast event. TMR are looking to industry to help drive value for money and will be using new procurement strategies to help them deliver more across the state. Some of the key messages delivered included the focus on performance excellence, re-engineering of the regions and value for money in all TMR activities. TMR are also looking at being a lead agency for ‘open government’, with open sourcing of data high on their priority list.

QLD industry breakfast with Projects Queensland: Projects Queensland’s interim head, David Stewart was guest speaker at our November breakfast, rounding out our program for 2012. Projects Queensland has been established to enhance the Queensland Government’s infrastructure delivery capability. Their current projects include 1 William Street, Toowoomba second range crossing, the Government wireless network and Queensland schools project.

QLD OTHER NEWS Better Business Series: Following the launch event in November 2012, we will be running a series of events in 2013 focussing on business related topics. The seminars will focus on the key areas of strategy; people; marketing; and cash, with each event including time for networking with your peers.

QLD DIVISION STRATEGIC PARTNER:

QLD DIVISION PLATINUM SPONSORS:

QLD Division annual Dinner

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Stacey Rawlings State Manager – QLD Phone: (07) 3020 3403

Address: Level 2, 143 Coronatin Drive Milton QLD 4064

Email: stacey@consultaustralia.com.au

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Consulting Matters What’s happening at Consult Australia

VIC POLICY UPDATE Zeina Nehme State Manager – VIC & TAS Phone: (03) 8699 7700 Adrress: Level 6, 1 Southbank Boulevarde Soutbank VIC 3006 Email: zeina@consultaustralia.com.au

Meeting with Shadow Minister for Roads: The Victorian Division Committee is currently engaged in discussions with Shadow Minister for Roads, Tim Pallas, to progress the issues outlined in our recent submission to Victorian Labor’s call for feedback as part of the development of a Victorian jobs and investment plan. The development of this plan is an important step towards supporting long-term policy development for a more productive and sustainable Victoria, and has led to follow up boardroom luncheons with Tim and our members to progress the issues.

Development Deed Standard Conditions: The concerns raised by Victorian members regarding the retail water agencies Development Deed Standard Conditions, are being resolved through ongoing correspondence. The VIC Division is seeking further discussions with the relevant Melbourne water agencies with a view to finding a mutually beneficial solution.

Vic Roads: The Victorian committee and VicRoads are currently engaged in discussions around procurement, innovation and risk performance feedback schemes. If you are interested in being involved in the discussions please contact Zeina Nehme. The Victorian Division looks forward to an ongoing collaborative relationship with VicRoads.

VIC RECENT EVENTS The Neuroscience of Influence: On Wednesday, 17 October, Mackerel Sky Director, Isabelle Phillips, joined us for an interactive session titled, The Neuroscience of Influence. One of Isabelle’s key tips was, “Don’t just get your staff’s hearts and minds on board; learn the best ways to get their brains on board”. Isabelle provided attendees with five neuroscience insights which will help them work smarter with staff, boards and external stakeholders. Thank you to URS for hosting!

VIC UPCOMING EVENTS Look out for our upcoming Future of Infrastructure event planned for early 2013!

VIC DIVISION STRATEGIC PARTNER:

VIC DIVISION PLATINUM SPONSOR:

VIC DIVISION GOLD SPONSOR:

Consulting Matters

TAS POLICY UPDATE Consultants from member firms within Tasmania have raised concerns regarding Southern Water contracts.

We have sent a letter outlining our concerns and will be addressing these issues via correspondence between Consult Australia’s Senior Legal Policy Advisor, Robin Shuck, Victoria & Tasmania State Manager, Zeina Nehme and three representatives from our member firms: SKM; Pitt & Sherry; and GHD.

TAS RECENT EVENTS Are you managing the risk in your practice? On Friday, 21 September, the TAS Division held a risk and professional indemnity insurance health check for its members. Presenter, Darren Pavic from Bovill Risk and Insurance Consultants discussed the unique way that professional indemnity policies operate and explained the implications for professionals. He also provided some strategies to minimise your expenditure on professional indemnity insurance and at the same time reduce risk.

Members had the opportunity to ask questions on changes in the professional indemnity insurance market and common gaps in insurance cover. Thank you to Pitt & Sherry for hosting this event.

TAS UPCOMING EVENTS The Tasmanian Division encourages members to put forward suggestions around which ministers they would

Latest FIDIC documents now on sale!

This includes Consultant Agreements, Construction Contract, Contract Guides, Cost Estimates, Electrical & Mechanical Works, Turnkey Contracts, Professional Liability and Claims and many more.

Visit our website to order online www.consultaustralia.com.au

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like to meet with and also any local issues or initiatives that Consult Australia can be more actively involved in.

Please forward your suggestions to vic@consultaustralia. com.au.

TAS OTHER NEWS Are you interested in joining the Consult Australia Tasmanian Division committee? Send your expression of interest to zeina@consultaustralia.com.au. We would love to have you on board! A big thank you to BST Global and Autodesk for sponsoring the Tasmanian Division, without your support we wouldn’t be able to be the success that we are!

Zeina Nehme State Manager – VIC & TAS Phone: (03) 8699 7700 Adrress: Level 6, 1 Southbank Boulevarde Soutbank VIC 3006 Email: zeina@consultaustralia.com.au

TAS DIVISION STRATEGIC PARTNER:

TAS DIVISION GOLD SPONSOR:

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Consulting Matters What’s happening at Consult Australia

SA POLICY UPDATE

Jan Irvine State Manager – SA & NT Phone: (08) 8216 1177 Adrress: Level 3, 70 Light Square Adelaide SA 5000 Email: jan@consultaustralia.com.au

Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) legislation: With the conclusion of lengthy negotiations to gain support in South Australia for the nationally harmonised WHS legislation, secure passage of the Bill has now been gained. It is intended the Bill will be debated in an upcoming sitting week of Parliament. To ensure members are compliant with the new legislation, Consult Australia has developed the country’s first Safety in Design Toolkit for built environment consultants, launched in Sydney on 25 October.

Recent meetings: In line with the Division’s strategic plan to create and strengthen valuable relationships with key industry stakeholders and explore opportunities to work with other industry associations, meetings have been held recently between Consult Australia SA Division and:

SA DIVISION STRATEGIC PARTNER:

SA DIVISION GOLD SPONSORS:

• Department of Planning, Transport and infrastructure - Planning Division; • Department of Planning, Transport and infrastructure – Building Management; • Civil Contractors Federation – SA; and • The Defence Teaming Centre.

SA DIVISION SILVER SPONSORS:

SA RECENT EVENTS October industry breakfast: The Risk Factor – Are You Really Minimising Risk Within Your Business? discussed the long standing issue for consultants of risk allocation in contracts. Keynote speaker Lynch Meyer Lawyers Partner, Cathy Mayfield delivered a well received presentation which focused on: contracts, contract terms, and risk management; meaning and intent behind various clauses/amendments relating to risk, with a particular focus on indemnities, liability caps and insurances; whether clients who make changes to standard terms are actually minimising their risk at all; and the implications for consultants who agree to changed terms and conditions.

Consult Australia Director of Policy, Jonathan Cartledge facilitated a panel discussion with attendees and panellists: DPTI Manager of Contracting Services, Richard Edwards; Planned Professional Risk Services National Business Manager, Cos Cirocco; and BRS Consultant, Michelle Thompson.

SA UPCOMING EVENTS Further information and dates for upcoming industry breakfasts, boardroom lunches and the Best Business Practice Seminar Series for 2013 will be released early in 2013.

SA OTHER NEWS Once again, we thank URS for their continued support and generosity in providing an office for Consult Australia in South Australia.

SA DIVISION BRONZE SPONSOR:

What’s happening at Consult Australia Consulting Matters

NT POLICY UPDATE Introductions to the new NT Government: With the recent NT Government elections, a new government now in office and cabinet portfolios announced, the NT Division has contacted relevant Ministers with letters of introduction and congratulations. The NT Committee, who recently welcomed some new faces around the table, met on Wednesday, 24 October to discuss and set out a strategic path for engagement for the coming year. Members will be informed as meetings with ministers and other key stakeholders are confirmed.

Consult Australia and Department of Infrastructure working group: The joint Consult Australia and Department of Infrastructure working group met in October to address ongoing matters of mutual interest. There are a significant number of issues that need to be addressed including; engineering and design including disciplines such as civil, structural, hydraulics, geotechnical and environmental; Austroad’s supplement specific to the Northern Territory; and linkages between the Government and consultants in matters of education, skills capability, etc. It is believed interactions through this forum can only benefit and strengthen business relationships for both our member firms and the Department. Outcomes and initiatives garnered from the working group will be updated to members via the NT Newsletter and future editions of Consulting Matters.

2012 Economic

Forecast for consultants in the built and natural environment

NT UPCOMING EVENT Members will be advised of upcoming events via email as they are confirmed. If you are not on the NT email list and would like to be please email NT State Manager, Jan Irvine to ensure you do not miss out on information and the chance to be at the table for informative industry discussions and opportunities. An engaged industry body has a stronger voice and we encourage you to become involved with Consult Australia.

NT DIVISION STRATEGIC PARTNER:

NT DIVISION GOLD SPONSOR:

Get the latest Economic Forecast for the built and natural environment Consult Australia’s 2012 Economic Forecast (previously called Outlook) provides a detailed profile of the industry and an analysis of the market for consulting firms operating in the built and natural environment. The report is now available to purchase at a special members-only rate under the bookshop tab on the Consult Australia website.

Written by former BHP Chief Economist, Geoffrey Bills, Forecast is considered one of the most valuable economic predictors and is used by many of Australia’s largest firms.

To purchase the report visit the Bookshop section of the Consult Australia website or call (02) 9922 4711.

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Consulting Matters What’s happening at Consult Australia

ACT FUTURENET

NSW FUTURENET

29 November, Going for Gold: An Olympian’s guide to getting ahead and achieving your goals: This event provided some inspirational and motivational advice by some of Australia’s 2012 Olympic heroes. Attendees heard stories of achievement from Lauren Boden, a track and field star who at 16, became the youngest woman to win the national 400m hurdles title. Lauren is ranked third on the Australian all-time list in the event behind Olympic gold medallist Debbie Flintoff-King and dual World Champion Jana Pittman.

Events 2013: The FutureNet Sydney and Newcastle committees are busy finalising their calendars for 2013. For more information on the events to be held over the next year please visit the Consult Australia or FutureNet website.

Or contact the NSW Division of Consult Australia at nsw@consultaustralia.com.au.

RECENT EVENTS

Also speaking about their rise to the top of their sporting field was Kim Crow, who was originally a track and field athlete before injury prevented her from continuing. However Kim turned to rowing, and in 2007 won gold and bronze medals at the World Cups. Kim became one of the stars of the Australian rowing team at the London 2012 Games and took home silver and a bronze medal.

Both speakers showed how their struggles to become the top of their chosen fields can apply to any industry, in any position.

Events 2013: The FutureNet ACT committee is finalising a list of potential events for 2013. For more information on the events that will be held over the next year, please visit the Consult Australia or FutureNet websites or contact the NSW / ACT Division of Consult Australia at nsw@consultaustralia.com.au

ACT FUTURENET GOLD SPONSOR:

NEWS

NSW FUTURENET BUSINESS LEADERS COURSE Applications are now open for the 2013 course. For more information, or to apply please contact the NSW Division via email on nsw@consultaustralia.com.au.

NSW FUTURENET (SYDNEY) SPONSORS:

ACT FUTURENET SILVER SPONSORS:

NSW FUTURENET (NEWCASTLE) SPONSORS:

What’s happening at Consult Australia Consulting Matters

SA FUTURENET NEWS

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With our DJ on hand, guests were invited to ‘rip it up’ on the green and enjoy some tunes, brews and canapés. A great way to finish off another successful year!

Forward planning: SA FutureNet Chair, Jo O’Brien from Tonkin Consulting rallied the committee together in early October for a brainstorming session to explore and develop new initiatives for the continuing growth of the group. Plans are now underway for a variety of new events in 2013 from speed networking to debating. The team unanimously agreed to again hold the exclusive Fringe Club Night, and we have secured Friday, 8 March for this popular event, so mark this one in your diary and feel free to let your business colleagues and contacts know!

Sponsor package: the 2013 FutureNet sponsor package has been released. If you want to grow your brand by sponsoring this diverse, vibrant group, please contact Consult Australia South Australia & Northern Territory State Manager, Jan Irvine.

SA FUTURENET UPCOMING EVENTS Adelaide Fringe Club Night Friday, 8 March 2013: Located in the prime parkland position of Rymill Park, the exclusive Fringe Club incorporates bars, stages, DJ’s, marquees and a massive outdoor beer garden. FutureNet SA have secured a Friday night for one of their first 2013 events. Further details will be released and registrations sent out in mid December.

SA FUTURENET PLATINUM SPONSORS:

SA FUTURENET RECENT EVENTS November cocktail event – Stakeholder Engagement in Action: Today, there is an increasing expectation that stakeholders will be given the opportunity to influence decisions that affect them and their communities. Engaging with your stakeholders is an integral part of project management, just as much as the technical, financial and environmental components.

SA Water’s Stakeholder Engagement Team presented at the event. The team is responsible for ensuring stakeholder interests are accounted for in the planning and decision making processes for infrastructure projects. They attested to early engagement contributing to successful projects with better outcomes. With limited seats available to ensure the stakeholder engagement in action provided maximum impact, the team guided attendees through an interactive hypothetical.

The session concluded with a networking hour.

2012 Christmas event: The final event for the year was held on Friday, 30 November at the Adelaide Bowling Club - an invitation to all to celebrate the holiday season and the return of the sunshine and go bowlistic!!! Jingle Bowls was a night of roundrobin lawn bowls and networking with fellow professionals.

SA FUTURENET SILVER SPONSORS:

SA FUTURENET BRONZE SPONSOR:

9 month ExEcutivE LEadErship program Motivate and inspire your team to achieve their best Consult Australia’s National Executive Leadership Program will take successful candidates through the three types of leadership and equip them with the foundations and skills required to be the best leaders, delivering measurable performance improvement and enduring, positive change, creating workplaces that produce results and attract and retain the best people.

Limited places for the 2013 course are now available For more course information and dates contact Julia Lemercier on (02) 9922 4711 or julia@consultaustralia.com.au

$1,000 discount for Consult Australia members

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Consulting Matters What’s happening at Consult Australia

VIC FUTURENET RECENT EVENTS On Property VS Shares – Where should you invest your money?: In line with FutureNet Victoria diversifying its range of events, we held a Property VS Shares event on Wednesday 10 October. Our two speakers, Bank of Melbourne Chief Economist, Hans Kunnen and CBRE National Director Valuation and Advisory Services, Peter Fay, introduced two perspectives to our audience, whether young investors should focus their money towards Property or Shares. With 100 attendees, it was another sell out!

Thank you to Bank of Melbourne for their ongoing support.

The FutureNet committee concluded the year with a BANG! We had our final end of year function at Platform28 with a fabulous line up of Olympians. Attendees listened carefully as the champions informed us on their journey to success and then danced all night to the great band! We would like to thank all the member firms for their continued support for FutureNet.

