2017 June Consulting Matters

WINTER 2017

Diversity

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Every which

‘why’

with

of Diversity

GHD’s Jo Metcalfe and

Aurecon’s Louise Adams

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RedR Report: Hayden Pickering

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Consulting Matters

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CONTENTS

14 12 2017 January – June

16

WINS

& ADVOCACY HIGHLIGHTS

Industry updates

Protecting your business

Industry updates

2

New members

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26

Business essentials

What’s happening in Consult Australia From the President

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From the CEO

6

Division updates

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2017 Policy Wins and Advocacy Highlights

Building Information Modelling: Finding a balance

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Features Diversity Q&A with GHD's Jo Metcalfe and Aurecon's Louise Adams

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Can diversity combat Australia’s looming welding workforce crisis?

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Every which ‘why’ of Diversity

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The “Boys Club” is no more but there is still work to do…

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Engineering diversity recognised globally

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A New Standard in Procurement – A closer look at ISO 20400: 2017

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ISO 55000 is not about ticking boxes it’s about boosting business success

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Corporate Social Responsibility From Sydney to Manila, via Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei

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RedR Report: Hayden Pickering

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Project case study Understanding Slip Resistance Laws

Not a member of Consult Australia?

To find out more about how your firm can benefit from membership contact Consult Australia on (02) 8252 6700 or email membership@consultaustralia.com.au

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www.consultaustralia.com.au

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Consulting Matters

Industry updates

Industry updates NEW APPOINTMENTS Jamie Shelton has been appointed as CEO of Northrop. Jamie is the first engineer to lead Northrop and brings a deep appreciation of client service to the role, along with plans to grow the business through the realisation of potential in Northrop’s people and in the projects they deliver. Jamie is a pastpresident of Consult Australia having served two terms from 2010-2013.

Engineers Australia has announced the appointment of Peter McIntyre FIEAust FAICD as its new CEO. An experienced CEO, Peter brings a wealth of leadership and governance experience to the role, along with his experience as a professional engineer (electrical), not-for-profit board director and energy sector executive. His career has spanned both not-for-profit and corporate positions, including extensive experience in the energy sector, including as the former Managing Director of TransGrid.

SMEC welcomes prominent urban and regional planner Dorte Ekelund to the role of Principal Advisor - Smart Cities. Dorte comes to SMEC with extensive experience at all levels of government and across jurisdictions having recently completed a four-year term as Director-General with the ACT Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate and previously serving as head of the Australian Government's Major Cities Unit and Deputy Director-General of the WA Department of Planning and Infrastructure. This is a national role where she will help to enhance SMEC's contribution to making our cities even more prosperous, sustainable, resilient and liveable.

Ralf Sieberer has been appointed as Director of Operations – Australian Capital Territory (ACT) for Jacobs. Ralf has more than 20 years’ experience, primarily in the ACT, where he has been leading a Civil and Construction Services business for a global consultancy. He also brings extensive technical leadership experience from significant transport Design and Construct projects across the United States, where he worked with Carter Burgess (now part of Jacobs).

SMEC has appointed Alexandre R. A. Gomes as Chief Technical Principal Tunnels and Underground. A leader in the field of underground engineering, Alexandre has more than 25 years' international experience in the design and construction of multidisciplinary tunnel and underground projects, and geotechnical and geomechanical engineering. He has published more than 50 technical papers, has been an Adjunct Professor for Tunnelling at the University of Chile and has been involved in worldwide training activities for engineering professionals. A member of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA-AITES), he is currently serving as a Vice President on the organisations’ Executive Council.

Brad Tite has been appointed as Technical Executive, Hydrology and Hydraulics at WSP in the Transport Infrastructure team in Queensland. Brad has 30 years' experience and has led and reviewed hydrology and drainage teams on major transport infrastructure projects including the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, CityLink-Tulla Widening Project (Melbourne Airport to Bulla Road), Airport Link Northern Busway Tunnel, North South Bypass Tunnel Project (Clem7) and EastLink.

Jacobs has announced the appointment of highly respected aviation industry leader, Trevor Carnahoff to manage its Airports business in the Asia Pacific region. With more than 40 years’ experience in airport development, Trevor has served as an adviser to private sector participation on airport projects, as CEO of a major airport development consultant firm, as operations partner in a South American airport concession, and as an airport development consultant. Most recently serving as COO and Chief Consultant with the IGA consortium which has the mandate to develop the world's largest Greenfield PPP airport project on a site to the north of Istanbul on the Black Sea. SLR Consulting has appointed Trent Collins as Principal Consultant in the firm’s Mine Waste Engineering team. Trent has over 16 years’ experience in the geotechnical industry with a focus on Mine Waste, Tailings

Dams and Earthworks Construction and has spent much of his career in Africa and South America where he acted as Project Director and Principal Engineer for the Planning, Design and Operational Direction and Auditing of the Tailings Storage Regime at several mine sites.

Railway infrastructure and project management specialist, Clara Tetther, has joined Arcadis Australia Pacific from PwC as Infrastructure Advisory Lead – QLD. With over 20 years’ experience in the infrastructure sector, Clara is a diverse specialist in transport development and asset maintenance, having worked on key projects and clients such as TransLink, New Intercity Fleet, the Capital Metro and Moreton Bay Rail.

Aurecon has appointed leading public infrastructure expert Aneetha de Silva as Managing Director, Government. With 20 years’ experience in public and private sector infrastructure roles, Aneetha will be the first female member of Aurecon’s global executive committee. She has been involved in all of Victoria’s transport public-private partnership (PPP) projects and several other social infrastructure PPPs, including most recently the West Gate Tunnel project where she led the Government approvals and communications and stakeholder relations strategy for the winning contractor.

Sean Treweek has joined Norman Disney & Young (NDY) with an international remit in the newly created role of Director Residential, Hotels and Entertainment.

Sean joins NDY with over 20 years’ experience, with the past eight years at WSP in senior roles. With client-centric outcomes a key component of NDY’s strategy, Sean is looking forward to the client focus of his role.

Industry updates

Eric Shegog will join Cardno as Area Manager, Infrastructure and Natural Resources for NSW and Victoria.

With over 27 years’ experience, Eric has held recent positions at Roads and Maritime Services and the Port of Hastings Development Authority, leading transformational change and working across the project lifecycle including strategic planning, development, construction and operational phases, stakeholder and community engagement and complex environmental approvals.

Tonkin + Taylor has recently welcomed Steve Nye as Sector Director – Business Development Australia. Steve is a senior executive leader with more than 35 years’ industry experience and an excellent track record for driving the growth and success of multi-national engineering firms. Steve is charged with responsibility for building T+T's Melbourne team’s success and increasing services to clients in Victoria.

Cardno has announced the appointment of Mike Cush as Project Director, Transport for its Strategy and Business Development team. Mike brings over 35 years of professional experience managing the development and delivery of complex infrastructure, construction and maintenance projects around the world—most recently as General Manager, Network NSW for Roads and Maritime Services.

SLR Consulting has announced the appointment of Andrew Joycey as Principal Consultant with the firm’s Transport Advisory team based in Melbourne. With over two decades experience, Andrew has specialist expertise in a range of transport planning projects, including involvement in major development, road, rail, water, tunnelling and asset management markets spanning the public and private sectors.

Andrew joins SLR having held various senior positions in Queensland and Victoria with firms including Halcrow / CH2M Hill and the Department of Transport and Main Roads (Qld).

Consulting Matters

Swinburne University of Technology has appointed David Singleton to chair the Advisory Board of the new Smart Cities Research Institute. David is an ex-President of Consult Australia (2000-2002) and holds several roles as a non-executive director including member of Swinburne’s board, a director and Chairman of Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia and a member of the Future Business Council.

GHD has announced changes to its Board, with Rob Knott named Executive Chairman of the GHD Group, taking over from Russell Board, who is retiring after a 40 year career with the company, having served as Chairman since 2011. The company also welcomed three new executive directors to the Board: Denise Anderson – Regional Principal responsible for US mid-Continent, based in Houston, Texas; Iver Skavdal – Regional Principal responsible for US West, including Saipan and Guam, based in Santa Rosa, California; and Sheryl Cornelius – Regional People Manager for Asia Pacific, based in Auckland, New Zealand.

SMEC has welcomed Chris Jack as Local Function Manager for its Environment Team. Chris has a diverse and global background in the assessment and management of environmental risks, having worked on multi-billion dollar gas and coal projects in Australia and overseas. He now leads a team of 28 across four streams, including Planning and Assessment, Environmental Site Services, Ecology and Communications and Stakeholder Engagement.

Editor Mark Rock

President Andrew Mather

Chief Executive Officer Megan Motto

Executive Assistant to CEO /Operations Manager Guillaume Marchand

Director – Membership & Commercial Services Kisanne Dulin

Director State Operations Manager SA & NT Jan Irvine

Associate Director Policy & Government Relations Ryan Bondar

Communications and Events Manager Mark Rock

Corporate Designer Voltaire Corpuz

Editorial submissions kisanne@consultaustralia.com.au

Aquenta has recently appointed two new Directors to its NSW leadership team; Darren Holt, NSW Director – Cost Management Services, and Jonathan Key, NSW Director – Project & Program Services. Darren recently returned from the UK as Chief Estimator for A&IS, offering global expertise in estimating and cost management and over 30 years’ of experience. Jonathan joins Aquenta from Turner & Townsend’s European offices where he held a variety of senior roles, offering clients a wealth of commercial experience across the asset lifecycle.