VIC FUTURENET UPCOMING EVENTS We have a diverse range of events for 2013. Look out for our panel evening scheduled for February, followed by our infamous Trivia Night!

VIC FUTURENET NEWS VIC FutureNet would like to thank Luke van Grieken who has completed his two year tenure as the FutureNet Chair. He has added great value to FutureNet and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

VIC FUTURENET BUSINESS LEADERS COURSE For the second year running, the FutureNet Business Leaders Course has been a success! Participants presented us with impressive projects that ensured the judges had the hardest job of all – choosing who will be the winner for 2012! Our final dinner at the Sofitel was a stand out, with various government bodies joining us. We can now definitely call our participants Business Leaders! Thank you to Department of Planning & Community Development Executive Director, David Hodge for his support.

Also a thank you to the FutureNet Business Leaders Chairman, Cameron McIntosh for his assistance. Expressions of interest are now open for 2013; get in quick, as places are limited!

VIC FUTURENET SPONSORS:

Photos from Property VS Shares event

What’s happening at Consult Australia Consulting Matters

WA FUTURENET RECENT EVENTS

FutureNet’s Inaugral Quiz Night: In October, FutureNet WA held its inaugural quiz night at Fraser’s Restaurant. With the stunning backdrop of Perth City Skyline at the King’s Park venue, the night formed the general knowledge battleground for Perth’s built environment industry young professionals. The night saw the crowning of Squire Sanders as the smartest kids on the block, taking first prize just one narrow point ahead of BG&E. Some highlights were the side challenges including the first air guitar competition in the history of FutureNet and Arup taking out the iconic buildings table quiz challenge (possibly helped along by the fact that several buildings were designed by their various global offices!).

End of Year Lunch: The Art of Tall Buildings with Marshall Strabala: On Thursday, 29 November Futurenet WA guests were treated to a presentation by multi-award winning architect, Marshall Strabala, the man behind three of the worlds’ ten tallest buildings including Burj Khalifa and the Shanghai Tower. With qualifications from UCLA and Harvard and a resumé boasting projects in excess of $3.0 billion USD and multiple architectural awards from around the world, Marshall is one of the world’s most renowned architects. He described the process of super-tall buildings as, “A marathon, not a sprint,” and provided insights into the processes behind the completion of these mega projects, as well as ideas and techniques gained throughout his career.

WA FUTURENET GOLD SPONSORS:

WA FUTURENET SILVER SPONSORS:

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Consulting Matters What’s happening at Consult Australia

QLD FUTURENET NEWS Committee news: As this edition goes to print Brent Lillywhite (Corrs Chambers Westgarth), who has been the QLD FutureNet Chair for the last two years, is stepping down to allow Brad Sandford (Aurecon) to take on the role.

We would like to thank Brent for the fantastic job he has done during his time in the Chair; seeing FutureNet QLD go from strength to strength. 2012 saw the introduction of the new QLD breakfast event into the FutureNet calendar, bringing the total events to five per year. Average attendance at QLD’s FutureNet events has increased from an average of 168 in 2011 to 203 in 2012. The total number of firms who have attended our events in 2012 is 95, up from 79 in 2011. With this strong path set by Brent and the FutureNet committee, we are looking forward to 2013 and encourage all firms to get involved.

QLD FUTURENET RECENT EVENTS Panel Q&A: The final event of 2012 attracted 190 enthusiastic young professionals to learn from a panel of five experienced industry professionals. This event was the final in our Expanding Professionalism series. The panellists included: Architect, Paul Fairweather; Economist, Matthew Miller; Gas Consultant, Barbara Jinks, Chemical Engineer and Consult Australia Board member, Verena Preston and Lawyer, Michael Leong. Whilst the questions from the floor addressed a wide range of issues, the underlying message was for young professionals to remain passionate and to be pro-active in their career choices.

QLD FUTURENET BUSINESS LEADERS COURSE Expressions of interest for 2013: This year’s course drew to a successful close on 22 November with the project teams presenting their affordable energy strategy for Queensland to a panel of judges and we are now accepting expressions of interest for next year’s course. The first FutureNet Business

Leaders Alumni event will also be held in early 2013, bringing together previous course participants to share their experiences since completing the program.

QLD FUTURENET GOLD SPONSORS:

QLD FUTURENET SILVER SPONSORS:

Consulting Matters

2012 Awards for Excellence National Strategic Sponsor

Diamond Sponsors:

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE The Consult Australia Awards for Excellence has long enjoyed a reputation as one of our industry’s most prestigious awards programs. In 2012, I’m delighted to see the Awards evolve to better reflect the role and mandate of Consult Australia by recognising and celebrating business excellence.

This year’s categories give our member firms the opportunity to showcase some of the fantastic internal initiatives that make an enormous difference when it comes to issues such as workforce diversity, sustainability, innovation in technology and the development of people. These are the projects that often dictate a company’s overall success and it’s important that we celebrate and learn from them.

As at November 2012, the Consult Australia has roughly 270 member firms, some of which are amongst the largest and most successful organisations in Australia. Across the spectrum of our members we see excellence in technical delivery on a daily basis and we’ve begun showcasing some

of these case studies throughout the year in Consulting Matters. The Awards now give us a chance to dig a little deeper by presenting a series of categories that give members of all sizes, from owner operators through to large, multi-national operations, a new opportunity to shine.

Testament to the fantastic work that the Awards recognises is the feedback from this year’s judges, who commented on the high quality of entries and the innovative initiatives that were detailed within them. I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate all entrants for contributing to this high standard and raising the bar for the built environment consulting industry within Australia.

I very much look forward to celebrating with you all at the black-tie, gala event in Brisbane on 7 December and look forward to personally congratulating this year’s winners.

Jamie Shelton Consult Australia President

CEOs MESSAGE The new categories and special awards that now form the Consult Australia Awards for Excellence celebrate business excellence. They recognise firms that are using innovative thinking and practices to forge a strong path into the future and develop and maintain sustainable, best practice businesses.

We have retained some of the categories from the old Awards format and added plenty of new ones. All of them are designed to give all our members, no matter how small or large, the chance to showcase the fantastic projects they work on client-side on a daily basis but also to shine a spotlight on the internal processes and initiatives that go into making their businesses a success and ensuring that the process of delivering these impressive pieces of work run smoothly and efficiently.

This year, for the first time, we have introduced Small, Medium and Large Firm of the Year Awards to recognise the organisations that our judges deemed to be most exemplary based on the entries received. They don’t necessarily need to have won a category award, they are the firms that impressed the judges the most overall.

For more information on the new Awards categories, this year’s judges and the judging process, please continue reading through this feature.

In keeping with the innovative spirit of the Awards, we have evolved the old Innovate magazine. This year, for the first time, we are incorporating it as feature in this very special annual edition of Consulting Matters. I hope you enjoy it and the rest of the publication.

Megan Motto Consult Australia Chief Executive Officer

INTRODUCTION The Consult Australia Awards for Excellence is an annual event that provides a unique opportunity to profile and promote the outstanding achievements of Consult Australia’s member firms to the industry and community.

Since their inception, the Awards have celebrated excellence in the delivery of individual projects. In 2012, the Awards have been revamped to focus on celebrating and rewarding business excellence.

Firms were still be able to enter the same outstanding projects but did so under new categories and new criteria (please note that several of the traditional Special Awards have been retained as Category Awards).

project and service delivery and this mandate remains at the heart of the Awards program.

All Consult Australia member firms are eligible to enter any of the Awards categories. Firm of the Year Awards were selected according to staff size i.e. firms with less than 20 staff were eligible for Small Firm of the Year, firms with 20 - 299 staff were eligible for Medium Firm of the Year and firms with 300 or more staff were eligible for Large Firm of the Year.

Consult Australia encouraged each of its member firms to submit at least one entry to ensure they have the opportunity to be recognised for their outstanding work.

Winners of the 2012 Consult Australia Awards for Excellence were announced at a gala black-tie dinner at Hilton Hotel Brisbane The Awards have always demonstrated the on Friday, 7 December 2012. business acumen and technical excellence of our member firms’ professional staff in

JUDGING A panel of independent judges ensures the highest possible standards of fairness and impartiality. All judges are required to ensure the confidential nature of all submissions is maintained.

The judging criteria applied to select the Award winners principally revolves around consulting excellence. This is reflected through the originality, innovation, quality, results and impact of each submission.

Community, environmental and social aspects are also considered.

Judging takes place in two parts:

Consult Australia would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank each of the judges on the 2012 panel for generously donating their time and expertise to support the Awards for Excellence program.

1) J udges receive all submissions and review over a minimum period of two months.

2) A judging day is held during which judges discuss their short-lists for each category and special award, deliberate, discuss and debate before reaching a majority agreement on the final winners.

2012 JUDGES • Deloitte Private Managing Partner, David Murray

& Marketing), Professor Danny Samson

• Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure Chief Executive, Rod Hook

• Australian Institute of Architects President, Shelley Penn

• Management expert (University of Melbourne, Department of Management

• Award winning HR specialist, Avril Henry

2012 Awards for Excellence liftout Award Categories Sponsors Special Awards President’s Award Small Firm of the Year Medium Firm of the Year Large Firm of the Year Collaboration Diversity Development of People Sustainability in Design Technical Innovation Export Client Focus Future Leader Highly Commended Awards

AWARD CATEGORIES

Collaboration

Export

Recognises exemplary collaboration initiatives between firms (i.e. alliances), or between a member firm and its project partners (including, but not limited to: the project manager; architect; client; contractors etc.), in the outstanding delivery of a project.

Recognises member firms that have made an outstanding contribution to Australia’s export industry through exceeding financial, sustainability or other expectations on an overseas project or a domestic project that facilitates the export of Australian goods e.g. mining infrastructure.

Diversity

Client Focus

Recognises member firms that have implemented and delivered outstanding initiatives and/or practices to ensure a more diverse workforce. These initiatives may relate to gender equity and diversity, indigenous employment, disability employment, cross-cultural management or age diversity.

Recognises member firms who have delivered exemplary customer service (going above and beyond what the judges consider to be a high level of service) throughout the course of a project.

Entrepreneurship Recognises a member firm or individual within a member firm who has successfully launched a profitable new initiative/ venture. Entrants must be able to demonstrate that the initiative/venture has had a significant impact on the firm’s business operations or a project.

Development of People Recognises member firms that have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to sustainable business practices through staff development. Initiatives in this category may include, but are not limited to: succession planning; education & training programs; talent development etc.

Safety in Design Recognises firms who demonstrate an outstanding, ongoing commitment to safety in design. Entrants must be able to demonstrate a business as usual approach to safety in design across their workforce, with clear, well-established procedures and reporting systems in place.

Note: No entries were received for this category in 2012

Sustainability in Design Recognises the achievement of sustainable outcomes on an internal or external project through innovative design and/or the innovative application of sustainable materials and principles.

Future Leader Acknowledges professional staff of member firms aged 35 years and under who have made a significant contribution to their firm and added value in a demonstrable way.

Client of the Year

Technological Innovation Recognises member firms that have demonstrated outstanding leadership in the innovative application of new or existing technology on a project.

This Award gives Consult Australia member firms the opportunity to recognise their most outstanding clients.

Clients are judged based on appropriate procurement and delivery methodology, well designed and structured briefs/ documentation, appropriate risk assessment, management and allocation, communication and relationship management.

Note: No entries were received for this category in 2012

SPECIAL AWARDS President’s Award This award is made by the President in recognition of the individual or firm who has contributed most to Consult Australia and/or the industry over the course of the preceding year.

Firm of the Year Awards Winners of the Firm of the Year Special Awards are selected from the best Category Awards entries.

Small Firm of the Year Sole practitioners or firms with less than 20 employees, with a nomination in any of the award categories are eligible for consideration.

Medium Firm of the Year Firms with 20 – 299 employees, with a nomination in any of the award categories are eligible for consideration.

Large Firm of the Year Firms with 300+ employees, with a nomination in any of the award categories are eligible for consideration.

TYPES OF AWARDS Gold Award of Merit: Awarded to projects or initiatives considered by the judges to be of excellence on the criteria nominated.

Certificate of Recognition: Awarded to projects considered by the judges to be finalists for consideration for a Gold Award of Merit but not in receipt of these awards.

SPONSORS

Strategic National Sponsor

BST Global is the leading global provider of business management software and mobile solutions for engineering, environmental consulting and design firms. Over 100,000 end users across six continents and 50 countries worldwide – including Aurecon, Bates Smart, B.G.&.E, BECA, Buchan Group, Cardno, Fender Katsalides Floth, Group GSA, Golder Associates, Meinhardt O.S.D Pipelines, Perenia Carbon, Thomson Adsett Architects, Wave International and Woods Bagot — rely on BST Global’s innovative software solutions to better manage their projects, resources, finances and client relationships.

Autodesk is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the engineering, natural resources, architecture, building, construction, and infrastructure industries use Autodesk software to design, visualise and simulate their ideas. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software for global markets.

Deloitte Private is part of one of Australia’s leading professional services firms providing audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services to Private clients, Partnerships, privately owned businesses and not-for-profits. We are a national team focused on the creation of value and growth, and known as an employer of choice for innovative human resources programs, we are dedicated to helping our clients and our people excel.

ACO Infrastructure is the industry’s leading brand for linear drainage systems for transportation infrastructure projects, namely roads and motorways; rail, container ports, airport tarmacs and other heavy duty applications. The product range includes drains that are monolithic in construction or available with either a continuous slot or with conventional removable grates.

Standards Australia is Australia’s peak, non-government standards body and is an independent, not-for-profit organisation. Standards Australia develops internationally aligned standards in the national interest through a rigorous and impartial standards development process, and is committed to promoting Australia’s international competitiveness, economic efficiency and facilitating trade and investment.

Profiling Online builds unique leadership talent assessment and management solutions for clients worldwide. Our solutions help to identify, develop and manage employees using a powerful and flexible web based solution tailored to the exact needs of your business. Custom solutions designed for your industry is available.

FutureNet is a proud initiative of Consult Australia. It’s a professional networking program for young professionals associated with the built and natural environment. FutureNet helps them to develop the business skills and professional contacts that will equip them to become the leaders of tomorrow.

CONGRATULATIONS TO EACH OF OUR 2012 SPECIAL AWARD WINNERS PRESIDENT’S AWARD DENNIS SHEEHAN Outside of his Consult Australia roles, Dennis has contributed to improving the business environment for consultancy firms internationally through his involvement with FIDIC to bring like-minded associations together, as well as build community amongst smaller and regional member firms at both State and Federal level.

Since his first involvement with the then Association of Consulting Engineers of Australia (ACEA) in the 1980’s, Dennis Sheehan has continued to play an integral role in developing and implementing many of Consult Australia’s strategic goals. He has also taken on a leadership role in the international community and significantly improved the framework for capacity building and collaboration in the Asia Pacific Region through the FIDIC network.

Dennis joined the Qld Division in the late 1980’s, and went on to become Chairman in 1998. In 2003 he was elected onto the National Board as the Qld Division Director, a role he continued to hold until the end of 2010. In late 2005 Dennis took on the role of National President for a term of two years.