Advertising enquiries info@consultaustralia.com.au Consulting Matters is produced by Consult Australia. Phone: (02) 8252 6700.

Website: www.consultaustralia.com.au

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Consulting Matters

Industry updates

Leading international environmental scientist Elizabeth Hurst has joined as Technical Director in Victoria. With over 20 years’ local and international experience, Elizabeth has worked in a broad range of sectors including transport, energy, mining, water and heavy industry. Key projects include the Mernda Rail Corridor Upgrade for Public Transport Victoria, the Craigieburn Train Maintenance Facility for the Department of Transport as well as the London Channel Tunnel Rail Link.

Jacobs has announced the appointment of Robert Jones, previous Chief Executive of Fulton Hogan (New Zealand), as its Delivery Partner Executive, Asia Pacific.

Robert brings to Jacobs more than 40 years’ experience in the construction sector, including involvement in managing many major engineering projects across the globe.

Robert will continue to be based in New Zealand and remain a Board member of Infrastructure New Zealand.

ALLIANCES & ACQUISITIONS Arcadis Australia Pacific has announced a strategic alliance with Australian tech innovator RedEye to transform the Australian built asset industry’s use of data. The strategic alliance will see Arcadis integrate RedEye’s innovative cloud solution into its strategic asset management offering, bringing a tangible digital solution to public and private organisations that own, operate and maintain critical infrastructure.

SMEC has announced the acquisition of PDR Engineers, strengthening the former's presence in northern Australia and complementing its existing offices in Townsville and Darwin. PDR is a professional consultancy firm, based in Cairns, providing structural, civil, geotechnical and mining engineering services to government and corporate clients.

AWARDS

Congratulations to Dr Ian Boake and Dr David Oliveira (top) of Jacobs on their election as Fellows of Engineers Australia in recognition of their role as true leaders of the industry and profession.

NEW MEMBERS Oztron Energy PCSG Building Products Certification EPCM Solutions MI Associates SLR Consulting AM Advisory Quatrefoil

2017 Economic Forecast An economic forecast for consulting in the built and natural environment

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Industry updates

Consulting Matters

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From the President In 2016 the average weekly full time wage for a woman in Australia is 16.2 per cent less than a man. This gender pay gap has been stuck between 15 per cent and 18 per cent for the last two decades. Meaning the average Australian woman has to work an average of an extra 66 days a year to earn the same pay as her male counterpart.

Our Male Champions of Change movement has shifted up a gear with the appointment mid last year of Coleen McKinnon as our Champions of Change Programme Director, and with the team having now moved from discussing what needs to be done, to actually getting personal commitments from each member of the group to make concrete change.

I believe that we will see some good results coming from this in 2017.

There has also been a focus on three key areas with projects being piloted in volunteer firms in the following areas: • Leadership Development and Sponsorship – a mentorship project aimed to stimulate the promotion of women into the upper management ranks in our firms; • Creating Gender Inclusive Cultures – a deep dive into cultural and organisational barriers to participation for middle management to accelerate change; and • Building a Comprehensive ‘D and I’ Strategy – individual company plans to develop strategy and leadership buy-in in their organisations.

2017 has also seen Peter Bailey of Arup, take over the Chairmanship of the Male Champions of Change, succeeding the inaugural Chairman, Greg Steele of Arcadis.

I add my thanks to that of Peter and the Champions to Greg for the great work he started, and continues to be an integral part of.

But why is this focus on gender diversity necessary you may ask?

Well let’s look at the statistics: • Women and girls make up over 50.2 per cent of the Australian population • Women comprise over 46 per cent of the Australian workforce But the ugly truth is that • In 2016 the average weekly full time wage for a woman in Australia is 16.2 per cent less than a man. This gender pay gap has been stuck between 15 per cent and 18 per cent for the last two decades. Meaning the average Australian woman has to work an average of an extra 66 days a year to earn the same pay as her male counterpart.

• The Gender pay-gap in ASX organisations is 28.7 per cent .

• Among non-public sector organisations with 100 employees or more, the gender pay gap for full time annual salary is 19.1 per cent and for full time total compensation is 24.0 per cent .

Is this because we don’t have enough qualified women?

No, this is absolutely not true.

• Of all women aged 25-29, 39.6 per cent have achieved a bachelor’s degree or above compared to 30.4 per cent of men in the same age bracket.

• Looking at the age bracket of 15-74, 6.1 per cent of men attained a post graduate degree compared to 5.7 per cent of women.

These statistics show that there is a larger portion of educated, qualified women entering the work force each year than men

—yet the male employment rate is higher!

And to make matters worse, between 2005 and 2015 female employees dropped 7.1 per cent in the finance industry and 2.8 per cent in the construction industry.

But have we seen any improvement of women in leadership positions?

The percentage of women on the boards of ASX 200 companies has grown from 8.3 per cent in 2009 to 23.4 per cent in 2016, and women accounted for 40 per cent of new appointments to ASX 200 boards in January 2016—so this is a small leap forward but still some way to go.

However, 25.1 per cent of Agency reporting organisations, have no key management personal that are women…

So, as you can see there remains a lot to be done, and this is why the work of our Male Champions of Change is so important.

If we want to be proud of our contribution to society, then in addition to the great project work our members do, we have to do better with regard to diversity (in all its forms) and inclusion.

Andrew Mather President

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Consulting Matters

Industry updates

From the CEO

outcome, we must begin with an altered paradigm.

Thus, my set of Principles for Procurement for the future are: • Our current systems of procurement need disruption, not incremental change.

• We should focus on innovation, efficiency and sustainability, not costs.

• We should see the procurement process as the beginning of the project outcome, rather than merely a selection methodology.

A few weeks ago, I attended a stakeholder forum of major State and Territory Public Sector clients, along with the major contractors, convened by the Commonwealth, to discuss issues to do with procurement and the costs of bidding for major infrastructure projects in Australia.

Whilst initially the conversation centered around small efficiencies like streamlined documentation and central registers, there was clearly a bigger picture at play.

On one hand, there is no doubt our sector is an exciting place to work. We do interesting work on fascinating projects in service of a happier, more productive Australian community.

On the other hand, however, we have major challenges to overcome, particularly if we are to be an industry of first choice for young people choosing a career path. The building and construction sector makes a major contribution to the Australian economy, and yet we are currently the productivity laggard in relativity to other industries. It seems to me that we need to be thinking in a big way about how we supercharge significant innovation, and surely that disruption needs to begin at the very beginning of the process—with procurement.

To this end, I proposed a set of principles to re-set our thinking about the outcomes we desire (innovation, quality, value etc) rather than the inputs (procurement). Surely, as Einstein points out, if we desire a different

Any truly innovative, disruptive industry will tell you that there are a number of key ingredients for innovation to occur—namely collaboration and calibration.

Indeed, in our sector we all appreciate how much collaboration (between what are very complex and siloed supply elements), can contribute to exceptional outcomes. Australia was at the forefront of relationship based contracting models such as Alliancing, and yet we tend to revert to traditional, more adversarial models because, on surface value, pitting the parties against each other gives a stronger perception of value for money.

Innovative businesses also practice the principles of failing fast and constantly re-calibrating their approach. In our sector these are called variations and we tend to be punished for them rather than rewarded!

It is clear then, that there is an ingredient mismatch in our current approach—if innovation requires flexibility and dynamism, a collaborative shared outcomes approach and a supportive, learning culture then our current procurement system, which instills a rigid, siloed and aggressive approach, simply does not prove fit for purpose.

All of this leads me to think that we are at a point in time when we need a real shake up within our industry, and perhaps the answer is the influence of fresh thinking from other industries, from under-represented groups (like women and non-Anglo cultural and religious backgrounds), and from sectors

of our society which are users rather than designers or constructors. Surely a different group of thinkers may come up with the kind of transformational re-design that is required to kick-start real productivity gains.

Without doubt expertise and experience are critical for project success, but if these are the only pre-requisites for leadership in our sector I fear we will be forever destined to repeat the mistakes of the past in perpetuity.

This “merit trap” will not only prevent us from attracting new thinkers into our businesses, but will see us fail to capture the benefits of their diverse thinking.

The correlation between diverse workforces (and leadership) and better business outcomes is undeniable. The research that has now been conducted around the globe (and a growing body of research and thought leadership by our own Male Champions of Change groups in conjunction with the Chief Executive Women in Australia) demonstrates an avalanche of evidence to support the case for more diversity is decision making.

One cannot help but hypothesise then, that bringing more diverse thinking by fasttracking non-traditional participants in our industry will only bring us a step closer to more inclusive, collaborative and disruptive solutions to the inputs which will drive a more productive supply chain in the building and construction sector.

Given the workloads ahead of us in developing our Country and Region’s infrastructure and cities, we simply MUST move now to implement step-change. If we don’t we will fail to fulfil our fundamental purpose—to leave this industry to the next generation in a better shape than it is today.

Megan Motto Consult Australia

Consulting Matters

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IN DUSTRY DIN N ER

SAVE THE DATE Thursday, 14 September 2017 Pyrmont NSW 2009 6:30pm til late Black tie

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Consulting Matters

What’s happening at Consult Australia

Division Updates With varying market conditions around the country Consult Australia’s state and territory managers share their insights on key challenges and opportunities for our member firms.

ACT

VIC & TAS

Kevin Keith

Zeina Iesa

Liveability Victoria International was recently formed by the Andrews Government to promote liveability sector export opportunities for Victorian businesses in international markets; and establish and build on government, business and university relationships internationally to facilitate commercial opportunities and strengthen Victoria’s economy.

On 4 June ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced the ACT Government will "introduce a position of Chief Engineer to lead the territory’s engineering and infrastructure projects" and deliver "high level engineering advice to government and an army of world class engineers in the private sector."

The temptation is to declare the Chief Engineer role a ‘win for the engineer’. It’s not, at least not entirely.

It’s a win for the yet-to-arrive students who will be better connected to all that inspires; the soon-to-become entrepreneurs who will move easier through culture-packed, creative centres; the families in yetto-be-developed suburbs who will love even more the lifestyle that makes our city unique. In short, it’s a win for people and the future of Canberra.

Emphasising this connection between our industry and the impact it has on the lives of those both present and future, our purpose, is fundamental to our industries success. So yes, we talk of building bridges, but we also talk of connecting communities, bringing work closer to home, assisting the movement of goods and creating jobs.

This bigger picture narrative, of engineering shaping our world to improve lives, is fundamental to the role of Chief Engineer. I often use a ship analogy. In the engine room, you can influence mechanics and quicken pace, but you have no idea of the ship’s direction or what is on the horizon.

The Chief Engineer role is about zooming out, seeing and understanding what is on the horizon, boldly steering and maintaining direction amidst short-term pressures and political storms, whilst being able to tweak the engine room if need be as— to quote Franklin—even a small leak will sink a great ship.

Members in Victoria have assisted the development of this initiative by providing information on current activities through Think Tank workshops.

Together, we discussed opportunities and challenges for international trade. With the demand for our members expertise overseas, the export market is one that the Victorian division will be focusing on over the next 12 months as we progress our advocacy priorities.

From an international perspective, we developed our pitch by discussing the 10 key elements that make Melbourne liveable. As an industry, how can we use our pitch to market ourselves better?

How can we collaborate better? The appetite to evolve, advocate and retain our mantle as the world’s most liveable city remains stronger than ever—but now we have an excellent government initiative that our members can engage and provide their expertise in!

We will continue to assist the Government to better support our members in this sector to engage internationally.

The Tasmanian Government handed down their budgets recently, announcing significant investment in road and transport infrastructure. CEO of Infrastructure Australia, Philip Davies will be joining us to discuss these announcements at our next member briefing.

This is the challenge and I look forward to working with colleagues across industry to make sure the Chief Engineer has the credibility, authority and resource to the set a course towards a better future for the people of Canberra.

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What’s happening at Consult Australia

WA

Steve Coghlan Whilst the WA State Election was not all that long ago, it seems as if the new State Labor Government has been off to a flying start in the very important (and previously disappointing) area of coordinated long term infrastructure planning. Encouragingly all signs point towards the new government remaining true to its pre-election commitment of implementing ‘Infrastructure WA’—an infrastructure planning authority tasked to develop a 20 plus year infrastructure plan for WA. As referenced before in previous Consult Australia WA State Updates, the real measure will be if such a body is established truly as an independent authority under an act of parliament; or whether it will simply be an ‘advisory body’ and hence open to stacking with members akin to the government of the day’s own political persuasion.

The form that Infrastructure WA takes will also be the first key test as to whether the new government is focused on putting the State’s long term social and economic prosperity ahead of retaining a muchmaligned political tradition of spending big on infrastructure more for short term political gain.

As such, and like Infrastructure Victoria, the importance of establishing such a body in a way which prescribes a 50/50 mix of experts from both government and industry, coupled with the appointment of an independent chair who has the power to cast a deciding vote if needed, will go to the heart of whether an authority will ultimately succeed or fail.

Establishing Infrastructure WA so that it can provide the government of the day with the necessary frank and un-politicised expert infrastructure planning advice it requires, without fear or favour, will also help establish the new government’s credibility in the infrastructure space after early concerns to do with sovereign risk which were born out of the cancellation of the Roe 8 contract.

As a key and founding member of the Infrastructure Coalition, a collective of industry peak bodies within WA who have been seeking the establishment of an independent infrastructure planning authority in WA for some time, Consult Australia continues to advocate strongly on this issue and others in the infrastructure and urban planning space.

To find out more you can download a copy of ‘Better Planning, Better Procurement, A Better WA’, or email us at wa@consultaustralia.com.au for further information.

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Consulting Matters

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QLD

Jillian Carney The reality is that the built environment is a place of complexity, change, movement and process, and is not simply a series of immovable objects.

Digital technology and digital delivery has changed the way we plan, build, maintain and use our social and economic infrastructure. Software, hardware and manufacturing are focused on innovation, keeping our world connected and finding solutions to problems as new technology emerges.

Changing customer demands are impacting how we design, plan and use our cities and communities. We are placing increasing emphasis on a ‘data-driven’ future opening up opportunities for the development of new products and markets—forcing us to reconsider our role as built environment professionals and to think differently about organisational changes to keep our businesses and industry ‘fit-for-purpose’, and attractive to clients and staff alike.

Let’s face it the connected world we are creating by harnessing big data, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, augmented reality and virtual realities, presents new and exciting opportunities for the built environment. These are game changing innovations that support the rise of new industries.

We’re past the point of waiting for the ‘disruption’ to happen—the digital disruptions are occurring daily. These disruptions mean that as an industry, we are faced with both challenges and opportunities for delivering real solutions for our clients, and creating sustainable communities for Queensland.

The built environment is a place of complexity and change and we need to adapt, embrace change and enjoy its complexity.

Every Federal and State government capital project should incorporate an effective innovation clause, encouraging new ways of using and building our infrastructure. We need appropriate and effective laws to manage data protection to ensure that data recording and use is not restricted and is actually able to provide the insights smart infrastructure intended. Innovations to enable our onward march to creating smart cities need to be developed in an open system and not in isolation, as isolation may result in an inability to connect and operate effectively once placed in the environment they were ultimately destined for.

National Strategic Partner

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Consulting Matters What’s happening at Consult Australia

NSW

Matthew Trigg The recent NSW Budget included capital spending for the next financial year of $22.3 billion, with this dropping to just $12 billion in 2020-21. This is the “once in a generation” investment boom.

The other side of a boom is a bust and concerns are growing that New South Wales is not going to have a well-managed transition out of its current high levels of activity.

It was only two years ago when some firms were still letting people go due to a lack of work, and many firms are only too aware of what sudden slowdowns in other states have meant for their balance sheets and staff more generally.

While New South Wales is reaping the rewards from their asset recycling program, they are also expecting to once again use debt to help drive their investment boom. By 2021 they are currently expecting debt to be 2.7 per cent of gross state product or $18.6 billion.

Debt used to build productive infrastructure assets is considered ‘good debt’ and if managed well will go some way for helping deliver a softer end to the current boom.

A key part of this will be making every effort for the Government to adopt, and possibly go further on the recommendations from the Inquiry into the Procurement of Government Infrastructure Projects, which was undertaken by the NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Transport and Infrastructure.

The Government must respond by August 2017 and it is hoped they will accept and implement key recommendations such as the creation of a Centre of Procurement Excellence, reduction of unnecessary information requirements, improved project pipelines, increasing the use of standardised contracts, providing clear guidelines for the allocation of project risk, and prohibiting the contracting out of proportionate liability across government contracts.

This is just some of many issues we deal with on a regular basis, and we will continue to act in the interests of our members and based on the information they provide to us through our various committees, roundtables, events, and conversations.

National Strategic Partner

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Between now and the March 2019 election we will be working with the NSW Government and the various opposition parties to ensure they understand the needs of our industry.

We will be using our privileged position as a respected and trusted stakeholder to push for greater levels of transparency of what comes after the boom for our industry and the wider community.

Discover our online education portal!

http://bit.ly/ConsultED

Online learning courses are available through Consult Australia for only $50 each for members!

ConsultED is an online platform that provides access to a variety of interactive short training courses tailored specifically for our industry and available from the convenience of your desktop!

What’s happening at Consult Australia Consulting Matters

SA

Jan Irvine Asset Management is staring a digital future in the face.

Asset management is the strategic approach to managing assets to enable the achievement of business objectives and enable realisation of value from assets by translating business objectives into asset-related decisions, plans and actions. It seeks to optimise cost, risk and performance over the whole asset lifecycle, at portfolio, system, and individual asset levels. The built asset lifecycle covers everything from the initial identification of need to its end of life, including activities such as planning, design, construction, operations and maintenance, renewal, enhancement, decommissioning and disposal.

The asset management environment is changing rapidly as new technologies become increasingly utilised and new techniques and tools enable organisations to address the challenges they face such as increasing demand, increasing stakeholder expectations, deteriorating asset base, or constrained funding.

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Consult Australia SA Division advocates implementation and advancement in the use of new technologies, embracing this future, growing our expertise in the aforementioned fields and providing the next generation the opportunity to work and live in South Australia, exporting these services interstate and internationally.

Increased adoption of technologies such as DE/BIM offers the opportunity for consultants to export our design and construction services to the developing world. Countries such as the UK are already starting to globally export their BIM services, and there is an enormous opportunity for Australian industry to build competence and experience in these technologies and export that expertise to other countries.

National Strategic Partner

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Current digital disruptions from advancing technologies and the emergence of The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to profoundly affect how we live our lives and businesses must adapt. IoT offers Australia significant and transformational economic benefit through smarter use of infrastructure, efficiency gains and new, more sustainable business growth.