Over his more than 20 years of continued involvement with Consult Australia at both State and National levels, Dennis has contributed to the ongoing development and growth of the organisation. Particularly interested in building collaboration and collegiality, Dennis spearheaded initiatives

Dennis’s time as President was characterised by a period of strong growth in the built environment consulting sector and an even stronger period of growth for Consult Australia (still the ACEA at the time). The Association saw continued growth in membership services, including the development and distribution both nationally and internationally of the DVD, ‘Design Your World’ and the implementation of the Consult Australia PI Pathway. Our membership grew to give the then ACEA broader and more consistent coverage of the industry, alongside a continuation of strong policy work and building on the reputation and influence of the ACEA to create better opportunities for our industry.

Outside of his Consult Australia roles, Dennis has contributed to improving the business environment for consultancy firms internationally through his involvement with FIDIC. He became a member of the FIDIC – Asia Pacific Group (ASPAC) executive committee in September 2007 and was then elected chair of ASPAC in 2009, a position he held until September of this year.

Dennis’s strong and collaborative style of leadership has made a significant

difference to the strength and ongoing operation of ASPAC. He has brought a significant level of governance and structure, including re-writing their terms of reference/constitution and greatly improving the quality of communication of regional activities so as to improve both networking and capacity building opportunities, particularly for newer associations in the region. He has also presented papers at a number of the FIDIC and ASPAC international conferences, and has distinguished himself as an international expert on disaster recovery management.

Following the last year of extreme weather events in Queensland, Dennis has now taken a role which sees him based in Mackay heading up an alliance working on reconstructing Queensland, where he is continuing to engage our members locally and raise awareness of the Consult Australia brand. He is a deserving winner of the 2012 Consult Australia President’s Award for his outstanding contributions locally, nationally and internationally to assist consulting professionals reach their business potential.

SMALL FIRM OF THE YEAR Holmes Fire specialises in the development of performance based design solutions to do with issues involving fire and safety.

They are committed to maximising value by achieving optimum operational flexibility while maintaining compliance with the various regulatory requirements. They have a reputation for innovation and have demonstrated this on many challenging projects.

• Fire engineered solutions:

Holmes Fire services are not necessarily confined to the mandatory life safety requirements of the building code. They consider issues of business continuance, property protection, environmental impact and operational efficiency, taking a holistic approach to fire safety issues.

There are several things that differentiate Holmes Fire from other fire safety engineers. They are not generalists, building surveyors or services engineers – they’re proud to be specialists in fire and safety issues and as such, appropriately and well qualified. They focus on this and do it really well.

The firm’s people are recognised specialists in their respective fields of engineering with a wealth of experience in a diverse range of projects. Their backgrounds include chemical, mechanical and structural engineering, brigade and emergency response organisations, environmental, dangerous goods and risk management.

This in-house expertise enables Holmes Fire to deal with most fire and safety situations. Their philosophy is to employ the best specialists for each task, organising them into an efficient project oriented team.

A strong philosophy underpins all Holmes Fire’s operations. They are committed to: • Understanding their clients’ aims and requirements from an early stage.

• Involving the client to establish objectives.

• Meeting commitments to do with service and quality and being accountable for those.

• Appropriate engineering – this requires technical excellence allied to research and development, and an innovative approach backed by experience and a proven track record.

• Teamwork – a coordinated team that will produce a successful job, fulfilling its role with others and understanding their needs.

• Having fun – too often the compliance process becomes mundane. Holmes Fire believes in having fun while delivering excellence.

Holmes Fire provides specialist services across a broad range of categories, including:

• Design review; • Risk assessment; • Hazardous and offensive sites; • Operational access / egress and emergency response; and • Bushfire risk assessment.

Holmes Fire is committed to explaining their services to ensure clients are never left in the dark. They have worked as part of many diverse teams and are familiar with different styles of project delivery. They know how to best deliver value and do not have rigid preconceptions or what is right or wrong.

The firm provides performance based solutions to deliver value that exceeds the prescriptive options allowed by the codes. They deal with all aspects of fire safety from conceptual design systems requirements through to emergency response and offer a comprehensive service, promising that things won’t ‘fall through the cracks’.

In short, Holmes Fire proudly describes itself as, ‘Smart, nice to deal with and true to their word.’ They enjoy delivering a premium service.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: The judges credited Holmes Fire with putting up a strong fight against large firms in a number of this year’s Awards categories. They applauded the firm’s strong approach to leadership management and excellence, commenting on how professionally it’s managed, especially given its niche market. The judges were also impressed by Holmes Fire’s focus on developing its staff’s management, as well as technical, capabilities and its innovative approach to projects and problem solving.

They consider it to be an extremely progressive organisation with a very dynamic culture and approach to business.

MEDIUM FIRM OF THE YEAR BG&E is proud of its high staff retention rate which it has maintained even through periods of skilled labour shortages. The firm offers satisfying personal and professional growth paths, combined with technically challenging and interesting work.

Originally formed in Perth, Western Australia in 1970, BG&E now employs more than 100 staff and has Australian offices in Perth, Sydney, Liverpool, Brisbane and Melbourne with Middle Eastern operations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

BG&E specialises in: building structures; facades; bridgeworks; civil engineering; and infrastructure. Since its inception, the firm has established an international reputation for technical and engineering excellence, combined with an innovative, yet cost effective and practical approach to projects.

The firm maintains a small number of strategic alliances with organisations that provide specific expertise which complement its own. It distinguishes itself and maintains its competitive position through the high quality of engineering advice and services. This is achieved through the skill and professional dedication of its staff and a corporate commitment to providing a high level of personalised client service and engineering excellence.

Maintaining the satisfaction and supporting clients is an extremely important facet of BG&E’s business. The number of long term client relationships the firm maintains is a testament to its success in this area.

BG&E is proud of its high staff retention rate which it has maintained even through periods of skilled labour shortages.

The firm offers satisfying personal and professional growth paths, combined with technically challenging and interesting work.

Clients and staff alike are impressed by BG&E’s approach to assembling projectspecific teams in a way that improves the integration of all aspects of the technical requirements across the various disciplines.

The combination of highly experienced, senior staff with junior team members enables an optimum blend of technical competence with fresh, new ideas, to produce a high quality product in a short timeframe.

BG&E is characterised by a flat structure which facilitates knowledge sharing, provides project teams that utilise the best available expertise and provides clients with open access to the highest level of skills and experience. They view their office culture as one of their key differentiators.

The firm works hard to ensure that all staff are made to feel like a valued part of the team. It deliberately seeks out personnel who are outgoing, personable, highly motivated and possess high quality interpersonal skills, with strong abilities to work in collaborative environments. BG&E employees are empowered to take initiative and responsibility for project outcomes within their area of influence

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: The judges were very impressed by the strong presence BG&E has developed in the Australian and overseas markets, particularly given its size. They applauded its sustained record of success across many major Middle Eastern projects.

Another key factor that captured the judges’ attention was the firm’s strong client focus and commitment to establishing and maintaining longterm working arrangements. They were impressed by the firm’s outstanding staff retention and ability to build project teams that make best use of individual staff members’ strengths and areas of specialty.

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LARGE FIRM OF THE YEAR GHD is an international network of engineers, architects and environmental scientists serving clients in the global markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation.

The firm was established in Australia 84 years ago and now has a significant footprint across the world (6,500 people), including 44 offices in urban and regional areas in Australia which collectively, employ more than 4,800 staff. Its workforce predominantly consists of engineering, architecture and environmental professionals.

The cornerstone of GHD’s business is its client-centred culture and teamwork based approach which is internally referred to as, ‘One GHD’. Its global and local operations are united by the firms’ core values of teamwork, respect and integrity. Continual improvement and refinement of GHD’s management systems to meet its internal needs and those of its clients, is an ongoing process.

Wholly owned by its people, GHD is dedicated to understanding and helping its clients achieve their goals. Its network of engineers, architects, planners, scientists, project managers and drafters all collaborate to improve the built, economic and social environment of the communities in which they operate.

Committed to sustainable development, safety and innovation, the firm cares for the wellbeing of its people, assists communities in need and conducts business in an ethical and environmentally responsible manner.

The firm defines sustainability as improving human well-being without compromising the local or global environment over the long term. This means integrating social, economic and environmental issues into its core business to achieve a socially and environmentally responsible operation.

GHD has implemented a framework to reduce the environmental footprint of its operations and projects. This aligns with the firm’s commitment to pursue opportunities, enhance its internal workplace, contribute to the community and help its clients realise their objectives.

GHD’s Quality Management System was first certified to ISO 9001 in February 1993.

Since that time it has evolved and improved as GHD has grown and expanded. What began as a state specific Quality Assurance System within Australia has grown into a

global Quality Management System which is supported in GHD operating centres and offices in South East Asia, the Middle East, North and South America and Europe.

ISO 9001:2008 was published in November 2008 and GHD’s Quality Management System was certified to this standard in February 2009. Lloyds Register Quality Assurance (LRQA), has been part of GHD’s journey since the beginning and provides independent auditing of GHD’s Quality Management System which captures all operating centres within the three year certification period.

The firm has also developed an electronic Job Management tool (JFlo) which incorporates job management, risk management, knowledge management and is also used to address the requirements of the quality management, environment management and health and safety management standards at job level. This tool, which is accessible to all GHD’s job managers no matter their country or location, is an essential element of GHD’s goal to accomplish more together.

For many years now, GHD has engaged in a broad range of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives under the umbrella of its GHD in the Community Program. These include financial contributions to not-for-profit community organisations, volunteering staff time, providing pro-bono services and responding to catastrophic events.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: The judges were all very interested to learn that over the past 84 years, GHD has remained an employee owned firm. They were also very impressed by the fact it has maintained a strong Australian origin whilst developing its overseas presence.

Another factor that stood out to the judges was the firm’s fantastic culture and unified, teamwork based approach. They were pleased to see that reviewing and refreshing its management approach is a constant focus for the firm. Probably the most significant factor for the judges was GHD’s exceptionally strong leadership role on workforce diversity, which they believe to be one of the single biggest issues currently facing the industry.

CONGRATULATIONS TO EACH OF OUR 2012 GOLD AWARD WINNERS COLLABORATION Norman Disney & Young

for the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Client: Lend Lease PROJECT OVERVIEW: The new $5.1 billion Royal Children’s Hospital reflects the very latest thinking in patient and family focused models of care.

The facility includes an extensive array of distractions for children and their families, including a two-storey fish tank and a heated meerkat enclosure.

The Hospital was delivered as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) under the State Government’s Partnerships Victoria Model.

The Children’s Health Partnership (CHP) consortium included: Babcock and Brown as financiers; Lend Lease as the design and construct builder, and the Spotless Group as facilities managers.

Norman Disney & Young were appointed as services consultants to provide the full range of building engineering services, including: mechanical; electrical; hydraulic;

fire protection; fire engineering; Information & Communications Technology (ICT); Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD); security; specialist lighting; and vertical transportation services.

Throughout the planning, design and construction phases of the new Royal Children’s Hospital, collaboration and consultation were integral components in delivering a successful project outcome.

The unifying factor, which served as a primary focus for all consultants, was the client’s vision, which was simply to, “Be a great children’s hospital.”

SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS: Prior to the financial close, the design team all moved into a project office which immediately ensured a high level of design collaboration could be maintained between

the various disciplines. It also encouraged regular discourse to resolve design issues progressively and effectively and allowed for face-to-face, rather than electronic, communication. An extremely positive working environment was developed which saw strong rapport between design teams and greater participation and engagement.

All written communications, transmittals and workflows related to the project were effectively managed using the Aconex online facility. A schedule of weekly meetings attended by various consultant team leaders was put in place to track progress, manage design coordination and resolve other design, compliance and quality issues. Technical discipline meetings were also established and led by a design manager and attended by all relevant designers and trade representatives.

Minutes were recorded with clearly defined actions and deadlines.

Technical reference groups, comprised of CHP team members and members of the state-side team, were effectively used to address broader issues and provide direction in the context of resolving design problems.

Deliverable deadlines for each portion of the work were discussed and agreed with the various discipline leaders and then subsequently managed by corporate team leaders who in turn, addressed resource issues and priorities.

Deliverable deadlines for each portion of the work were discussed and agreed with the various discipline leaders and then subsequently managed by corporate team leaders, who in turn, addressed resource issues and priorities.

There were a number of examples where change in the context of a collaborative and solution-based environment enhanced the functionality of the hospital and therefore yielded an improved outcome. Some of these issues were as follows: • The heat rejection plant was based on a specific brand of adiabatic cooler, which was identified as being unsuitable. After canvassing alternative solutions and associated predicted energy and water usage implications, a presentation was made to the State in a feasibility form, the issues were discussed at length and the solution was modified and adapted to suit.

• Approximately two thirds through the design phase the client opted to introduce and intra-operative MRI, which impacted on two of the operating theatres. Whilst clearly an added benefit to the array of services provided by the Hospital, this change occurred relatively late in the program, at a time when the theatres were already being fitted out.

Consequently, it was vital that the design of the variation be fast-tracked and

The judges were impressed with the overall collaboration that was demonstrated throughout the life of the project but what really stood out for them, was how effectively it was used to address some key problems towards its end.

resolved so the construction program would not be adversely effected.

• A decision to cater for an online patient record system was made fairly late into the project. The design team recognised that this represented a positive enhancement to the original brief and immediately addressed the needs of the area given the change of function.

In each of the above cases, the design team worked collaboratively to ensure a positive outcome that met the client’s vision and provided the best solution for the Hospital.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: The judges were impressed with the overall collaboration that was demonstrated throughout the life of the project but what really stood out for them, was how effectively it was used to address some key problems towards its end. They commented that the level of collaboration enabled the team to solve problems which may have otherwise derailed the project or delayed deadlines and increased costs. The end result they said, was a world-class facility.

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ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY TRADE INNOVATION BUSINESS STRATEGY

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS

DIVERSITY GHD for Commemorating Diversity –

Indigenous Services Action Plan & Women in GHD

• Indigenous Engineering Summer School; • Indigenous Student Numeracy and Literacy Improvement Program; and • Membership of the Australian Indigenous Minority Supplier Council (AIMSC).

Women in GHD undertakes a number of activities that make GHD more inclusive of the women of GHD. Some of the activities include: • Networking and mentoring programs and events that harness the intrinsic nature of the way women do business;

been successful in raising their profile and awareness of the issues they face at work.

It encourages women to achieve success and is led by the firm’s female leaders.

SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS:

PROJECT OVERVIEW: In October 2010, the then General Manager of GHD Australia and New Zealand requested that the firm investigate the establishment of an Indigenous Action Plan to be modeled off the Reconciliation Action Plan template promoted by Reconciliation Australia. The result was GHD’s Indigenous Services Action Plan 2011-15, which sets out to embed cultural change in the firm’s Australian operations.

Today, a network of 18 Indigenous Services Advocates have been identified who work with their local management to contribute to GHD reaching its Indigenous peoples employment target, celebrate key Indigenous events such as NAIDOC Week, and show respect of culture through invitations to community leaders or Indigenous art being placed in reception areas.

The Women in GHD initiative supports and encourages women in the firm and has

GHD has partnered with not-for-profit organisation, CareerTrackers to assist in identifying and placing Indigenous cadets.

The vast majority of GHD’s workforce is comprised of engineers and scientists, vocations which currently have very small Indigenous student numbers attending university. The Action Plan saw GHD vigorously target Indigenous cadets studying a range of relevant courses, including: community engagement; mechanical engineering; project management; water engineering; civil engineering; and architecture.

GHD also works closely with its clients in promoting Indigenous enterprise development and is presently assisting Aboriginal communities to assess the viability of Indigenous ‘on country’ enterprises, delivering natural resource management services. For GHD, its contribution to Indigenous economic development is a balance between the charitable or CSR initiatives and commercial activities.

Additional activities supported by GHD include: • Indigenous Engineering Scholarship Program;

• Celebrations of the achievements and successes of women through International Women’s Day and an annual Women in GHD lunch with topics such as: resiliency; flexible workplace practices; steel caps or stilettos; and personal brand and style; • Identifying male champions to act as influencers, sounding boards, and agents of change; • Client connections to support, share and nurture relationships with women who work with GHD. A key example of GHD’s leading approach in this area is the Women in GHD Boardroom Lunch where GHD invited the leaders of other ‘Women In’ groups to discuss best practice, experiences and current trends; and • A number of training programs that are specifically for women such as Xplore for Success Career Resiliency and Voice Coaching.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: The judges described both programs as ‘very action-oriented’ in nature. They were impressed that the firm had looked at its own workplaces and to the broader industry when developing these initiatives. The fact that the Women in GHD program, which has been running for approximately three years, is so well established also stood this entry in good stead. Overall, the judges felt both programs have a lot of depth and are progressing excellently.

DEVELOPMENT OF PEOPLE Parsons Brinckerhoff for their Career

Development Framework – Success Profiles and Career Pathways

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS:

Parsons Brinckerhoff has a multidisciplinary team of over 2,200 professional in Australia and New Zealand. Its employees come from widely varying backgrounds and are at various stages in their professional careers. They share the common goal of approaching business as a long-term relationship based on strong project delivery and a desire to understand and contribute to the success of their clients. A skilled and engaged workforce is essential to Parsons Brinckerhoff’s vision and business strategy.

Today, 97 per cent of Parsons Brinckerhoff employees are aligned to their own specific Success Profiles and Career Pathways in the firm’s online Your Career Profile system. These two programs are integral to succession planning, workforce planning, performance and recruitment practices that allow Parsons Brinckerhoff to successfully deliver on its people and corporate sustainability vision and strategy and fits in directly with the firm’s overall business strategy and targets.

To maintain its high standards and offer its clients the best solutions and teams for their projects, Parsons Brinckerhoff developed an enriched Career Development Framework (CDF). Central to this are two development programs titled: Success Profiles; and Career Pathways.

Parsons Brinckerhoff credits its CDF as a significant differentiator in attracting and retaining talent, and providing a structured and consistent approach to supporting the development, progression and career aspirations of its people. The firm believes this translates to an engaged workforce undertaking quality projects for satisfied clients.

Unlike other career development programs, Success Profiles is the cornerstone of the firm’s improved CDF. It considers the whole person and all aspects an employee needs to demonstrate to be successful in their specific role. Success Profiles defines the required standard of competencies, experiences, organisational knowledge and personal attributes required for each role.

Parsons Brinckerhoff’s values underpin the Success Profiles and competencies link to its preferred constructive style culture.

Career Pathways is the second key component and illustrates potential career progression routes between individual Success Profiles. Career Pathways help employees to identify progression in

their current discipline and the alternative careers available at Parsons Brinckerhoff.

It also helps employees to understand expectations of new roles.

Through the online Your Career Profile system employees can view their Success Profile and identify progression routes and alternative careers. By assessing themselves against current or future Success Profiles, employees and managers can identify strengths, gaps and future development activities.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: The judges were extremely impressed with this initiative, describing it as ‘world class’ and one of the most outstanding pieces of work they’ve seen in this space. They noted the integrated framework which covers 311 success profiles with 62 career pathways that clearly demonstrate to anyone in the organisation where they can go and what they can do next. The judges all agreed that the initiative was well planned and extremely well executed.

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SUSTAINABILITY IN DESIGN Arup for the Commonwealth

Bank Place at Darling Quarter Client: Lend Lease

Commonwealth Bank Place is one of the highest rated buildings by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) for large scale buildings and the first ever to achieve a 6 Star Green Star – Office As Built v3 rating.

PROJECT OVERVIEW: Commonwealth Bank Place is located in Sydney’s newest precinct, Darling Quarter and is comprised of two eight-storey Grade A commercial office buildings with 3,000m2 of ground floor retail spaces and a 1,000m2 children’s theatre in the north building. It’s the new flagship campus for Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and accommodates over 6,500 CBA employees. The total NLA of both buildings is approximately 56,000m2 with large and efficient contiguous floor plates. The four basement levels include 800 car parking spaces and 387 bike parking spaces.

Commonwealth Bank Place is one of the highest rated buildings by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) for large scale buildings and the first ever to achieve a 6 Star Green Star – Office As Built v3 rating. It has been certified

6 Star Green Star – Office Design v2 and is targeting a minimum of 5 Star v1.1 Green Star Office Interiors rating.

The objectives for the Commonwealth Bank Place at Darling Quarter Project were to: • Improve pedestrian connections between Darling Harbour Public Domain and the CBD; • Establish the primary CBD gateway into Darling Harbour South; • Provide a contemporary commercial office environment, drawing on and adding to the Darling Harbour experience; and • Relate commercial activities to the Harbour Street portion of the site, whilst preserving the retail and recreational character around the public domain.

Commonwealth Bank Place has been subject to continuous monitoring of its NABERS energy performance to verify ongoing carbon emissions associated with its operation.

An attractive live display to the Energy Monitoring System (EMS) shows data such as energy usage in the buildings, quantity of recycled water and trigeneration power output. This helps to create awareness amongst end users and encourage reduced consumption.

The architectural design of Commonwealth Place is now less inhibited by thermal and glare restrictions. It has achieved good daylight penetration and added internal aesthetic warmth which would not have been achieved with external timber shading.

The building is currently within the top 25 per cent of the market in terms of daylight quality.

Arup’s client, Lend Lease also set a 6 Star Green Star target for the development and a renewed focus on rental opportunities and future-proofing of the financial structure to adapt to tenant requirements and technologies. There was also an emphasis on ensuring long-term social activation.

trigeneration power supply; high performance building envelope; passive chilled beam cooling; and mixed mode spaces with natural lighting and ventilation.

SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS:

Through the application of 3D modeling and elegant design, the structural solution responds to and supports the architectural intent. The campus-style buildings incorporate many leading design features, including one of the first near clear glass on a western facing façade in Australia.

The sustainable design strategy harnesses the external environment in an intelligent way through the analysis and design of the external envelope and atrium void. A range of solutions have been applied to achieve world leading performance, including:

Sustainability is important to the whole life of the building with steps taken during construction to reduce material usage and increase recycled material, enabling approximately 80 per cent of on-site construction waste to be recycled.

Commonwealth Bank Place has been subject to continuous monitoring of its NABERS energy performance to verify ongoing carbon emissions associated with its operation. In the first five months of operation, the monitoring process identified a consistent trend for site wide base building total carbon (GHG) emissions at about 25 per cent reduction compared to the targeted 5 Star benchmark limit.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: The judges were extremely impressed to see this project had obtained the first ever 6 Star Green Star rating for an office building. They felt the project had achieved excellent sustainability outcomes overall, particularly given its scale i.e. the building caters to 6,500 employees. Of particular note was the fact that 80 per cent of on-site construction waste can be recycled, thanks to Arup’s clever design. The judges believe that the positive impact of this project won’t just be felt not just by building staff and tenants, but by the Darling Harbour community as a whole.

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TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION WorleyParsons for their Complete

Diverless Solution for Marine Monitoring Client: Port Headland Port Authority (PHPA)

PROJECT OVERVIEW: In 2010, Port Headland Port Authority (PHPA) engaged WorleyParsons to develop a solution that would remove divers from local waters following crocodile sightings where the West Australian Marine Environment team was diving for marine monitoring. WorleyParsons’ objective in developing this technology was to deliver a system for marine monitoring with a clear intent of zero harm to the environment and people.

The challenge lay in balancing the requirements for accurate marine ecological environment monitoring with the necessity of protecting the health and safety of field personnel.

HSE controls can only mitigate a portion of risks to divers in the marine environment.

These risks span from attacks from marine creatures, such as crocodiles and sharks, through to nitrogen narcosis and incidents caused by competing marine construction activity.

WorleyParsons’ Diverless Solutions addresses these risks by: • Eliminating the need to deploy divers (eliminating 1,500 dive hours thus far); • Dramatically reducing on-water exposure by minimising non-essential filed activities (eliminating 2,800 field hours thus far); and • Monitoring impact to the marine environment in real time and providing proactive mitigation measures before impacts occur.

WorleyParsons is the sole operator of this technology, and has a diverless solution for every aspect of marine monitoring, including: • Real-time coral and seagrass health surveys and monitoring; • Sedimentation monitoring in mangroves, seagrass and corals; • Marine pest inspections; • Marine fauna observation; and • Telemetry for water quality.

SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS: PHPA engaged WorleyParsons to undertake the environmental impact assessment and conformance monitoring of this project, with the challenge of developing a method to measure sedimentation using acute and chronic stressors in real time. 13 monitoring sites were developed, the most for any dredging project in Western Australia.

Sedimentation scanners were deployed at each of these locations to feed back data four times a day, regardless of tidal height or metocean conditions.

This data is monitored and analysed by WorleyParsons’ environmental reporting control centre, which continuously compares dredging related impacts for both water quality and sedimentation. The process allows for an immediate response time, enabling mitigation measures to be implemented and the impacting process stopped or relocated.

Use of the sedimentation scanner within the overall WorleyParsons diverless solutions dramatically reduces health, safety and environmental risks. These new solutions allow marine monitoring to change from being a lagging indicator to a practical, real-time tool to optimise dredging and other marine works stopping adverse environmental impacts within hours of commencement.

The PHPA dredging project is now in its third year (of dredging) and data capture has been exceptional with impact sites showing daily sedimentation fluctuations within five per cent of the mean. They have also provided the first insights into pneumatophores bed stress on sediment load and mangrove physiological responses to this stress.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: The judges felt the technical expertise and innovation that went into making this project a success were exceptionally strong and were impressed that the result was a world-first piece of technology. They felt that patented sedimentation scanners, which eliminate the need for divers, was a clever and extremely successful approach which demonstrates smart use of technology. They also noted the reduction of on-water exposure as a result of the innovation and felt the real-time monitoring has made a significant impact by changing the solution from being lagging to being proactive whilst improving human safety outcomes.

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EXPORT CoalConnect project alliance (QR National, Leighton

Contractors, GHD and Kellogg Brown & Root) for the Civil works for the Northern Missing Link component of the Goonyella to Abbot Point (GAP) Expansion Project

PROJECT OVERVIEW: Australia is the world’s largest exporter of seaborne black coal. Much of this (58 per cent) is produced in Queensland, where coal is the state’s single largest export. In 2009, export demand for Queensland coal was forecast to increase by 140 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) (90 per cent) over 10 years. The timely development of supporting infrastructure is an important determinant in the ability of Queensland coal producers to respond to this growth.

QR National recognised the growing need for coal rail infrastructure and in consultation with stakeholders, planned expansions to their networks. The Goonyella to Abbot Point (GAP) Expansion Project, focused on developing the coal rail transport capacity of the coal-rich Bowen Basin in central Queensland.

QR National recognised the growing need for coal rail infrastructure and in consultation with stakeholders, planned expansions to their networks.

QR National employed the services of the CoalConnect project alliance to carry out civil works for the most significant part of the GAP Expansion Project, the Northern Missing Link (NML). It’s 69km of new rail line through a Greenfield site that links two of Queensland’s major coal systems, the Newlands and Goonyella systems. It includes 11 rail bridges; two road-over-rail bridges; 63 drainage culverts and 11 occupational crossings. Completion of the NML in December 2011 provided coal customers in the Goonyella System with

the flexibility of directing loaded coal trains north to the Port of Abbot Point or west to the Port of Hay Point, south of Mackay.

Valued at $1.1 billion, at the time of its conception, the GAP Expansion Project was the largest investment ever made in rail infrastructure in Australia. It was designed to match recent expansions of Australia’s northernmost coal port, Abbot Point. By mid-2012, the project doubled coal transport capacity to the Port.

The NML can be further expanded in the future to match coal customer demands and opens the way for further coal mine development and associated economic growth in regional Queensland.

SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS: CoalConnect’s civil works for the NML included its design, engineering and construction, along with specialist services in: • Environmental approvals and management; • Community and stakeholder engagement; and • Fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workforce management, including accommodation and transport coordination and physical and emotional wellbeing considerations.

CoalConnect’s accomplishments significantly contributed to QR National’s ability to officially open the NML ahead of schedule. Operation was planned for January 2012 but on 19 December 2011, a loaded coal train travelled along the line to the Port of Abbot Point for the first time.

The project alliance’s works on the NML supported the export of Australian goods by:

• Enhancing the efficiency of the Queensland coal supply train; • Providing a foundation for further expansions and projects; and • Reallocating resources to enable flood recovery works.

The project also provided the opportunity to promote Australian consulting by showcasing the capabilities of the alliance partners and, by linking the Goonyella and Newlands systems, has increased coal transport capacity to the Port of Abbot Point from 17 to 50 mtpa.

While there were several coal transport options investigated throughout central Queensland, the NML was the only project to immediately respond to the short-medium term capacity needs of coal customers.

The NML can be further expanded in the future to match coal customer demands and opens the way for further coal mine development and associated economic growth in regional Queensland. It provides a design, construction and project management knowledge base that will benefit the coal mining industry across Australia and internationally.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: This project clearly played a pivotal role in supporting the export of Australian product overseas. The judges applauded CoalConnect pulling together multiple parties to work together on an extremely complex project, saying the approach to the alliance was extremely impressive.

They were impressed by the extraordinary focus on safety that was demonstrated throughout the life of the project and the strong focus on community involvement.

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CLIENT FOCUS BG&E for the Fiona Stanley Hospital Project

PROJECT OVERVIEW: The Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) project represents the biggest public infrastructure project currently under construction in Western Australia. The hospital is a major tertiary referral centre in the south metropolitan area and will offer comprehensive health care services to communities south of Perth and across the state.

The hospital consists of eight new buildings, with a combined floor area of more than 200,000m2 and significant associated infrastructure. A range of clinical and non-clinical support services are provided across the project with several unique functional and technical performance requirements.

The project was procured under a Two Stage Managing Contractor Arrangement with the following scope: • Stage 1: a. Continuation and finalization of the design services for the core hospital and its support buildings; b. Construction of the forward works packages comprising precinct and hospital infrastructure and including the in-ground services and structural sub-structure works; and c. Sub-contract tendering and evaluation to facilitate the preparation of Stage Two Offer for the Stage Two Contract for the delivery of the hospital.

• Stage 2: a. Completion of the design works; and b. Completion of the construction works.

A range of design issues had to be addressed, including: heavy loading; vibration; fire resistance; radiation shielding; durability; future flexibility; and Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD).