The role of consultants in the transformation of the way infrastructure assets are designed and constructed is both imperative and significant. Expertise in Digital Engineering (DE), including Building Information Modelling (BIM), will be crucial from initial concept selection to optimal design in order to fully utilise available rich data and provide deliverables to the client which benefit end users and greatly benefit asset managers through the operational and decommissioning phases of an asset’s life-cycle.

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Consult Australia SA Division advocates implementation and advancement in the use of new technologies, embracing this future, growing our expertise in the aforementioned fields and providing the next generation the opportunity to work and live in South Australia, exporting these services interstate and internationally. Increased adoption of technologies such as DE/BIM offers the opportunity for consultants to export our design and construction services to the developing world.

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Consulting Matters What’s happening at Consult Australia

January – June

2017

& ADVOCACY HIGHLIGHTS

WINS

BEST PRACTICE PROCUREMENT & FAIRER CONTRACTS

STRONGER, MORE COLLABORATIVE BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS

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

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

 The New South Wales Procurement Inquiry saw Consult Australia NSW’s recommendations supported by the Inquiry. Ongoing advocacy saw engagement with the office of the Deputy Premier and Minister for Small Business, The Hon John Barilaro, Transport and Infrastructure Minister the Hon. Andrew Constance, the Attorney General’s the Hon Mark Speakman’s Office and Department and the Shadow Treasurer, Ryan Park.  Consult Australia represented the Industry at a National procurement roundtable with Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries from several government agencies led by the Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, Mike Mrdak. Additionally, Consult Australia met with Ms Rosemary Huxtable PSM, the Secretary of the Department of Finance, to discuss the economic benefits of better procurement practices.  Consult Australia appeared before the Joint Select Committee into the Commonwealth Procurement Framework led by Nick Xenophon Consult Australia gave evidence highlighting the need for Governments to modernise procurement in Australia.  Consult Australia Qld was invited by the Department of Housing and Public Works (HPW) to be a member of the Procurement Industry Advisory Group (PAIG) to engage directly on matters such as procurement pipelines and whole of government approach.  Consult Australia WA are advancing the case for standard contracts and Proportionate Liability reform. In WA several meetings with the Department of Main Roads, the Water Corporation of WA and the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority have been undertaken.  Consult Australia NT hosted a breakfast briefing with the Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics, Nicole Manison and CEO of the Department Andrew Kirkham.  Consult Australia SA has held meetings with both the SA Department of Treasury and Finance and the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI) in relation to onerous terms and conditions.  Consult Australia is working with the NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner on changes to the procurement framework including the requirement for all agencies to publish agency forward procurement plans, a cap on the maximum weighting on price in tender evaluations, prohibiting shortlisting on price alone, and the requirement for all major procuring agencies to provide regular industry briefing sessions.

 Ongoing advocacy with key federal political leaders has included the Minister for Major Projects, the Hon Paul Fletcher, the Office of the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, the Hon Darren Chester and the office of the Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation, the Hon Angus Taylor.  Briefings were held with key Federal Opposition members on Consult Australia advocacy priorities including the Shadow Minister for Small Business and Financial Services, Senator Katy Gallacher, the Shadow Assistant Treasurer the Hon Dr Andrew Leigh, the Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Climate Change Pat Conroy and the office of Deputy Leader of the Opposition, The Hon Tanya Plibersek  Consult Australia in WA launched its election platform, Better Planning, Better Procurement, A Better WA and ongoing advocacy with the WA Department of Premier and Cabinet

INDUSTRY INNOVATION, GROWTH & EXCELLENCE Showcase industry excellence, lead innovation and the adoption of new technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD); delivering a more competitive industry in the longer term: Consult Australia released The Australian Digital Built  Environment Principles marking an important step in the adoption of digital technologies to improve the design and operation of our cities and infrastructure.

Ongoing advocacy in SA has included a Boardroom Lunch  with The Minister for Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, the Hon Stephen Mullighan and DPTI CEO Michael Deegan to discuss a way forward to implement digital delivery of public sector projects  Ongoing advocacy in Vic including working with the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources including leading the discussion in relation to the Construction Technologies Sector Strategy  Consult Australia ACT delivered the first ACT ‘SMART WEEK’ with Data 61 and the ACT Government Digital Transformation Officer.

What’s happening at Consult Australia Consulting Matters

BETTER URBAN ENVIRONMENTS & 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: Consult Australia welcomed Infrastructure Australia’s (IA)  100 projects and initiatives as part of their newly revised Infrastructure Priority List including a number of Consult Australia recommendations on Value Capture.  A ssistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation Angus Taylor established the Cities Reference Group. Consult Australia’s CEO has been appointed to the reference group to help advise on cities policy and to foster new ideas for innovation and collaboration.  Ongoing discussions have been held with Mike Mrdak Secretary, Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development to discuss the Australian Government’s Smart Cities Plan and options for better and fairer ways of paying for Infrastructure.  Consult Australia has continued to work with John Alexander MP following the Federal Inquiry into Value Capture and had discussions with Trent Zimmerman MP in his capacity as a standing member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities.

Consult Australia launched a report that urges Governments  to overcome the financial obstacles that prevent infrastructure development. The Good, the Bad, and The Extremely Unhelpful, urges government to embrace debt, utilise value capture as a fair form of finance, recycle assets, develop road-user charging and develop policy to grow private sector investment.  Consult Australia QLD attending quarterly meetings with the Executive Director of the Capital Infrastructure Delivery Unit resulting in detailed discussions on issues such as transparency of panels, regional planning and improved procurement processes.  Consult Australia QLD has successfully advocated for Queensland Rail to publish existing panel arrangements and a 6 to 12 month Projects Pipeline Report on their website Consult Australia ACT successful advocacy has resulted  in the ACT Government committing to introduce a position of Chief Engineer to lead the territory’s engineering and infrastructure projects.

Consult Australia NT has been successfully working with the  NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner including the establishment of a 10 Year Infrastructure Plan.  Consult Australia successfully worked on the review with the SA Government and the SA Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure’s (DPTI) Prequalification System for Professional Services Contractors to better reflect current industry conditions and improve the systems efficiency and effectiveness

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Infrastructure Victoria’s (IV) discussion paper reflects Consult  Australia Vic’s advocacy for a more transparent long-term infrastructure pipeline supported by integrated strategic planning including using innovative financing methods such as Value Capture. CEO of IV, Michel Masson, addressed members to discuss how the recommendations will be progressed.  Consult Australia Vic has been working closely with CEO of the Victorian Planning Authority, Peter Seamer to discuss equitable access to employment, public transport, attractive public space and affordable housing.  Consult Australia’s advocacy has resulted in the commitment of the new Office of Projects Victoria that will oversee the planning and delivery of infrastructure projects.

SAFER, SUSTAINABLE & MORE PRODUCTIVE WORKPLACES Improving access to skilled workers against identified shortages: Consult Australia QLD has worked with the Department of  Transport and Main Roads, to achieve several successful outcomes as part of the recent review of the Engineering Consultant Scheme (ECS). The Department of Transport and Main Roads has reviewed the Scheme structure resulting in the removal of financial reporting, maximum daily rates and discounts.

Consult Australia’s ongoing advocacy in relation to changes  to the 457-visa system has seen us write to the Prime Minister the Hon Malcolm Turnbull and the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, the Hon Peter Dutton to ensure our industry can access the best professionals without additional regulatory burden on our member firms.  Consult Australia was invited to attend a roundtable meeting with Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas on the Victorian Government’s plan for the Registration of Engineers and invited to attend a meeting with Victorian Parliamentary Secretary for Treasury and Finance, Daniel Mulino on the Victorian Government’s plan for the Registration of Engineers.

Facilitating a more diverse workforce, with ensuing productivity benefits across the industry: The Consult Australia Male Champions of Change (CAMCC)  has implemented a rigorous Critical Success Factor framework to significantly and sustainably increase the representation of women in their firms. In November 2017, the CAMCC will publish its first progress report.  Consult Australia NSW hosted an International Women’s Day discussion with a focus on Women in Consulting Leadership with Senator Jenny McAllister. A similar event was held in Queensland to highlight the importance of women in our industry.

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Consulting Matters

Consult Australia’s Annual ASPAC Leaders Conference was held in Sydney on 3-5 May this year and provided a unique networking platform for the top echelons of the major consulting and engineering firms in the Asia Pacific region. The agenda for the 2017 Conference included insights from some of the world’s leading experts on business performance and drivers, updates on the economic and political environment of the region and discussion of the critical business trends and challenges facing the industry.

National Strategic Partner

You can view the entire 2017 program here and view more photos from the Conference here.

The 2018 ASPAC Leader Conference will be held 21-23 February 2018—so save the date now.

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Consulting Matters Features

JO METCALFE OF GHD AND LOUISE ADAMS OF AURECON BOTH RECEIVED THE CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE – FEMALE LEADERSHIP AWARD AT THE 2016 CONSULT AUSTRALIA AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE. HERE THEY DISCUSS HOW THEY ENTERED THE INDUSTRY, HOW THEY AND THE COMPANIES THEY WORK FOR ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE AND WHERE THEY SEE THE INDUSTRY MOVING IN THE FUTURE.