Construction issues included: availability of materials; flexibility of form; buildability; and speed of construction. The scale of the construction effort involved meant that significant pressure would be placed on the overhead trade market.

BG&E were engaged to undertake additional work in late 2009 with the expansion of their scope of work to now include the state rehabilitation service.

times throughout this period. The firms’ approach was always proactive and focused on solving issues to maintain seamless progression of construction.

A key client requirement was absolutely no delays in construction. BG&E were able to keep pace with the intensity of the project such that the program for delivery of the structural and civil works was completed ahead of schedule.

The BG&E team was required to interface with multiple points of contact from BMC, including separate client teams that had been structured for the delivery. This included the BMC Design, Commercial, Procurement, Construction and Administration Managers. As project leader, BG&E were involved in all of the buildings and were able to act as a bridge to convey information between client teams.

Their hands on, highly visible approach and knowledge of the overall needs of the project meant the firm took a strong role in guiding and coordinating many of the construction issues.

SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS: The project was high intensity for some four years and relative to the size of its team, BG&E performed beyond its normal capacity in terms of both project management processes and response

Although it was not required as part of the contract, as early as 2008, BG&E used 3D modeling to document 75 per cent of the building infrastructure and were the only consultants in the project to model such a significant portion of the works.

Updated versions of these models were regularly distributed to the construction managers who used them to gain a quick understanding of complex areas.

BG&E also provided monthly project reports using a template provided by the client. The benefits of this were enhanced as the firm added any perceived construction issues that had been noted during the design stage.

A strong emphasis was also placed on face-to-face communication with frequent design team meetings and workshops with the client and project team.

The additional work assigned to BG&E during 2009 (the design of the state rehabilitation service) was testament to the high level of client satisfaction they successfully achieved.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: The judges said the frequent design team meetings and joint workshops BG&E held with their client spoke volumes about the effective communication that was used to deliver this project and ensure a strong level of client service.

They also commented on the efficiency, effectiveness and accuracy of the documentation provided by the firm and noted their excellence in problem solving and trouble-shooting. Perhaps the most important factor for the judges was that

BG&E exceeded its client’s expectations both in terms of efficient delivery and simplicity in construction but also through adopting a proactive, open approach to problems.

FUTURE LEADER Joan Ko from Arup result, Joan is one of the best networked people within the firm. She was the Australasia and Asia lead researcher for Arup’s global C40 Megacities project, which was launched in 2011 as part of the C40 summit in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Despite being early on in her career, Joan is far from a junior member of the Melbourne sustainability team and excels at leading internal project teams. She is adept at guiding graduates and other less experienced team members, engendering confidence and building capacity.

Joan Ko is a Senior Consultant at Arup in Melbourne and is currently Acting Team Leader for its Sustainability area. She joined Arup’s London office in 2007 and spent three years there before returning to Melbourne in 2010.

Joan now has a global presence within the firm, managing some of its most innovative sustainability tools. For example, she is one of the global co-ordinators for the Integrated Resource Management (IRM) model, a sustainability master planning tool that has been used on dozens of projects around the world. She guides project teams in Europe, Asia and Africa with an aim to share lessons learned and technical improvements between projects.

Having achieved the status of Dean’s Scholar whilst studying her Bachelor of Environmental Engineering at Monash University, Joan had the freedom to take on subjects in other departments and so completed the Diploma of Languages alongside her degree.

After completing this first round of study, Joan worked as a graduate engineer at GHD whilst also studying part time to complete a Graduate Certificate in Conflict Resolution at La Trobe University. She also qualified as a Myers Briggs Type Indicator assessor during this period.

In 2006, Joan won the Gates Scholarship to attend the University of Cambridge, where she studied in both the engineering department and Judge Business School, completing her thesis on the industry challenges to building energy efficient homes. In 2011/12 she was one of 24 Arup staff members (worldwide) to be selected to study business economics at Imperial College Business School. She was a top student, wining an individual prize and ‘best group project’.

Since 2010, she has been a Chartered Environmentalist for the Society of the Environment, demonstrating her commitment to environmental best practice and high degree of expertise in sustainable management.

Globally, Joan is now a sought after technical reviewer and was recently a technical specialist for a project with the Hong Kong Government to develop strategies for reducing the carbon impact of Hong Kong’s construction industry (this was an adaptation of two years of her work for the UK Strategic Forum for Construction).

She is one of the most active contributors to Arup’s online forums and is both generous and helpful in sharing knowledge, often replying to queries and forwarding questions to people in her network. As a

The impact Joan has made on her profession extends well beyond Arup.

Last year she was recognised as a Civil Engineering Teaching Fellow of Monash University and has also been on the Curriculum Review Committee for its Bachelor of Environmental Engineering.

Joan has co-supervised Masters and PhD students in the UK and Australia and is providing industry input into Melbourne University’s MUtopia project.

Outside her role at Arup, Joan has published peer-review papers on a range of topics, including: environmental mediation; socio-technical change in the house construction sector; the impact of highways on communities; and the use of models to support multidisciplinary design.

In 2010, Joan won the James Watt medal, which is awarded for the best paper on ‘energy’ to be published by the UK Institute of Civil Engineers.

Joan is a Full Member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment and an active alumnus of the Gates Scholars in Australia. She has also previously been a member of Engineers Australia and was the Victorian Vice Chair of the Society for Sustainability and Environmental Engineering from 2005-06.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: The judges were extremely impressed to learn that Joan had taken additional English lessons to ensure she could communicate effectively, commenting on the tremendous initiative and commitment this showed. They also applauded her contribution to the profession and industry and her extraordinary academic track record.

FUTURE LEADER Jared Cooke from SMEC Australia Jared Cooke is a Highways Design Manager in SMEC’s Brisbane office and is responsible for the management of the Brisbane Highways Group of 30 engineers.

It’s the firm’s largest sub-functional group in Queensland, generating approximately one third of the Northern Region’s (Queensland and Northern Territory) annual revenue. Jared has led this group for the past three years and is the youngest SMEC employee ever to do so. He has also succeeded in doubling its size, recruiting a new pool of talent and leading it to achieve its ambitious fee target of over $12 million in 2011.

In addition to the above, Jared has introduced a number of project management procedures for SMEC’s Northern Region to ensure consistency of approach throughout the organisation, including: • Quality procedures to assist with the design management and quality of outputs for the Queensland Transport Group; • Procedures to track resource utilization of personnel in the Highways Group, which is now being implemented throughout SMEC’s entire Transport Group; and • Templates for bid management to assist in winning new work throughout SMEC. He is highly regarded within the engineering community for his technical competency and personal leadership qualities. Jared has made an enormous contribution to SMEC’s reputation for excellence through the management, planning, detailed design, and construction management of large motorway, rail and urban arterial design projects in Queensland.

He managed the design of the Gateway Upgrade Project, Queensland’s biggest ever bridge and road project with a construction value in excess of $2 billion.

Jared also developed the design for 7km of restricted access Pacific motorway upgrades through environmentally sensitive regions, including 500m of tunnel works beneath the Gold Coast Airport as part of the Tugun Bypass project.

He created a distinct market presence for SMEC in 2011-12, resulting in successful bids for one of Queensland’s most competitive road transport projects, the Gateway

Upgrade South Stage2a. Jared also managed SMEC’s successful tender designs on a number of international projects such as the Ukhaa Khudag to Gashunn Sukhait Railway in South Mongolia.

After graduating from Queensland University of Technology with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 2000, Jared went on to become a Registered Professional Engineer Queensland (RPEQ) and Engineers Australia member in Queensland. He is currently completing a Diploma of Project Management from Engineers Education Australia. Internally, Jared has fostered regular in-house training sessions within the Highways group and has been instrumental in SMEC’s ‘Lunch and Learn’ training program.

An enthusiastic sportsman, Jared has completed the 96km Kokoda Challenge course to raise money for the Kokoda Challenge Youth Program. He served in the Royal Australian Army Medical Core from 1995 – 1999 and was a senior AFL player in Queensland’s State League for Labrador and Southport from 1994 - 2009. He is currently a member of Triathlon Australia and Tennis Australia.

In his spare time, Jared also mentors two young engineers and actively participates in SMEC’s young professional development program to provide advice to other young engineers. He also attends regular Roads Australia conferences and presentations from Engineers Australia and other bodies to support and contribute to the engineering industry.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: The judges’ attention was immediately captured by Jared’s strong leadership role within SMEC, leading a team of 30 people. They applauded his demonstrated commitment to sharing knowledge through his design and delivery of in-house training.

His reputation for thinking outside the box also impressed them, as did his active involvement in the sporting community.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

COLLABORATION COLLABORATION Project: 1 Bligh Street Sydney Firm: Arup

Project: Hinze Dam Stage 3 Firm: URS Australia on behalf of the Hinze Dam Alliance (Seqwater, Sinclair Knight Merz, Thiess and URS)

COLLABORATION

COLLABORATION

Project: Wyaralong Dam Alliance Firm: SMEC

Project: Eastern Busway Firm: Eastern Busway Alliance

DIVERSITY

DEVELOPMENT OF PEOPLE

Project: Creating Meaningful Diversity Strategy Firm: AURECON Australia Pty Ltd

Project: rEvolutions 2 Firm: Sinclair Knight Merz

DEVELOPMENT OF PEOPLE

SUSTAINABILITY IN DESIGN

Project: The Graduate Development Organisation Firm: WorleyParsons

Project: Sheepstation Gully Environmental Learning Centre Firm: SKM-S2F

HIGHLY COMMENDED

SUSTAINABILITY IN DESIGN

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

Project: Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Firm: Norman Disney & Young

Project: 420 George Street, Sydney Firm: Aurecon

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION

EXPORT

Project: Airport Link - Jacked Boxes Firm: URS Australia Pty Ltd and Thiess John Holland

Project: Emirates Park Towers Hotel Firm: BG&E Pty Ltd

CLIENT FOCUS

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Project: Googong Township (Stage 1) Firm: Brown Consulting

Project: New Consulting Specialised Engineering Business Start Up Firm: Olsson Fire & Risk Pty Ltd

FUTURE LEADER

FUTURE LEADER

Dr. Frédéric Blin Firm: AECOM

Ceit Wilson Firm: Parsons Brinckerhoff

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Consulting Matters Feature

2012 POLICY & ADVOCACY WINS INFRASTRUCTURE & URBAN DEVELOPMENT

SKILLS

• Following the launch of Tomorrow’s Cities Today, met with Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, the Hon. Anthony Albanese who commended the report as a valuable contribution to the policy agenda supporting cities reform.

• Invited by the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs, and Workplace Relations, Senator the Hon. Chris Evans to work with the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency (AWPA) to advance recommendations made by the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Committee in its inquiry report on the shortage of engineering and related skills.

• Accepted an invitation from Minister Albanese to join the Government’s new National Urban Policy Forum established to help implement the Government’s National Urban Policy and advise the Government on the reform agenda for cities.

• The COAG Reform Council review of capital city strategic planning systems reflected many of Consult Australia’s recommendations in Tomorrow’s Cities Today, calling for better integrated strategic planning and broader cost benefit analyses supporting infrastructure delivery.

• Advocacy across the political spectrum (including with: Assistant Treasurer, the Hon. David Bradbury; Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Tony Abbot; Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Julie Bishop; Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Christine Milne and major independents) saw the Government delay reforms to Living-Away-From-Home Allowances (LAFHA) that were announced in the federal budget.

• Continued advocacy focused on transport infrastructure funding reform and became a founding member of the Transport Reform Network: providing the next step to continue to advance the agenda for widespread infrastructure funding reform.

• Through advocacy with the office of the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, the Hon. Chris Bowen, secured reform of the visa subclass 476, expanding eligibility to a wider range of accredited engineering graduates.

• Signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA) providing a platform for joint co-operation and representation.

• Retained Government support for Consult Australia’s in-house Immigration Outreach Officer (IOO), and advocated for an industry focus across migration policy with the offices of the Hon. Senator Chris Evans, Minister for Skills; Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Tony Abbott; Scott Morrison and Senator Michaelia Cash.

• Infrastructure Roundtable met with representatives from the Australian Government Department of Infrastructure and Transport outlining industry requirements for the National Infrastructure Construction Schedule (NICS).

• Launched a comprehensive policy agenda promoting excellence in the built environment in Victoria. Advocated for this agenda strongly with Victorian Parliamentary Secretary for Transport, Edward O’Donohue, Shadow Treasurer the Hon. Tim Holding; and Shadow Minister for Major Projects and Infrastructure Tim Pallas.

• Recommendations for the establishment of Infrastructure Victoria and Projects Victoria adopted as part of the Victorian Labor Jobs and Investment Plan.

WORKFORCE DIVERSITY • Launched Diverse Approaches, a best practice benchmarking report for workforce diversity initiatives. The report was launched with Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick; Telstra Chairwoman, Catherine Livingstone; and Arup Director for Australasia, Peter Bailey.

• Met with the office of the Minister for the Status of Women, the Hon. Julie Collins MP and the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency highlighting Consult Australia’s contribution to improving workforce diversity.

• Held first meeting of the Consult Australia Champions of Change, a group of member firm CEOs working together to help the industry reach its diversity and inclusion goals.

• Joined the Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA), working with peak bodies such as the Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA), and companies such as Rio Tinto and Bechtel, to facilitate the increased attraction and retention of women.

• As part of the National Engineering Registration Board (NERB) advocated the benefits of registration including with NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Planning, Craig Baumann MP; NSW Minister for Fair Trading, the Hon. Anthony Roberts; and federal Shadow Minister for Finance, Deregulation and Debt Reduction, the Hon. Andrew Robb.

• Provided evidence to the Coalition Deregulation Taskforce led

by Senator Arthur Sinodinos, Ms Kelly O’Dwyer, and Senator David Bushby supporting national engineering registration and procurement reform across all levels of government.

• Led action to halt moves to discontinue the Diploma of Engineering Drafting and Advanced Diploma of Engineering Design, ensuring the course remains available and delivers graduates to industry.

CONTRACTS, LIABILITY & PROCUREMENT • AS4122-2010 General Conditions of Contract for Consultants continues to be rolled out as our preferred agreement between consultants and their clients, providing fair, reasonable, clear and concise contract conditions for all parties. Consult Australia has held detailed discussions regarding the use of AS4122-2010 with QLD Department of Transport and Main Roads, QLD Department of Public Works, the NSW Department of Finance and Services, the Municipal Association of Victoria the WA Local Government Association, the WA Department of Finance and Services, the SA Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure and the NT Department of Employment and Business.

• One of only two industry representatives represented on the NSW Department of Finance and Services Policy and Industry Advisory Committee negotiating a new standard contract for consultants

Feature Consulting Matters

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in NSW with representatives from over twelve NSW Government departments and agencies.

• Practice Note helping company owners collect debts on time and reduce debtor days.

• Met with the office of South Australian Treasurer, the Hon. Jack Snelling to discuss South Australian guidelines on limiting liability, and opportunities to secure limitations of liability in South Australian government contracts.

• Advocacy with the office of the Hon Bruce Billson, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs; invited to attend Minister for Small Business, the Hon Brendan O’Connor’s Small Business Forum.