JO METCALFE, MANAGER CANBERRA AND SOUTHERN NSW, GHD

consulting careers. Now the view of diversity is a lot broader, such as initiatives for Indigenous people and the LGBTI community.

2) W hat led you into this industry initially and if you could go back to the beginning what advice, if any would you give to your younger self?

1) D iversity encompasses so many areas within a business especially today, what impact and changes have you seen within the industry?

Having been blessed with great supervisors and role models in my career, it wasn’t until about 2006 that I realised diversity and inclusion were issues that needed to be addressed as an industry. Together with two colleagues, we pioneered Women in GHD, a group to increase empowerment, networking and diversity of service-delivery teams. At an industry level, the peak bodies like Consult Australia and the Property Council of Australia have shown tremendous leadership inspiring their member companies to change our policies and practices and most importantly, our view of diversity as a business-critical issue.

Since then, I have seen enormous progress in the built environment sector, particularly in making flexible working accepted and valued.

Within our business, we understand that change comes from the top. When leaders set the example, it gives people within our teams the confidence to ask for flexible working arrangements that suit them.

There are more people with flexible working and part time contracts applying for management and other key positions and I am personally taking advantage of this. From a company perspective, this means we are drawing on a more diverse talent pool.

When I first became an advocate for diversity, the focus was on supporting women in

When I was selected to lead our business in Canberra and southern NSW in 2012, I was one of the first women in GHD to take up such a senior role. I did not have many female role models within the company so, again, I take my mentoring role and my profile, both internally and externally, very seriously.

I came to consulting in the built environment via what I would describe as a “cross country” route. I was originally going to be a scientist like my Dad but switched and graduated from landscape architecture after which I went into professional peak body management with the Australian Institute of Architects and from there into architecture and then multidisciplinary professional services firm management. I would reassure my younger self that it’s okay to deviate from your original path and having a portfolio career, as it would now be called, is exciting.

I would have put it more colloquially back then, “No need to have had that early-life crisis. You’re doing well.”

3) How are you making a difference both personally and within your company?

My responsibility as a leader is to bring issues to the table and open the necessary dialogues to drive transformational change.

I take this very seriously.

I encourage everyone to look at the teams and groups that we’re involved in, and consider ways to make them even more diverse. For me, it’s a daily marker—just like doing calf raises in the elevator—I think about doing something for diversity every day. Two minutes is all it takes.

When I was selected to lead our business in Canberra and southern NSW in 2012, I was one of the first women in GHD to take up such a senior role. I did not have many female role models within the company so, again, I take my mentoring role and my profile, both internally and externally, very seriously. As a

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mentor, I support others in enhancing their personal confidence and grow their careers.

By participating in industry associations, I am also privileged to have a voice on other issues that affect consultants, such as fair contracting conditions, professional standards and safety. Getting involved in an organisation like Consult Australia is one of the best ways of making a difference in your industry and community.

4) W here do you see the industry itself within the next 10 years?

I believe we will see significant transformation of our industry as technologies such as drones, data analytics, digital modelling and virtual reality become part of business as usual. Digital technologies have already reshaped other sectors and the built environment professions are not immune. Our diversity intelligence is incredibly important in harnessing the different, the unusual and rejecting the status quo.

These tools will enable us to push the boundaries of what’s possible.

We will also see significant productivity gains from reduced mistakes, and avoided rework and duplication.

Our roles as built environment consultants will also be redefined, and we will see even more diversity in the work we do and the kinds of services we offer our clients and how those services are made available to our clients. Some of our traditional design-driven work might disappear altogether due to automation, but there will be even more demand for strategic advice that helps clients adapt and evolve their assets.

Clients will be looking for people who challenge the norm and who can apply new tools to solve problems across a variety of industries.

Diversity of thought, background and experience will be critical to success.

Jo Metcalfe for GHD's Diversity Inclusion Step-Up Plan

The graduates we recruit today will be our leaders in 10 years’ time.

As individual businesses and at an industry-wide level, we need to provide career pathways and genuine opportunities for all people to gain experience throughout every stage of a project, across different industry sectors and in a variety of countries.

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LOUISE ADAMS, REGIONAL DIRECTOR – VICTORIA/ SOUTH AUSTRALIA/ACT, AURECON 1) D iversity encompasses so many areas within a business especially today, what impact and changes have you seen within the industry?

The dial has been turned up on diversity and we are seeing great uptake and momentum in the industry. Major industry bodies like Consult Australia and Property Council Australia (and more recently Roads Australia and Engineers Australia) have diversity front of mind. Women are now represented on panels, and they are speaking at and hosting industry events. Just as importantly, we are also seeing organisations with diversity targets and addressing pay gaps. It’s great to see that there is now “a little bit less talk and a lot more action”. Notwithstanding the fact that we still have a long way to go, I think it is a huge positive for the industry. I also think one of the big changes we have seen as an industry is that we have spent a lot of time in the last decade talking about needing a stronger pipeline of students coming through and making this not necessarily just an industry problem, but making it an education problem as well. We needed primary schools and high schools to pick up their game, and we needed Universities to do their bit as well.

In the words of David Morrison “you can’t be what you can’t see”. We do need to attract

I never had a doubt (ever) since I was 5 years old that I was going to be a civil engineer.

more women into STEM, but also at the same time we need to take distinct actions to shift the dial to show that these young people can succeed in this industry and that women are very much included. To do this we need to ensure that there are role models to show them how they can progress their careers.

I’m also very mindful that I have a particular role to play (as does any female leader in our industry) as a role model to aspiring young women. There are not enough of us, so those of us that are here have to carry a greater share than what we might otherwise do if we were in another industry.

2) W hat led you into this industry initially and, if you could go back to the beginning what advice if any would you give to your younger self?

I never had a doubt (ever) since I was 5 years old that I was going to be a civil engineer.

That came from a joint love of bridges with my grandfather. I used to look at all his photos from around the world and I always knew that I wanted to be a civil engineer. I guess I never really stopped to think that it was a male dominated industry, it was just what I was going to do. There was no decision point in my life, I just went through school knowing that I had to do maths, chemistry and physics to become a civil engineer.

My advice to my younger self would be to not under estimate the value of relationships you form at University and in your graduate years. I left Australia quite early in my career

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With diversity, comes innovation. So, I think this will drive innovation and drive different ways to do engineering. It will lead to a more open mind set as to who we need to employ in our organisations – where do we need engineers and where we can bring in other creative skill sets to add to the problem solving conversations.

What I can do within Aurecon is work with my leadership peers to ensure that we have strong leaders that can lead diverse teams.

4) W here do you see the industry itself within the next 10 years?

If we look to the recent research that Engineers Australia released it refers to Australia having a major shortage of engineers in the future, and that is without the gender issue. The impetus is now urgently on us to do everything we can to engage the entire workforce so that we can go to 100% of the available population to source future engineers. That not only means focussing on the pipeline front end with engagement of STEM subjects at school, but also focussing on teaching our leaders how to be inclusive leaders.

Consult Australia President Andrew Mather awarded the Highly Commended Award to Louise Adams for the Champions of Change Female Leadership Award at the 2016 Awards for Excellence in Melbourne.

and now I recognise that the one thing that I didn’t do well is stay in contact with those people. The people you go to University with and the people that you worked with as a graduate, they will be your clients and your peers in the industry as you go up through the ranks. The person that you are sitting opposite having a beer with on a Friday night, back when you were a second-year graduate, could well be one day the decision maker of one of your client entities who could be really valuable to you. After being away for twelve years, I had to rebuild those relationships.

3) How are you making a difference both personally and within your company?

The biggest difference I can make within Aurecon is to be a voice and an advocate to keep this issue front of mind. To give my full support to Aurecon’s Executive Committee, to my peers, and to my peer leadership group in not only awareness of the issue but keeping the issue front of mind

and challenging us all on this journey. I’m also very mindful that I have a particular role to play (as does any female leader in our industry) as a role model to aspiring young women. There are not enough of us, so those of us that are here have to carry a greater share than what we might otherwise do if we were in another industry. It’s about standing out through being on panels, speaking at industry events, and being a very visible female leader that other people can look to as a female role model.

Just as importantly, Aurecon is not going down the tokenistic path. We want talent and we want to see it thrive and we don’t want to just tick boxes to get the numbers.

Our diversity approach is more than just about gender diversity. With the engineering challenges that are facing our world today and tomorrow, our engineering pool needs to reflect the diversity that exists in our schools, universities and communities. Diversity of thought provides the best innovative solutions to the problems that our communities face.

As leaders in the industry, we need to know how to create diverse teams and then lead them to success. With diversity, comes innovation. So, I think this will drive innovation and drive different ways to do engineering.

It will lead to a more open mind set as to who we need to employ in our organisations —where do we need engineers and where we can bring in other creative skill sets to add to the problem solving conversations. If we don’t get our heads around this, it will be impossible for us to match the requirements of our industry moving forward from a resource perspective. Therefore, I think we will continue the momentum and we will continue to see the urgency quite simply because we are not going to be able to meet the demands any other way.

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Consulting Matters Features

Can Diversity Combat Australia’s Looming Welding Workforce Crisis?

Welding has always been male-dominated.

The trade conjures up images of burly men handling heavy machinery in dark, dirty, spark-filled workshops.

But, with the advent of automation and other advanced welding technologies, this image is becoming more and more antiquated; welding is a far less dangerous, arduous job than ever before. Increasingly, workshops are light, bright and clean. High-tech equipment manufactures cutting-edge parts for the likes of the aerospace and defence industries.

As the welding industry has evolved, so has the demand for employees. The welding industry doesn’t just want more women; it needs more women to survive.

Per a recent employment outlook survey in Australia, skilled trades workers are scarce—38 per cent of Australian employers admit that filling job vacancies is increasingly difficult, mainly due to lack of experience (23 per cent), lack of applicants (21 per cent), and lack of skills (2 per cent).

This is compounded by the fact that 32.9 per cent of Australia’s existing welding workforce is aged over 45 years. This heavy proportion of older skilled trade workers, particularly welders, puts into focus the looming issues that industrial sectors are likely to face when baby boomers finally reach retirement age—welding positions will simply become impossible to fill, particularly given the projected increased demand.

In fact, the Australian Government has projected that, to November 2019, the number of job openings for structural steel and welding trades will be above average.

An employment growth rate of 7.2 per cent is expected over the next five years for structural steel and welding trade workers.

So then, what is the solution to this looming workforce crisis?

According to the CEO of the Welding Technology Institute of Australia (WTIA) Geoff Crittenden, “Increasing diversity in the workplace is possibly the best way to alleviate the looming skills shortage. Every effort needs to be made to encourage women to become welders.”

Rachel Abbot chose a career in welding for the independence and opportunities it opened up for her.

“At the moment, women account for less than 1 per cent of Australia’s welding and fabricating workforce. Greater participation of women will not only benefit the industrial sectors, it will boost Australia’s economy.”

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The welding industry doesn’t just want more women it needs to more women to survive.

The rise in women’s employment rates since 1974 has improved Australia’s economic activity by 22 per cent, but perhaps more significantly, the personal gains afforded women by boosting their workforce participation have been immense.

Providing a wide range of viable career opportunities for girls and young women has been critical to ending the cycle of employment disadvantage and disparity.

“There are many advantages waiting for women who opt for a career in welding. There are significant economic benefits for women in non-traditional trades, from increased choice and availability of jobs, through to improved job security. Male dominated trades are also generally better paid than female dominated trade—when it comes to welding, women are actually paid 30 per cent more, when compared to their male colleagues.”

“More and more, welding is becoming a high-tech trade. The modern welder must be skilled in robotics, computer programming and engineering. They must have an affinity for maths and science, as well as artistic and spatial skills that enable them to quickly and easily conceptualise ideas. Plus, they must have the patience and temperament for precise, exacting work. Given all these specialist skills, welders have access to extremely wellpaid jobs that offer the flexibility and mobility that modern women—particularly working mothers—need,” said Crittenden.

For all these reasons and more, Rachel Abbot opted for a career in welding. A welder since 2008, Rachel is now a technical sales representative for one of the world’s largest welding supply firms, Lincoln Electric.

“The main inspiration and drive that got me into welding was my desire to be successful in

Australia must tackle workforce development in a new way. If women fail to join Australia’s welding labour pool, it will become too shallow.

Our industrial, manufacturing and infrastructure sectors will flounder. The Australian economy will suffer.

life, and to have a valuable trade that could see me through any economy or city. I decided I needed to be different and do something that was challenging, yet rewarding. I wanted to be a truly independent, strong woman who could achieve anything I wanted,” said Abbot.

“Welding has given me a career and drive like nothing else. I feel like, at times, it was the only thing keeping me on track. It has inspired me to be a better person than the path I was heading down. I owe my life to welding.”

The welding industry and the broader industrial sector will see enormous benefits in employing greater numbers of women.

Welding is not, and cannot be an occupation that is only available to men. After all, the best talent is drawn from wide labour pools.

Australia must tackle workforce development in a new way. If women fail to join Australia’s welding labour pool, it will become too shallow. Our industrial, manufacturing and infrastructure sectors will flounder. The Australian economy will suffer.

Sally Wood Welding Technology Institute of Australia

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Consulting Matters Features

Every which ‘why’ of Diversity NORTHROP’S KARLIE COLLIS KNOWS THAT UNDERSTANDING DIVERSITY ISSUES BEGINS WITH UNDERSTANDING YOUR PEOPLE.

A strategy for inclusiveness, well-being and diversity in engineering workplaces November 2014

Northrop needed to be confident that it wasn't just paying lip service to its employees—that the offerings were sufficient, accepted, and understood. It was also important to discover if there were unwritten rules that affected employee decisions.

Northrop has a diversity group that addresses issues and involves employees from varying roles within the company. The team’s recent focus were flexible work arrangements.

Although there was a plethora of options available to employees seeking flexible hours, they wanted to understand how these conditions were perceived internally.

In tackling diversity, it’s important to look at its many facets. If you drill down into why diversity has eluded engineering for so long, we need to address factors like unconscious bias, communication styles, cultural differences and a lack of role models, among others.

Flexibility in working arrangements is just one of many areas where it’s possible to create some great success stories in our industry.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) report ‘A strategy for inclusiveness, well-being and diversity in engineering workplaces’ (top) highlights the problems in this area. It states that work-life balance “... is a critical issue and has been consistently rated among the top issues for women in engineering (81.2% in the Engineers Australia 2012 survey)”. However, the “Engineers Australia’s 2012 survey showed that nearly 90% of employers provided some flexible work arrangements…but that the take-up of these arrangements continued to be low”.

Why is this so? Are our flexible work arrangements workable, or are there barriers (perceived or real) that prevent their take-up?

AVOID THE TRAP The introduction of diversity policies alone won’t solve the problems. And this seems to be the biggest trap for engineering firms.

Northrop needed to be confident that it wasn't just paying lip service to its employees—that the offerings were sufficient, accepted, and understood. It was also important to discover if there were unwritten rules that affected employee decisions. For example, did pressure from peers or management prevent take-up, through concern it might negatively harm career prospects? You can have all the policies, vision statements and management training modules in the world, but if your people don’t believe in them, you’ll have an uphill battle ahead. So how will you know if your employees fall into the 81% that still feel they have unsuitable work-life balance? Know your people.

Northrop wanted to bring a humanised learning tool to its people to help find some answers. They collated several written ‘profiles’ from employees who utilised flexible work arrangements. They were asked to highlight both the successes and failures of their experience which were shared through workshop format with a panel discussion from external peers within the industry. The discussion was frank, many eyes were opened, and there was a collective feeling that significant progress had been made in this area.

The key to the day’s success was an open conversation, and multi-faceted perspective—noting that this is not just a women’s issue.

In addition to the diversity group, Northrop conducts a regular external employee survey.

Respondents are assured of anonymity, and questions are carefully fashioned to provide maximum insight into potential issues.

Northrop use the survey in conjunction with face-to-face meetings and working groups to gain a better understanding of employees’ attitudes and perception.

USE THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE Consult Australia, Engineers Australia and WGEA all have an immense collection of resources to assist your organisation in addressing diversity. Another resource often overlooked is industry peers. What insights or resources could they provide to assist you?

Many flaws in policies that have been put together for minority groups are a result of not seeking input from the group in question. The conditions for flexibility in working arrangements should be continually re-assessed and reworked to ensure their suitability.

If you’re conducting internal workshops or surveys, an obvious solution is to collate and analyse the data. Read, re-read and make every effort to understand the background behind the diversity statistics you are providing to the WGEA each year. As a final comment, it must be emphasised how important it is to revisit and reinforce the WHY of diversity. It will only be once the WHY is fully understood and appreciated that you can start to address the HOW. Karlie Collis Northrop

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The “Boys Club” is no more but there is still work to do…

SMEC’S GENERAL MANAGER OF TRANSPORT, DAN REEVE, SHARES HIS THOUGHTS ON GENDER DIVERSITY IN ENGINEERING

Industry Changes, past, present and future I have seen many changes as the “boys club” image is scrubbed away in engineering and these changes are for the positive, but we have more work to do.

When I commenced my studies at UNSW, in the intake of 200 for the Civil Engineering Degree we had 10 women. When I graduated of the 64 in my year only 4 women graduated, that’s around 6 per cent.

Currently the number across Australia is about 16 per cent completing an engineering degree, and UNSW is on track to have women as 25 per cent of engineering graduates by 2020.

I spent the first half of my career working for construction contractors and during that time I only worked with a handful of women engineers and they were mainly client side. Now women working on construction is not unusual, but there are not many at a senior level.

Since joining SMEC we have gone from 5 per cent women engineers, scientists and managers to 15 per cent. My aim is to get this to 25 per cent as part of SMEC Transport’s Strategic Plan over the next 5 years.

To do this we will need to change some unconscious bias, grow a more constructive culture and implement some positive changes.

Changing the industry demographic, one step at a time Through organisations such as Consult Australia, Roads Australia and Engineers Australia there are great, positive programs, but we need to do more and we need to get the message into our high schools.

I believe that once young women know about the opportunities presented by a career in engineering, there will be more of them keen to pursue it. We also need to do more to keep women in the industry and as an industry we are only now getting our head around this big issue.

Within SMEC, our COO Hari Poologasundram, is a member of the Consult Australia – Champions of Change Task Force and has been leading the positive changes within SMEC Australia. Within the SMEC Transport Group, I have been encouraging the development of our staff (especially the many bright young women that we have on staff).

I also encourage a more constructive and inclusive culture, helping managers to recognise their unconscious bias.

To put it simply, we need more women in engineering leadership roles, if we want to have a sustainable industry able to deliver the transport infrastructure our country needs.