• Campaigning for procurement reform through ongoing representation and submissions, including through representation on the Australian Government Procurement Consultation Committee; the NSW Procurement Review and the ACT Shared Services Roundtable. We were invited to submit to the COAG Infrastructure Working Group; worked closely with the Australasian Procurement and Coordination Council (APCC) on their procurement guidelines; and submitted to the Commonwealth Government’s Review of Australian Contract Law. • Met with and made representations to a number of government agencies, including local, state and federal agencies to discuss issues arising from their contracting practices.

WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY • Consult Australia’s Safety in Design Toolkit launched by Senator Matt Thistlethwaite; leading the industry towards a consistent approach to safety in design, recognised by government, acclaimed by peer associations, and compliant with obligations under harmonised WHS legislation.

• Continuing to push for safer, simpler and harmonised workplace health and safety laws around Australia. Consult Australia held frequent discussions with the South Australian Government ahead of their vote to pass the model WHS laws, and we made a submission to the Western Australian Government on their proposed legislation and urged the Victorian Government to reconsider their position.

• Advocated for clear roles and responsibilities for all those with an influence over the design process. The final versions of the various codes of practice for safe design reflect our representations to Safe Work Australia.

SUSTAINABILITY • Supported and facilitated the development of the ASBEC Climate Change Task Group Policy Framework for Climate Change Adaptation in the Built Environment, launched in June 2012 at Built Environment Meets Parliament (BEMP).

• Advocates strongly, alongside the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC), for built environment concerns to be addressed through the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Barriers to Climate Change Adaptation.

SMALLER AND REGIONAL FIRMS • Smaller and Regional Firms Roundtable addressing the interests of smaller and regional firms, supporting improved networking opportunities, and informing Consult Australia’s policy and services.

• Your local built environment consultant developed as a promotional brochure and advertising tool packaged to support the delivery of services by Consult Australia’s smaller and regional member firms.

CONSULT AUSTRALIA ADVOCACY PRIORITIES 2013 Eliminate waste | Enhance productivity | Embed sustainability Looking ahead to 2013, and with a federal election campaign on the horizon, Consult Australia will continue to champion a better operating environment and best practice public policy for our industry supporting:

1. Best practice procurement and fairer contracts • Campaigning for fair allocation of risk between contracting parties, standard contract terms and liability reform at all levels of government.

2. Safer, sustainable and more productive workplaces • Supporting national harmonisation of Workplace Health and Safety legislation and developing guidance for firms complying with a changing regulatory environment.

• Facilitating a more diverse workforce, with ensuing productivity benefits, across the industry.

• Improving access to skilled workers against identified shortages.

• Benchmarking and leading the development of industry best-practice for more sustainable and productive businesses.

3. Better urban environments and infrastructure investment • Sharing our firms’ expertise to deliver more evidencebased public policy outcomes; supporting investment in infrastructure providing more productive, liveable and sustainable urban environments.

4. Stronger, more collaborative business relationships • Fostering more productive working relationships between consulting firms and private and public sector clients across jurisdictions.

5. Industry innovation, growth and excellence • Showcase industry excellence, lead innovation and the adoption of new technologies such as Building Information Modelling and Integrated Project Delivery; delivering a more competitive industry in the longer-term.

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Consulting Matters Features

Are you developing leadership value?

The number one question I get asked when meeting with the leaders of small to medium consulting firms has to be, “What are the big firms looking for when they are valuing potential merger partners?”

Surprisingly, it doesn’t just come from those who are selling their business. The frequency with which I get asked this question has led me to believe that many consulting firm owners look at how highly they would be valued in a merger as the ultimate measure of their success.

Is leadership valued in firms?

You might expect that an acquiring firm would value things like a track record of profitable growth, quality repeat clients or strategic synergies. These are all important but they are also standard expectations.

The thing that the smart acquiring professional service firms pay for is the quality and depth of leadership. This is because the success of professional service firms relies on people particularly the current leaders and their rising stars.

The thing that the smart acquiring professional service firms pay for is the quality and depth of leadership. This is because the success of professional service firms relies on people - particularly the current leaders and their rising stars. It’s these leaders who develop relationships and sell the value of their people to clients. They’re the people who are innovating service offerings, who earn a following from their people and who train the next generation of leaders. They run the business and determine whether it will succeed or not.

Acquirers recognise that, in any merger, it is critical to retain good leaders and they aim to do it through engagement but will also use restraint of trade clauses if they have to!

How can you increase ‘leadership value’ in your firm?

Most businesses that have been successfully operating for any period of time have good quality leaders in place. Good leaders are continuous learners and will invest in their own development as a matter of course. From my experience, unless the business is losing money or shrinking, the quality of the current leadership is not a problem.

It is however, the ‘depth’ or next level of leadership where the variability between firms becomes most obvious. Some firms invest

in their future leaders and some do not. Firms that don’t invest in leadership usually find their future leaders become disengaged or start to look for opportunities elsewhere. The business then struggles to grow and has great difficulty surviving the inevitable retirement or departure of the current round of leaders.

On the flip side, firms investing in leadership have higher future leader retention rates and attract higher quality talent from outside the business. These businesses are thriving on the back of a generous and diverse range of leadership inputs and cannot only survive, but are indeed planning for, the inevitable departure of current leaders.

What do firms with great ‘quality and depth of leadership’ do well?

Firms that exhibit a higher ‘leadership value’ usually: 1. Implement a system of actively identifying and developing future leaders (from both inside and outside the business), including incentivising, training, and mentoring. Importantly, they provide future leaders with high levels of access to the current leadership.

2. Place responsibility, authority, and accountability on the current leaders for the development and retention of future leaders. There is no room for leaders who fear being overrun by smarter or more enthusiastic future leaders.

3. Create a workplace environment that encourages and supports future leaders to proactively seek out leadership opportunities and greater responsibilities on projects or in the business. In these workplaces, experimentation and failure is seen as a learning opportunity rather than a dismissible offence.

How is your firm investing in leadership value?

A lack of ‘quality and depth of leadership’ poses a real threat to growing professional services firms and continues to be one of the biggest ‘turn-offs’ for acquirers. It is important for leaders of consulting firms to understand that, for their firm to continue to grow and be successful beyond their own tenure, they need to invest in strategies to build their leadership talent pool.

Steve Coote VSC Growth

Consulting Matters

Networking

Leadership

Comm u

nicatio

n

LIMITED PLACES AVAILABLE To secure your registration contact Consult Australia:

The 2013 FutureNet Business Leaders Course (now in its seventh year) will hone your future leader’s professional networking and leadership skills. The course develops core business, management and teamwork skills through a variety of training sessions, ranging from effective communication, introduction to finance and negotiation.

The FutureNet Business Leaders Course is now offered in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Sydney: 02 9922 4711 or email nsw@consultaustralia.com.au

Brisbane 07 3020 3403 or email qld@consultaustralia.com.au

Melbourne: 03 8699 7700 or email vic@consultaustralia.com.au

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Consulting Matters Features

Driving excellence with leadership at every level Leadership is a topic that is usually reserved for managers, supervisors or team leaders; however this limiting approach can stifle your people and your performance. What if everyone on your team understood the art of leadership?

The workforce is (or at least it should be) made up of adults, not children, yet it is common for organisations both large and small to operate on systems, structures and processes that place all the decision making and responsibility with senior management teams.

This leads to frustration, stifled thinking, low accountability, and what I would call ‘failure to thrive’.

A culture with little or no opportunity to think and problem solve breeds employees that fail to think and problem solve. Low trust and high control leads to a culture of low accountability and high blame.

It makes sense… it’s a self-perpetuating trap and it’s simply not sustainable.

A culture with little or no opportunity to think and problem solve breeds employees that fail to think and problem solve. Low trust and high control leads to a culture of low accountability and high blame.

It makes sense… it’s a self-perpetuating trap and it’s simply not sustainable.

credit and their focus is on being the best they can be for the sake of those around them!

Let’s go even broader… Imagine for a moment that everyone within your organisation was a true leader! What would that look like? Are you imagining too many chefs crowded around spoilt broth, or to you, is the notion so farfetched that you can’t even begin to imagine it?

Is leadership at every level an unachievable dream, a complete nightmare, or a potential reality?

If your senior management team is feeling exhausted and overloaded because they feel like they, “Have to do it all themselves because noone else is competent enough do things properly,” then chances are there is a lack of leadership at all levels.

Imagine if everyone was a leader…. what would that look like in your organisation and what would be the impact?

If your organisation is caught up in this catch-22, here are a few ideas that might help:

Jodie Nevid BRS

• Teach ALL staff to lead and develop leadership skills at every level.

• Empower people to make decisions at levels of the workforce (remove layers of permission).

• Encourage people to use their performance development plans as an opportunity to take the lead and inspire them to be 100 per cent accountable for completing the process and owning the outcomes.

• Foster growth by making a conscious effort to stretch peoples’ comfort zones – give them the opportunity to chair a meeting, speak at an event, deliver a report, lead a project, and develop new skills.

• Dust the cobwebs off of your vision and mission and reconnect individuals with their particular part.

• Ask people what they are passionate about and what gets them out of bed each day.

• Stop providing all the answers and start asking more questions.

As Robin Sharma says in his book, The Leader Who Had No Title, “Regardless of what you do within your organisation or the current conditions of your life, it is absolutely essential for you to remember that you have the power to show leadership where you are now planted – and shine at brilliance in all that you do.”

True leaders don’t wait for permission, they don’t get bogged down with excuses, and they are not held back by fear of being judged by others. True leaders go the extra mile without expecting the extra

Features Consulting Matters

63

Systemising processes to create a platform for success The consulting industry is quite unique in that its members are heavily dependent on our people and their knowledge - we typically measure our success by billable utilisation and a backlog of projects and future revenue. But while so many of us are striving to achieve these targets, we often lose sight of ways to capture previous project and client knowledge, automate our processes and streamline our systems and daily tasks.

Some of the many benefits of automating and streamlining your consulting business include: • A reduction in your practice development time, allowing you to focus on consulting with your clients; • Providing consistency across your team, processes and systems; • Ensuring you maintain the quality of the services you provide;

We are so busy delivering on our projects that we don’t take the time to step back and look at how and why we’re trying to achieve these targets and what we could do to make these projects and our practice management more efficient.

We are so busy delivering on our projects that we don’t take the time to step back and look at how and why we’re trying to achieve these targets and what we could do to make these projects and our practice management more efficient.

When setting utilisation targets it’s essential that you not only set these for billable work and business development activities, but also for practice management and development. This gives your team the time to review and embed their knowledge relates to their projects, processes and documentation. You want your team to think like business owners and spend a percentage of their time on their projects rather than in them.

Naturally, this is easier said than done, particularly when you’re starting out and are conscious of every hour that you spend at work without earning revenue. For established firms, the argument is that we simply don’t have the time to systemise the knowledge and the processes that make us successful. Finding this balance is a challenge, and often not one of our immediate priorities.

Take the proposal process as an example. It’s a very labour intensive process and common to all consulting organisations – in fact, it often takes days or weeks to prepare a single proposal. Typically, proposal preparation involves searching through old proposals, a few cut and pastes and then the proposal manager constantly chases others for their input and review to complete the proposal.

What if you could automate this? What if you could template this process, allowing you to prepare 80 per cent of the skeleton of the proposal document within a few seconds? What if you could set up work flows such that the individuals had timeframes in which they had to complete their contribution or review? What a game changer (and this technology is out there and available as off-the-shelf products ) allowed you to achieve this within your business?

• Reducing the time spent on repetitive activities and tasks; • Succession planning; minimising the loss of knowledge when employees leave; • Allowing you to take the knowledge in your peoples’ heads and translate it into your processes and documentation reducing the dependency on owners, Directors and senior personnel; • Improving profitability and reducing margin erosion on projects by ensuring you document and standardise your key processes; and • Enabling owners to work on the business rather than in the business through setting up their consulting firms for success.

When we started BRS, many of our friends and colleagues from within the industry questioned our strong front-of-mind focus on practice development and management activities. They could not understand why we would invest so much time and effort in the initial stage setting up our systems and processes. But we wanted to build a platform for our business that would set us up for long term success, growth and sustainability, and give us more time. We wanted to develop a business that consistently provides high quality outcomes to our clients and where our clients not only returned to us for other projects, but became advocates of our firm, bringing new clients on board.

Our investment in automating and streamlining our processes and documentation has allowed us to do just that. This systemisation been made up of more than a hundred little things that have enabled up to spend more time on what really matters.

Do not underestimate the impact of automating and systemising your processes. The efficiencies you gain will reward you 10 fold and allow you to focus on your clients and projects that you enjoy undertaking.

After all, isn’t this the main reason you went into consulting in the first place?!

Easy Consult is a new business initiative of the management advisory firm BRS with its head office in Adelaide servicing the infrastructure, resources and government industries. Find out how it may be able to benefit your consulting organisation at www.easyconsult.com.au

Nicole Williams BRS

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Consulting Matters Protecting your business

New guide for better building and construction procurement AUSTROADS, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE AUSTRALASIAN PROCUREMENT AND CONSTRUCTION COUNCIL (APCC), HAS RELEASED A DRAFT GUIDE CONTAINING PRINCIPALS AND OPTIONS FOR BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION PROCUREMENT. The creation of this guide is a development that should be warmly welcomed by all sections of our industry. Contained within the guide are a number of important discussions and procurement principles that Consult Australia has called for over a long period of time.

Firstly, the guide encourages agencies (and explains how) to develop their own procurement strategy based on the requirements of each project, comprehensive data gathering and a thorough risk assessment.

The discussion then turns to the respective delivery models (including for example, design and construct, managing contractor, alliance contracting, or public/ private partnership), and identifies the respective pros and cons of each method, including a discussion regarding when each model may or may not be appropriate to use.

There is also a detailed discussion of procurement methods, with a particular focus on contracting matters. As well as canvassing the use of standard contracts, and which contracts are appropriate to each delivery model and for the use of professional services, there is also a table setting out over-arching contracting principles that should always be applied.

There is also a detailed discussion of procurement methods, with a particular focus on contracting matters. As well as canvassing the use of standard contracts, and which contracts are appropriate to each delivery model and for the use of professional services, there is also a table setting out over-arching contracting principles that should always be applied. This table in particular is an outstanding development addressing many of our concerns raised over the years.

The discussion on procurement also includes some tendering principles of importance. For example, the quality of information included in tender documents and an understanding that tendering for work is a significant overhead for consulting firms are included, as is the recognition that the lowest price bid might not represent best value for money to the client.

Finally, the document turns to information technology related issues, including the growing use of Building Information Modelling (BIM).

Consult Australia has lodged a submission welcoming the creation of this guide, and providing suggestions to further improve it and the quality of procurement by Australian public sector clients. The focus of our submission has been around the need to recognise the differences between the provision of professional expertise and the provision of a final, tangible product in the form of construction work.

In response to this document, Consult Australia has lodged a submission welcoming the creation of this guide, and providing suggestions to further improve it and the quality of procurement by Australian public sector clients. The focus of our submission has been around the need to recognise the differences between the provision of professional expertise and the provision of a final, tangible product in the form of construction work.

For example, it’s inappropriate for consultants to agree to fitness for purpose warranties in a contract as a different standard of care applies to each. We have asked the authors of the document to recognise this fact in our submission. Our submission also seeks to strengthen the contractual principle that there should be a limit on liability in contracts.