Targeting and increasing diversity within the industry I believe that our targets are realistic but to attain them our industry needs to do more. We both need to attract females into engineering and give them the opportunity. We don’t have enough engineers in our industry at this time. We also have an aging and mainly male practice base, so we need to create our own future and open doors

Dan Reeve on Gender Diversity in Engineering Photo courtesy of SMEC

for those bright female students with the right aptitude, who we are not capturing as future engineers.

My daughter, who is now a project engineer with a large construction contractor, did not have a lot of support from her career advisors at school. She also did not have many female engineering role models to look up to. I know through her experience, what some issues are for young women in engineering.

Most importantly, we need to establish the right workplace culture for all our staff, eliminate any cultural bias and create opportunities for women to thrive in engineering.

Growth in team diversity and the challenge to remove barriers and cultivate culture I have found that the best performing project teams are those with a strong diversity in skills and an openness for collaboration. I also find that having a good gender mix helps team communication and drives better outcomes.

In my role as general manager working across Australia, I try to meet with all our staff. I’m especially pleased to meet with our young female engineers to encourage them in their development. Do they surprise me? No not at all, they encourage me that our industry is in great hands. Our young engineers have adapted to the changing technology and have learnt to look differently at problems that need to be solved. As leaders we need to harness their energy and give them the opportunities they need for their development.

The challenge for me has been in my role, discovering how I can help eliminate some of the barriers and assisting in changing the culture within SMEC for the better. SMEC already has a great culture, which came out of the cultural diversity of the Snowy Scheme. However, we need to grow and adapt, so that we can have sustainable and stronger culture as we prepare for the ever changing future. To do that successfully we will need a good balance of bright female engineers throughout our business.

Dan Reeve SMEC

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Consulting Matters Features

Engineering diversity recognised globally 23 JUNE CAME AND WENT. BUT THERE’S A GLOBAL SIGNIFICANCE TO THE ENGINEERING FRATERNITY FOR THIS DATE. IT MARKED THE INAUGURAL INTERNATIONAL WOMEN IN ENGINEERING DAY (INWED17).

Whilst the impact of International Women’s Day in March has exploded over the past few years, a day dedicated to women in engineering and technical roles is significant.

Founded on 23 June 1919, the Women in Engineering Society (WES) was created during the First World War to get women into work to release men for the armed forces. This group of influential women had government backing to support women engineers who—whilst welcomed into the profession during the war—were under pressure at the end of the war to leave the workforce to release jobs for men returning from the forces. The purpose of WES was to help promote engineering as a rewarding job for women.

Based in the UK, the WES charity has blossomed into a professional network

of women as engineers, scientists and technologists offering inspiration, support and professional development. Working in partnership with many organisations and companies worldwide, WES supports and inspires women to be successful in a dedicated career as engineers, scientists and as leaders.

INWED17 proved to be a tangible and inspiring way for Norman Disney & Young (NDY) to celebrate the profile of women in Engineering and related technical services by showcasing their commitment to cultural diversity and to inspire future generations of younger women by organising a series of events, activities and promotions under the INWED17 banner.

equality in our workforce, as evidenced by our commitment as a signatory to Consult Australia’s Champions of Change Charter,” says NDY CEO Stuart Fowler.

Recognising female engineers as an integral part of the employee talent pool across its thirteen offices worldwide, NDY created a series of “I’m an Engineer” articles profiling each female engineer and circulating these stories via various channels including the official INWED site. These were augmented by a range of ‘A Day in the Life’ articles featuring some of the female engineers at NDY.

NDY’s support and participation in INWED17 was celebrated by profiling 41 of its female engineers—demonstrating a significant commitment to diversity in the workplace.

Specially designed Pledge Boards were also installed at all NDY offices—these were used as a point of focus during their June 23 celebration events, inviting female engineers firstly to write a career goal on the board, then inviting the entire office to sign their name in a pledge to support the female engineers in their career ambitions.

“We recognise the importance of helping to break down the disparities presented in the engineering workplace and we will continue to be a significant champion of diversity and

Two colleges also participated in the Students@Work project which aimed at inspiring current Year 10 and 11 young girls to consider a rewarding future career path.

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“Our support of INWED—amongst a range of other diversity initiatives—celebrates our engineering talent whilst also highlighting the ongoing momentum required to embrace and support real change for women in Engineering and technical services.” says Fowler.

Ric Navarro Norman Disney & Young

It is reported that on a global scale, women in Engineering comprise around 9 per cent of the total numbers. Whilst NDY surpasses this figure by employing 13 per cent of females in Engineering and technical services, the firm is committed to raise this figure by 2020.

Left: NDY London engineers and technical staff with pledge boards Above: NDY engineer Liana Paolino signing a pledge board Top right: NDY Vancouver engineers and technical staff

Engineer profiles and stories can be accessed at: http://www.ndy.com/news/inwed17

NDY are cultivating a platform to be an employer of choice for women in engineering and technical services by championing the 2020 goal to create opportunities for more women to be employed in engineering services.

All thirteen NDY offices were registered as part of the celebrations and recognition of INWED17—a first for NDY Australia as no other engineering company from the country registered their involvement with INWED17.

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Consulting Matters Protecting your business

Building Information Modelling: Finding a balance I recently had the opportunity to present at a MelBIM forum. If you’ve been to an event

by MelBIM, or its sister groups interstate, you’ll know what a fantastic atmosphere it is when you put two hundred or more Building Information Modelling (BIM) specialists in a room and talk about the latest leaps being made by this ever-growing technology.

I’ll cheerfully acknowledge that my presentation didn’t hit the same excitement levels as (say) drone footage showing a floorby-floor view of a prospective high-rise site!

But alongside the well-justified excitement, it’s also important to turn our minds to the legal and practical underpinnings that are needed to support the growth of BIM. The two questions that resonated with the MelBIM group were: does insurance cover BIM, and how can I embed BIM procedures in contracts?

DOES INSURANCE COVER BIM? What cover professional indemnity insurance provides for BIM depends, of course, on the specific policy in place. However, there are some general observations we can make.

First off, professional indemnity insurance usually provides cover for civil claims arising out of the conduct of a particular profession, and that is the profession named in the policy schedule, such as 'structural engineer', or 'project manager', or 'architect'. A survey of design professionals showed that 61 per cent were using BIM on at least 30 per cent of their projects (McGraw Hill The Business Value of BIM in Australia and New Zealand, 2014). So arguably it has become part of the ordinary practice in the construction industry.

One pitfall to watch out for is specific policy clauses excluding claims arising from

'electronic transmission of data' or 'the use or misuse of the internet'. Having their genesis in the anticipated 'Y2K' catastrophe almost two decades ago, these exclusions are now rare, but not unheard of.

The more interesting question is how insurance will respond when BIM moves from being a mere smart tool to requiring a real transformation of project relationships and liabilities. Insurers are reportedly comfortable with Level two BIM (Construction Industry Council (UK) Best Practice Guide for Professional Indemnity Insurance when using Building Information Models, 2013). This comfort stems from the clear liability trail that exists when each contributor creates their own model and these models are federated together. Moving to Level three BIM, where designers work off a single model, there is greater concern as responsibility and liability become harder to distinguish. To go a step further, when Level three BIM is used, it may be accompanied by integrated project delivery and an agreement for all contributors to bear joint liability for the model. That last step takes us outside the cover of traditional professional indemnity insurance cover, and is likely to fall foul of 'assumed liability' policy exclusions.

In the future, we might find a solution in using more of the single project insurance policies currently seen on large government projects such as alliances, where one policy provides cover for all model contributors.

Until then, consultants should have a discussion with their brokers before moving beyond Level two BIM.

EMBEDDING BIM IN PROJECT CONTRACTS Anecdotally, it seems that many projects are

One pitfall to watch out for is specific policy clauses excluding claims arising from 'electronic transmission of data' or 'the use or misuse of the internet'. Having their genesis in the anticipated 'Y2K' catastrophe almost two decades ago, these exclusions are now rare, but not unheard of.

adopting BIM without a clear, documented plan for how it will be used. The 1000+ consultancy agreements sent to our contract review service each year seldom mention BIM specifically, and it’s even rarer for a BIM execution plan or protocol to be annexed to the contract.

Why do you need a BIM plan or protocol?

Firstly, to give your role enough specificity for you to accurately price and plan.

Secondly, to create a consistent system imposed on all contributors to the model.

Thirdly, as a reference point to resolve misunderstandings, and, if need be, to determine each party’s responsibility and liability in the event of an error.

As a starting point, some key topics to cover in a BIM protocol are: •R equired level of BIM output. (Level two?

Level three?)

• Required software and systems •L evel of development required for each stage, plus how the level of development is defined and measured •P rocedure and schedule for federation of models and clash resolution •C opyright licences and moral rights consents sufficient to allow all contributors to use and modify each other’s models as required for the purposes of the project •T he powers of the overarching manager of the BIM model (if there is one).

Consultants and clients who do not already have a BIM protocol can draw guidance from a number of different templates, many of which are freely available: •N ATSPEC – National BIM Guide and BIM Management Plan •C onstruction Industry Council (UK) – BIM Protocol (2013) •A merican Institute of Architects – BIM and Digital Data Exhibit (E203-2013) • RIBA – BIM Overlay (2012) Having a plan is only the first step. To be effective, the same BIM protocol should be included in the contracts of all the BIM participants, so that everyone is working under the same parameters. The Construction Industry Council (UK)’s BIM Protocol includes example contract provisions

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The future calls for something larger and broader than a BIM execution plan. We need to consolidate the best ideas from the UK, the US and locally to create a common language and a common procedure, so that consultants can work smoothly across all projects. for incorporating some basic BIM provisions into a consultancy agreement.