Despite these areas where improvements can be made, the draft guide is a big step in the right direction. Most of the principles covered in this paper reflect positions our industry has argued for, and following publication it should lead to an improved understanding by clients and consultants of the other party’s perspective, as well as their own responsibilities.

Consult Australia is proud to have played a role in the guide’s development, and looks forward to working with public sector clients to continue to improve procurement and contracting practices.

Robin Schuck Consult Australia

Protecting your business Consulting Matters

Safety in Design Toolkit Launched Consult Australia was delighted to launch our Safety in Design Toolkit in October with NSW Senator Matt Thistlethwaite as part of National Safety Week.

The Toolkit provides Consult Australia members with a step-by-step guide to each stage of the safety in design process. It provides links to important supporting documents including: a template letter to clients; a sample risk matrix and risk register; and a safety report template.

The Safety in Design Toolkit has been developed by the Consult Australia Workplace Health and Safety Roundtable in response to the new obligations that have followed the passage of harmonised WHS legislation across Australia in recent months.

At the launch, Greg Pattison from the NSW Business Chamber gave a presentation on the importance of adapting to the new workplace health and safety (WHS) laws. Scott Myles from Coffey, a member of the Task Group who principally authored the Toolkit, presented its key features and gave an explaination how to use it.

Following its launch, the Toolkit will be continually revisited and updated as our understanding of best practice safety in design evolves, and in response to changes to the regulatory framework accompanying the new model legislation.

Indeed, the launch came as the South Australian Government announced that it had negotiated the successful passage of the model legislation through their parliament. This development is a positive step, with only a couple of states – Western Australia and Victoria – yet to pass the harmonised legislation.

The Western Australian Government has recently concluded a public consultation into their proposed legislation before introducing it to parliament, and the Victorian Government has indicated they will not be joining the harmonised WHS scheme.

Consult Australia will continue to advocate for all jurisdictions to join the harmonised WHS scheme, and support our members through the transition.

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Consulting Matters Protecting your business

What should I advise DIAC when an employersponsored worker or position is made redundant?

The three main categories of employer-sponsored visas – the 457, the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) and the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) all carry obligations for employers when a worker or a position is made redundant.

If a different employer lodges an application to sponsor the visa holder within this 28-day period, then the 457 visa will not be cancelled.

Instead, it will be linked to the new sponsor’s nomination and the visa holder can continue to work in Australia.

If a nominated position is made redundant after the sponsoring employer has lodged a nomination application, but before a decision is made on that application, the sponsor is obliged to advise the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and the application should be withdrawn.

If the 457 visa holder does not lodge another visa application, they will be expected to depart Australia.

If a nomination has already been approved and a visa granted, but the position is subsequently made redundant, then the following employer reporting requirements will apply, according to the type of visa held:

Once an ENS visa has been granted, it cannot be cancelled when the visa holder has ceased working for their sponsor so there are no reporting requirements.

457 visas

RSMS visas

All employers of subclass 457 visa holders have obligations as sponsors. It is mandatory for employers to advise DIAC when their sponsored worker’s employment ceases or is expected to cease.

This advice must be provided to a specific email or postal address within 10 working days of the event occurring.

There are cancellation provisions for the RSMS visa if the visa holder does not commence work within six months of arriving in Australia or if the visa holder does not complete a two-year period of employment with the sponsoring employer. This provision exists to make sure there is incentive for RSMS visa holders to stay with their sponsoring employer for a reasonable period of time.

www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/index/visas/subclass457/#obligations-of-businesses-sponsoring-a-skilled-worker Prompt notification means you are not exposing yourself to the risk of sanctions, which can be imposed for non-compliance with your sponsorship obligations.

Once DIAC has received advice that a 457 visa holder has ceased or is ceasing employment with the sponsor, the department will write to the visa holder advising that their visa may be cancelled if they are satisfied that they breach a condition of their visa. The 8107 condition prescribes that a 457 visa holder cannot cease to be employed for more than 28 consecutive days.

ENS visas

If you believe there are grounds to cancel one of your sponsored employees’ RSMS visas, please contact the Permanent Employer Sponsored Entry Centre of Excellence that processed the visa application. These matters are assessed on a case-by-case basis.

For more information on employer-sponsored visas, see www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/ or contact Consult Australia’s Industry Outreach Officer, Sarah Gowing at sarah.gowing@immi.gov.au

NEED INDUSTRY SKILLED MIGRATION ADVICE? Consult Australia members have exclusive access to a Department of Immigration and Citizenship Industry Outreach Officer.

The officer provides free advice on: • Visa options and case management • Immigration processes and changes to migration policy • E-lodgement of visa applications For more information, contact DIAC Industry Outreach Officer Sarah Gowing by email sarah.gowing@immi.gov.au or telephone on on 0466 150 022.

Protecting your business Consulting Matters

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Super for a stronger future A number of superannuation changes will soon be introduced as part of the Government’s Stronger Super reforms and whether you’re an employer or an employee, it’s likely these changes will affect you in some way.

As the name suggests, the Stronger Super reforms have been developed to make Australia’s super system stronger and more efficient.

Two key components of the Stronger Super reforms are MySuper and SuperStream.

It’s proposed that if you’re an employer, from 1 January 2014 you’ll need to pay your contributions for all employees (except those who have chosen their own super fund) to a fund that offers a MySuper product.

What’s MySuper?

MySuper is a new, simple and cost-effective default super product that’s designed solely with the interests of members in mind. It will replace the default products that super funds currently offer and will ensure that members don’t pay for any unnecessary ‘bells and whistles’ that they don’t need or use.

MySuper products will also have a simple set of product features that will make it easier to compare super funds. These include a single diversified investment strategy, a standard set of fees and compulsory insurance cover (on an opt-out basis where possible).

What does MySuper mean for you?

It’s proposed that if you’re an employer, from 1 January 2014 you’ll need to pay your contributions for all employees (except those who have chosen their own super fund) to a fund that offers a MySuper product.

If you’re an employee and you’re in a default super product (this generally means you haven’t chosen your super fund or changed your investment option), your super fund will be required to transfer your balance into a MySuper product by 1 July 2017.

Of course, you may be able to opt for an alternative product that offers you a choice about the way your super is invested. For example, StatewideSuper plans to introduce its MySuper product on 1 July 2013 – the date that all super funds will be able to release their MySuper products. However, StatewideSuper will still offer a choice of investment options, flexible insurance arrangements and a number of value-added benefits. Members who want more control over their super still have choice.

superannuation system. With around 100 million* super transactions in Australia each year, costing in excess of $3.5 billion*, there are several aspects of the current system that have been identified as being inefficient.

For example, there are currently no mandated data or transmission requirements, which can result in incorrect or insufficient member information being provided to super funds and the risk of multiple accounts being created.

SuperStream will introduce data and e-commerce standards for super transactions and allow tax file numbers to be used to identify and consolidate member accounts.

This means that your lost and inactive super accounts can be more easily consolidated with your active account.

SuperStream will also remove the need for manual processing by making it compulsory for large and medium employers to use electronic methods for processing contributions. This will be introduced from 1 July 2014 and it’s proposed that these requirements will also apply to small employers from 1 July 2015.

So what does all this mean for the average super fund member? Essentially, the Stronger Super reforms will make managing your super savings easier. You’ll be paying less for a better, more competitive and efficient super product, which can only be a good thing.

For more information about MySuper and SuperStream, visit the Stronger Super website at strongersuper.treasury.gov.au.

If you would like more information about StatewideSuper’s products and services, contact 1300 65 18 65.

What’s SuperStream?

SuperStream is a package of measures designed to improve the productivity of the

John O’Flaherty Statewide Superannuation

John O’Flaherty is the Chief Executive of StatewideSuper, the leading industry fund based in South Australia and the Northern Territory, with $4 billion in funds under management and 160,000 members. *Commonwealth of Australia, Stronger Super Information Pack, 21 September 2011.

Source: Licensed from the Commonwealth of Australia under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence.

Statewide Superannuation Pty Ltd ABN 62 008 099 223 AFSL 243171 trustee and RSE Licensee of Statewide Superannuation Trust.

You should obtain independent financial advice and consider the applicable Product Disclosure Statement before making an investment decision.

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Consulting Matters Protecting your business

Liability for sub-consultants When a construction professional engages a sub-consultant, the construction professional becomes responsible for the conduct of the sub-consultant and liable to the client for that conduct. The sub-consultant may be in the same discipline as the construction professional or in a different discipline.

consultant (a) has disappeared; (b) is insolvent; or (c) is without any, or adequate, professional indemnity insurance cover, the construction professional may ultimately bear the liability of its sub-consultant.

Despite not being negligent, the construction professional will have an adverse claims record.

Some professional indemnity insurance policies do not provide any cover to a construction professional for liability for sub-consultants and some professional indemnity insurance policies provide cover only in relation to sub-consultants who work in the same discipline as the construction professional. In either of those cases, the construction professional may have no cover at all for the work of a sub-consultant.

In a number of instances, pursuant to the dispute resolution process stipulated in the contract, the client has referred the dispute to arbitration. The consequences for the construction professional are that it has incurred significant costs in defending arbitration proceedings which it has had little prospect of successfully defending where its sub-consultant has been negligent. As the sub-consultant is not a party to the arbitration proceedings it is not bound by the arbitrator’s findings therefore the construction professional has had to pursue a separate recovery action against the sub-consultant. The result is an increase in legal costs incurred by the construction professional and its professional indemnity insurer.

Other professional indemnity insurance policies do provide broad cover for a construction professional’s liability for sub-consultants, including sub-consultants in different disciplines. This cover is for the protection of the construction professional only and not for the sub-consultant.

If an insurer has to pay compensation due to the conduct of a sub-consultant, the insurer may exercise its subrogation rights by suing the sub-consultant on behalf of the construction professional to recover the insurer’s losses. It is for this reason that the subconsultant needs the protection of its own professional indemnity insurance policy.

If an insurer has to pay compensation due to the conduct of a sub-consultant, the insurer may exercise its subrogation rights by suing the sub-consultant on behalf of the construction professional to recover the insurer’s losses. It is for this reason that the sub-consultant needs the protection of its own professional indemnity insurance policy.

An increasing number of claims made against construction professionals are being made in circumstances where the construction professional has engaged and is therefore responsible for the acts and omissions of its sub-consultant. In such cases, proceedings commence against the construction professional and the sub-consultant will ordinarily be joined as a third party, thereby involving them in the dispute.

The result is a multi-party dispute which prolongs the duration of the dispute, increases legal costs incurred by the parties, including the construction professional and its professional indemnity insurer, and makes resolution of the dispute more difficult. Further, if the sub-

Construction professionals should always encourage clients to appoint consultants directly. This establishes a contractual relationship between the client and the consultant and in the event of a dispute in respect to the consultant’s services: • The client can deal with the consultant directly, without the construction professional becoming involved as a party in any dispute.

• The construction professional is able to continue to give advice to the client to assist in resolution of any dispute, thereby maintaining a good relationship with the client.

• The construction professional’s claims record will not be adversely affected.

Adele Monaco National Claims Manager Planned Professional Risk Services

Protecting your business Consulting Matters

69

TESTIMONIAL

SIMPSON KOTZMAN PTY LTD IS AN AUSTRALIAN BASED CONSULTING ENGINEERING COMPANY PRACTISING IN THE FIELD OF BUILDING SERVICES ENGINEERING. SIMPSON KOTZMAN SPECIALISES IN PROVIDING BUILDING SERVICES SOLUTIONS FOR RETAIL AND ENTERTAINMENT DEVELOPMENTS, OFFICE BUILDINGS, HOTELS AND APARTMENTS, EDUCATIONAL, INSTITUTIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROJECTS.

“We have now been using Planned Professional Risk Services as our preferred service provider for Professional Indemnity insurance needs for the past 17 years.

Planned Professional Risk Services has always been able to source very competitive insurance for us on terms which meet our statutory, professional and commercial obligations.

More than this, the technical support provided by their in-house legal team in risk management advice, review of client contractual agreements and assistance when potential problems arise, is invaluable.

The contract review advice included with the services they provide to us has been especially helpful to our practice. We have undertaken a number of large D&C projects and the creative legal obligations which clients have sought to impose, at a potentially significant risk to our firm, have been numerous. Having our PI broker alongside has greatly lowered our risk, and some clients now even understand the sense of including reasonable terms in their consultant agreements so that PI insurance may be available to protect them if something goes wrong.

To a company that is constantly operating in a competitive market environment, having the right PI support team can be critical for business sustainability. We are very grateful for the relationship we have with Planned Professional Risk Services and the professional support they have provided over many years.�

Dermot Small Director Simpson Kotzman Pty Ltd

Professional Indemnity question?

Consult Australia believes that it is important to support members in all aspects of their business.

We also recognise the impact that the insurance market has on Consult Australia member firms in terms of availability, affordability and quality of Professional Indemnity Insurance.

Post your latest Professional Indemnity Insurance cases on the Consult Australia Linkedin group and our PI Insurance Pathway will advise you on the best steps to tackle these issues.

BRIC

Bovill Risk & Insurance Consultants

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Consulting Matters Corporate Social Responsibility

Clean water forever

Uganda is a country that was once known as the pearl of Africa, but as a result of civil war and inherent poverty, many people remain without access to safe water or appropriate sanitation.

As an environmental engineer, with the majority of my experience in water and sewer planning and design, I wanted to assist MWH Global with their goal of building a better world.

I was invited by Living Water Development (LWD), a Christian development organisation working principally in the areas of water, sanitation, hygiene and community health awareness, to volunteer with my wife Aimee in Uganda for three months to help design and build water projects.

The main project was the capture and protection of a spring. We removed all rotten matter and identified the eyes of the spring, stabilised the bank, built a wall, constructed an infiltration gallery, and filled the void with sand before finally covering the gallery with a plastic layer before topsoil and local grass. We laid pipe from the infiltration gallery to two wells with tap stands that now produce a constant flow of clean water. I refer to these as the ‘forever’ taps, as they flow continually, even through the height of the dry season.

The water quality results proved our efforts to be worthwhile. The community are now benefiting from the spring’s clean water and have been taught how to maintain the water source in order to ensure it will flow well into the future.

My experience in Uganda has made me even more passionate about clean water, sanitation and hygiene, and using this as a tool to help build people and communities. It truly brought meaning to MWH and it’s ethos of building a better world.

Adam Pearce MWH

Corporate Social Responsibility Consulting Matters

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Invaluable experience Some people assume that you go into engineering for the money. In truth, it’s a profession that appeals to many of us because it provides the opportunity to solve real world problems; to design and deliver infrastructure that can change communities and people’s lives. But, how do you explain this to Indigenous students who may never have met an engineer before in their lives and who are under-represented in the profession?

In 2009, one Parsons Brinckerhoff employee decided to take a direct approach. She offered a student from the Indigenous Australian Engineering Summer School work experience. Dubbo High School student, Dakoda Bradford, took up the offer and so began the company’s first work experience program with Indigenous youth. Fast forward four years and Parsons Brinckerhoff has a structured work experience program and will host six Indigenous students in their eastern seaboard offices in 2012.

With the aim of increasing the number of Indigenous engineers, the Indigenous Australian Engineering Summer School is a seven day live-in program for selected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

It features a combination of engineering and social activities that give students a taste

of engineering studies and careers. Some sponsors, such as Parsons Brinckerhoff, now also offer students the opportunity to get a taste of engineering on the job.

When Dakoda Bradford undertook that first week of work experience, the company had little guidance on how best to explain engineering to him. But his enthusiasm to explore everything and his gratitude at having the opportunity to do so made it easy for employees to mentor him in their different fields.

Dakoda was based in the Sydney office where employees gave him small projects to complete and real problems to solve.

At the end of the week he had made new friends, many of whom continue to follow his progress.

These days, Parsons Brinckerhoff offers all the students from the Sydney-based Summer School the opportunity to do work experience. It is up to the students to signal that they are interested. The consultancy covers transport, accommodation and catering costs for each student (and their chaperone if they are younger than 18 years of age). The program is structured to allow students to see as many disciplines of engineering as possible during the week.

The company selects employees with an interest in mentoring or teaching from each area and matches them with the students.

Each area provides task-based real work so that the students have an opportunity to use their research and analytical skills and gain a sense of achievement even though they only have a limited time with the company.

With only a small number of Indigenous engineers in Australia, it gives these students a chance to see inside a world they may never have had access to. Some have left the program with a clear idea of what they would like to study and some with a new motivation to study. For employees work experience can be equally rewarding – it’s potentially the opportunity to change the course of someone’s life.

Additional corporate sponsors are needed to offer the students a range of industry experience. For more information about how to do this contact the Indigenous Summer School organisers, Engineering Aid Australia, or see http://www.engineeringaid.org/ engineering-summer-school/.

Parsons Brinckerhoff

No good food should go to waste An enthusiastic team of volunteers from AECOM has rescued nearly 20 tonnes of food in their first year of involvement with the Yellow Van Food Rescue program in Canberra.

AECOM’s ACT Regional Manager, Andrew Springall wanted to create an opportunity for the Canberra team to make a meaningful contribution to the local community.

Providing meals to more than 67 established charities and refuges supporting vulnerable people in Canberra and Queanbeyan, the Yellow Van Food Rescue is a non-profit organisation that was set up in 2008. It spawned from the inter-state OzHarvest program and is managed by Communities@ Work.

“Food is one of our primary needs so to help people who go hungry means you’re making a real and immediate difference in their lives. Plus we’re preventing waste – it’s crazy when there’s a situation where people are hungry and there’s food being dumped unnecessarily. We’re so thankful for the support of the donating organisations.”

With the motto, ‘no good food should go to waste’, the charity collects excess food from retailers, restaurants, event caterers, manufacturers, institutions and corporate offices, preventing it from being dumped in landfills.

Andrew said it was amazing how popular the Yellow Van volunteering is.

“We have a core team of 33 volunteers who are rostered for four hours every Friday to work with a Yellow Van driver, picking up food, recording donations, loading food and

- the best part - delivering to the recipient charities. We have a wait-list of people who want to get involved.”

Each volunteer completes a one hour induction and signs a confidentiality agreement protecting the location and identities of the charity recipients.

25 November 2012 marks the one-year partnership between AECOM Canberra volunteers and the Yellow Van program.

Volunteering is a core part of AECOM’s Corporate Social Responsibility commitment.

Nicola Young Principal Advisor – Corporate Social Responsibility AECOM

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Consulting Matters Our industry

Ballina Bypass Overcoming Road Blocks SOPHISTICATED APPROACHES TO GROUND TREATMENT ARE ALLOWING ROADS TO BE BUILT IN AREAS WHERE IT HAS NOT BEEN PREVIOUSLY POSSIBLE. A fantastic example of this is the new Ballina Bypass which has been delivered on budget, six months ahead of schedule and most impressively, on one of the deepest patches of soft soil in Australia.

Coffey Geotechnics Principal Geotechnical Engineer, Richard Kelly said the Ballina region in northern New South Wales was a notoriously difficult environment for road construction.

“Ballina has some of most complex geotechnical conditions in Australia, including deep soft soils in the floodplains area where the water table is close to the coastal floodplains,” said Richard.

“Managing these soft soils was an important consideration in the design, construction and maintenance of the Bypass project.

“It’s one of the wettest regions in Australia, which creates significant challenges for a construction team and on top of all that, the project area for the Bypass contained two major Pacific Highway black spots, with poor alignment and road shoulder access.”

To deliver this significant project in the Pacific Highway upgrade, The NSW Roads and Maritime Services formed an alliance with Leighton Contractors, Coffey Geotechnics, AECOM and SMEC. “From the outset of the project, the Ballina Bypass Alliance focused on an integrated, collaborative design approach that emphasised best-for-project outcomes,” said Richard.

The Ballina Bypass Alliance took an unusual approach of not adopting a risk-adverse solution that could either take too long to complete the project, or would meet the desired timeframe at a significantly higher cost.

The approach adopted by the alliance involved prioritising the ground treatment in time critical areas and/or areas of road performance risk, balancing capital costs against maintenance costs and assessing the risk of uncertainty associated with partial or no ground treatment in less critical areas.

Sufficient contingency costs were allocated in the event that such risk eventuated.

The alliance used a managed, integrated process of design, construction control, monitoring, review and back analysis to design and construct the works, allowing the team to: • Predict performance and factors of safety under the design loads and preloads; • Design and install instrumentation to capture movements at critical locations;

• Perform visual inspections of the embankments and cuttings during construction for signs of distress; and • Regularly review and back-analyse monitoring results to assess predictions and modify embankment and cutting construction if required, and to assess when to remove preload once the desired degree of consolidation was achieved.

Instrumentation and monitoring formed a key component of the works and was supplemented by regular visual inspections performed by the appropriately skilled site staff. Construction site staff understood the contribution of the instrumentation and monitoring process in the final outcome of the project, working around the instruments and providing immediate feedback on embankment performance.

The main section of the Ballina Bypass opened in November 2011, six months ahead of schedule, with minor works on the last two kilometres on the Bruxner Highway section completed in 2012.

• Carry out baseline predictions using actual ground conditions encountered at selected instrumentation locations; • Prepare in advance a course of action to be taken or modification of design if trigger levels are exceeded; • Monitor instrumentation at an appropriate frequency;

“This approach was integral to overcoming the soft soil challenges, driving the right balance in residual settlement between the construction schedule, pavement and performance, initial capital cost and whole-oflife performance.”

The original concept design for the Ballina Bypass adopted conventional staged construction using a surcharge and wick drains over a 13-year construction period.

“The 13-year period was reduced to four years plus two years of early works through the adoption of innovative ground treatment methods and a whole-of-life-approach to capital costs and maintenance,” noted Richard.

It’s one of the wettest regions in Australia, which creates significant challenges for a construction team and on top of all that, the project area for the Bypass contained two major Pacific Highway black spots

Our industry Consulting Matters

73

Getting your business noticed You do important work and the general public understands that and has a good idea of the role of a built environment consultant, right?

Unfortunately, this may not be the case and if such ignorance extends to your potential customer base it can hurt the success of your business, as well as your pride.

Consult Australia members are known for their good design, good consultancy work and ability to efficiently get the job done.

But without spending some time on selfpromotion, their opportunities to use these skills can be reduced—especially when new job opportunities are contracting.

The more members who spread this message, the more powerful it will be.

The services on offer from a typical consultant extend far beyond engineering design, and that’s the first thing that the brochure addresses. It lists over a dozen services that are typically available from a range of Consult Australia members.

To leverage your Consult Australia membership and enjoy the benefits of brand recognition, add the Consult Australia Member logo to your letterhead, put the Consult Australia sticker on your office windows, and use this brochure (print-ready versions are available on the Consult Australia website). Have copies made and start handing them out to prospective clients. If your council has a public shop front with information for residents, ask to leave a bundle there. When you submit a quote for work, slip in a brochure. The goal here is to reach out to and educate as many people as possible.

The media is another tool that can help you and is a surprisingly valuable form of free advertising. Is there a community issue on which you can provide professional opinion?

Perhaps there is a local black spot on the roads or debate about the rezoning of land?

Consulting is a broad and multifaceted industry encompassing research, planning, design and development for projects related to the built environment.

Consultants are creative. They apply scientific knowledge and ingenuity to develop practical solutions for technical problems in many and varied ways.

For example, a geotechnical specialist takes site earth samples and designs suitable foundations for a new building; a structural engineer applies mathematical analysis to calculate building strength requirements before a services engineer applies scientific knowledge to design air conditioning and electrical infrastructure.

The aesthetics and functionality of the building are the responsibility of the architect who often acts as a project coordinator and liaises with quantity surveyors to predict project delivery costs.

The smarter choice

All Consult Australia members are highly skilled, and can draw on a wide range of resources to deliver a total solution.

Many offer niche services and provide amazing results, tailoring solutions to provide high quality outcomes.

1

Part of the benefit of being a Consult Australia member is brand recognition.

To help our members build a suite of selfpromotion tools, Consult Australia has produced a brochure to demystify the role of consultants and explain what potential customers can and should expect when engaging one. It also educates readers on why choosing a Consult Australia consultant is best.

What is a consultant in the built environment?

Your local built environment consultant

Who is Consult Australia?

Consult Australia is the association for professional services firms within the built and natural environment.

Member firms’ services include, but are not limited to: design, architecture, environmental science, technology, engineering, planning, landscape architecture, cost consulting (quantity surveyors), project management, and management solutions. We represent some of the industry’s biggest players and a wide range of niche practices, with our member firms collectively employing more than 61,000 staff.

Being a part of Consult Australia means that member firms are ahead of their competition and are committed to professional and commercial excellence to clients.

Through their membership, firms are networked with industry leaders, and have influence in public policy development.

Find out more at: www.consultaustralia.com.au For more information, contact the Consult Australia National Office on: P: 02 9922 4711 F: 02 9957 2484 E: info@consultaustralia.com.au Photographs supplied by some Consult Australia member firms: 1

Airey Taylor Consulting;

2

RP Project Management;

3

Red Dog;

4

McVeigh Consultants; and

5

Holmes Fire & Safety.

4

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www.consultaustralia.com.au

Whatever the situation, journalists want to cover stories of interest to the community and love to use expert comments.

For help understanding how to approach journalists, and how to ‘sell’ your story to them, take a look at Consult Australia Practice note 6.04 ‘Working with the media’ it’s on the website.

And speaking of websites, what does yours say about your business? In today’s digital world, the internet has become our society’s primary information resource—approximately 34,000 searches take place on Google every second.

I know you’re thinking, “But I get most of my business through referrals!” Whilst this is often true, it’s important to bare in mind that the first thing a potential customer will inevitably do, is search for you on Google. With a simple, yet attractive and informative website, you may be able to convert more referrals to inquiries. From then on, it’s all up to you!

If you need help reviewing or building your website, read Consult Australia Practice Note 6.05 ‘Creating a winning website’.

Jonathan Russell Consult Australia

Got photos to share?

The photos used in the brochure all came from Consult Australia members. If you would like to see your work on Consult Australia publications, please send high resolution photos to voltaire@consultaustralia.com.au.

Where to find Practice Notes: Visit the Consult Australia website at www.consultaustralia.com.au, click on the ‘Support’ tab, then ‘Publications’ and look for the link to ‘Practice Notes’.

Download a copy of the brochure: Visit the Consult Australia website at www.consultaustralia.com.au, click on the ‘Search for a consultant’ tab and then click on the image for the ‘Your local built environment consultant’ brochure. A separate link is available to download a print-ready version that you can take to your local print shop.

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Consulting Matters Our industry

South West Rail Link THE LARGEST METROPOLITAN RAIL PROJECT UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN NEW SOUTH WALES, THE $2.1 BILLION SOUTH WEST RAIL LINK (SWRL) HAS BEEN UNDERTAKEN TO RESPOND TO ISSUES OF RELIABILITY AND INCREASING PASSENGER NUMBERS ON SYDNEY’S METROPOLITAN RAIL NETWORK DUE TO POPULATION GROWTH IN SOUTH-WEST SYDNEY. Commenced in 2009, the New South Wales (NSW) Government initiative involves the construction of approximately 11.5km of greenfield track from Glenfield station to Leppington as well as two new stations and commuter car parks at Leppington and Edmondson Park. It also includes a stabling facility west of Leppington and allows for future expansion to Bringelly and future quadruplication.

The new Leppington station will have a street-level concourse and parking space for 850 cars while the Edmondson Park station will have 400 commuter car parking bays.

The Glenfield station upgrade includes the construction of a fourth platform, an upgrade of the rail-bus interchange, a new station concourse, realignment of Railway Parade and a multi-storey commuter car park with space for approximately 700 cars.

SMEC (in association with GHD and KBR) provided both the tender and detailed design services to the John Holland Group, the successful design and construct contractor.

The design services included civil, structural, track, signalling and building works. SMEC was responsible for the final alignment, geotechnical, drainage, earthworks, structures, tunnelling, road and property works design including an 80m underpass underneath the Hume Highway (excavated using canopy tubes supports) and 14 bridges which pass both under and over the railway lines.

The 80m long underpass underneath the existing four-lane Hume Highway is critical to the project and is located where there is limited rock cover between the underpass and the existing road foundation. During the construction of the tunnel, the Hume Highway has to remain operational, with minimum disturbance from construction activities. The primary support system for the underpass consists of nine canopy tubes in-filled with grout, together with steel sets (universal columns) and shotcrete to form an arch structure. It was crucial to accurately assess the ground-structure interaction and stressdeformation of the proposed support system to ensure safety during construction.

During design development, the Cowpasture Road Viaduct was developed combining a tender design for the Cowpasture Road Underbridge, Bonds Creek Underbridge and the terraced embankment in between to create an eighteen span bridge totalling 485m in length. The first four spans of the viaduct cross over the SCA Upper Canal and Cowpasture Road on a skew. The remaining spans cross over pastoral land and Bonds Creek with the piers located with a radial arrangement. The superstructure comprises 1500mm deep precast prestressed standard Super T girders with a 200mm thick in-situ concrete deck. This viaduct is the second longest one on the RailCorp network.

Major construction of the Glenfield to Leppington Rail Line component commenced at the beginning of 2012 and is now well underway. The majority of the earthworks and the underpass are due for completion by the end of 2012, with the line expected to open for passengers in 2016.

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Consulting Matters Industry comment

New technology delivers more than just bells and whistles Building Information Modelling (BIM) is in its infancy within the Australian market and to some extent its integration and adoption across high profile projects in the last 24 months has demonstrated strong benefits to clients and engineering consultants alike.

The Government will soon be mandating using BIM in public tenders and this represents opportunities for consultants operating in the property sector.

At Hyder, BIM is being seen as an Integrated Project Workflow which is transforming our business and the way we interact and engage with our clients. Our view is that it is more than simply adopting some new technology and bolting it into your existing systems.

BIM is not about the technology – it is simply an enabler that ensures better transparency within our DesignDocumentation teams to enhance the client’s experience throughout the whole process. At Hyder, we see BIM as an integrated workflow practice that integrates people, business structures and processes to deliver better client results.

Mauricio Munoz Hyder Consulting Design Technology Leader

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