The future calls for something larger and broader than a BIM execution plan. We need to consolidate the best ideas from the UK, the US and locally to create a common language and a common procedure, so that consultants can work smoothly across all projects. Should model elements be measured by 'level of development', 'level of detail' or 'level of information'? Can we develop commonplace procedures for federation and clash resolution?

At MelBIM, we talked about work that is already being done—like the creation of the new Australasian BIM Advisory Board

(ABAB), or the BIM Knowledge and Skills Framework launched in May by APCC and Building Smart. I’m more conscious than ever of how important this work is.

From the 19th century until the mid-1990s, travelling from Australia’s west coast to its east required changing trains as many as six times because of the different gauges adopted in various regions. Reaching consensus is hard, especially when the technology is new and rapidly evolving and every player wants to pursue their own idea of what’s best. But working around incompatible systems is even harder, and now is our opportunity to get on the same gauge with BIM.

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Consulting Matters

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Photo courtesy of Seb Zurcher

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Consulting Matters Business essentials

A New Standard in Procurement – A closer look at ISO 20400: 2017 Procurement plays an important role in all organisations, having farreaching environmental, social and economic impacts. In the public sector alone procurement comprises approximately 12 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 29 per cent of government expenditure in Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries.

Sustainable procurement presents an opportunity for organisations to develop systems which allow for the prioritisation of growth whilst balancing this against the needs of society, the economy and the environment. It also recognises that progression towards a sustainable world will involve the full participation of diverse stakeholders and consideration of diverse issues.

ISO 20400, Sustainable procurement – Guidance is the world’s first International Standard for sustainable procurement and aims to assist organisations in meeting their sustainability responsibilities by providing guidance as to the effective implementation of sustainable purchasing practices and policies.

(a) c ontributes to sustainable development, including the health and welfare of society; (b) c onsiders the interests of stakeholders impacted by procurement practices; (c) is compliant with the rule of law and international norms; and (d) is integrated at all levels.

THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT? Under the ISO, sustainable procurement is defined as “procurement that has the most positive environmental, social and economic impacts possible across the entire life cycle and that strives to minimize adverse impacts”.

ISO 20400 also lists a range of principles to be upheld if an organisation is to embrace sustainable procurement, including accountability, transparency, ethical behaviour, respect for human rights and a focus on innovation and improvement.

In integrating these principles organisations must balance the following issues:

Sustainable procurement is a central tenet of social responsibility and it is envisaged that ISO 20400 will complement ISO 26000:2010, Guidance on social responsibility. This is because ISO 20400 directs organisations to minimise their environmental footprint, review their impact on human rights and act to positively contribute to society and the economy.

To this end, important practices explored in ISO 26000 such as due diligence, analysing the sphere of influence, setting priorities and avoiding complicity are all practices encouraged in ISO 20400.

WHAT DOES THE NEW STANDARD PROVIDE? The ISO is divided into four clauses which provide guidance applicable for different levels of management. Integration between these diverse industry players is critical to the ISO’s ability to achieve its sustainability objectives.

Clause Four, Understanding the Fundamentals is a generalist clause which discusses what sustainable procurement involves and its strategic goals. It also outlines fundamental practices such as due diligence, risk management and priority setting.

1. T he triple bottom line – development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland report, 1978); and 2. Social Responsibility – responsibility of an organisation for its impact on society and the environment through transparent and ethical behaviour that:

Clause Five, Integrating Sustainability into the Organisation’s Procurement Policy and Strategy provides guidance to top-tier management on bridging the gap between sustainable procurement strategy and organisational policy. This clause clarifies the importance of mandating sustainability objectives within the organisation at all levels and stresses the importance of accountability and sustainable supply chains.

Clause Six, Organising the Procurement Function towards Sustainability is most applicable for people engaged in procurement management and outlines the techniques to be employed to enable successful implementation, namely enabling people, engaging stakeholders, setting priorities and measuring performance.

Business essentials Consulting Matters

Clause Seven, Integrating Sustainability into the Procurement Process is directed towards individuals managing sourcing activities and contracts. It provides practical guidance regarding implementing sustainable procurement at each stage of the process including planning, supplier selection and contract management and review.

MORE THAN JUST A VALUABLE GUIDE? Unlike other International Standards such as ISO 14001:2016 Environment Management Systems, ISO 20400 is merely an advisory document and does not provide an objective certifiable standard. Consequently, ISO 20400 may echo the weaknesses of ISO 26000 in that it is insufficiently attractive to businesses who capitalise less on communicating compliance with a guidance standard than with a certification. It is also unclear how ISO 20400 will be recognised within available rating systems used to evaluate organisational sustainability standards.

Therefore, the acceptance of ISO 20400 within corporate circles will be critical in determining whether the International Standard will be of practical relevance or whether it will merely be a valuable guide for organisations seeking to improve their engagement with sustainability standards.

Scott Alden Construction & Infrastructure Partner and Georgia Appleby, Graduate Lawyer Holding Redlich

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Cost: $2,750 excluding GST The fee includes full residential costs, meals and comprehensive materials.

Registration: For more information and to register, contact Professor Daniel Samson on (03) 8344 5344 or d.samson@unimelb.edu.au

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Consulting Matters Business essentials

ISO 55000 is not about ticking boxes it’s about boosting business success “Why are you doing this? What is in it for the shareholders and the CEO? How is this process actually going to add value and contribute to the performance of the business?” Over the last four years I’ve found that I have been asking these types of questions a lot. I’ve just returned from the UK where we’ve been taking this rather different style of approach with businesses keen to achieve ISO 55000 certification. In short, we’ve been encouraging them to focus on business imperatives and stakeholder’s benefits as the driver to improving asset portfolios. It’s a different way of thinking, and it has been transforming their businesses.

With a number of Australian companies increasingly seeking ISO 55000, I wanted to share a little of what I’ve learned and how businesses here can get one step ahead, if they choose.

I am often advised the CEO is not really interested in asset management…that it is the domain of the asset management or engineering department.

This really is a narrow viewpoint.

In the UK, I was mostly working with regulated sectors—such as rail, highways, energy and aviation—where asset management is now a well-established part of business processes. But I witnessed varying degrees of success. A common theme seems to emerge in response to my searching questions. I am often advised the CEO is not really interested in asset management and that it is the domain of the asset management or engineering department. This really is a narrow viewpoint.

Most CEOs are very interested in any risks to the sustainability and performance of the business. Most CEOs are very interested in all areas of the business that are investing funds in business-critical assets and the benefits achieved by the investment.

ISO 55000 is an excellent framework to embed consistency in approach, focus on the big issues and establish best practice governance. The bottom line is that business efficiencies are to be had from improving asset management practices.

It is for this reason that my work with clients is focused on discussions around what are the contributions to the success of the business? What are the benefits and who are the recipients of the benefits—customers, shareholders, or the community?

Unfortunately, asset management departments are often seen as specialist groups distinct from other areas of business.

If we focus our attention solely on the asset management departments, delivering and embedding change into the broader business can be a challenge.

So, what is needed for asset management to be successfully implemented and produce excellent results for the business?

• Senior buy-in where the leaders of the business see the advantages of implementing successful asset management practices • An Asset Management Champion / Owner who is senior and has budget and time available for the improvement program • The personnel are not change weary • The asset management policy and strategy is aligned to other organisational policies (customers, finance, human resources, safety, sustainability, community engagement).

“We need to understand the pain the business is experiencing and try to identify a way of contributing to reducing that pain.”

Delivering best practice ISO 55000 SAMP requires buy-in from the top, and multiple stakeholders across the business. In order to build confidence, we need touch points that

are critical to the business, for example we need to focus on strategies that will benefit the business like de-risking service provision, enhancing the customer experience, meet the regulators expectations of performance.

We need to understand the pain the business is experiencing and try to identify a way of contributing to reducing that pain. If we can show this, we will gain the attention of key stakeholders across the business from board level through to people working on the ‘shop floor’.

In order to be fully effective, transformation from ‘best practice’ asset management to the achievement of improved business performance, satisfied customers, reliable service provision, etc., requires a business benefits approach. People operating and utilising the asset need to be competent and capable, operational activities need to be aligned, asset knowledge needs to be right to inform the right people at the right time across the whole life cycle. Business processes must be developed to ensure consistency and drive outperformance.

So, moving towards getting the most out of existing and ageing asset base or the valuable new asset is a significant business challenge not to be underestimated.

Asset management is not about ticking boxes, rather actually it’s transforming businesses by focussing on drivers and changes in culture to ensure new approaches and ensure they stick.

Peter Scuderi Arup

Corporate social responsibility Consulting Matters

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From Sydney to Manila, via Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei GHD HAS WELCOMED ITS FIRST NEW COLOMBO PLAN INTERN, AS PART OF THE COMPANY’S STRATEGIC FOCUS ON EMPOWERING AND GROWING TALENTED, CAREER-ORIENTED PEOPLE. Nathan Leong, who is studying a double degree in electrical engineering and finance at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, is doing a two-month placement in GHD’s Manila office in the Philippines.

The New Colombo Plan is a flagship Australian Government program to provide Australian students with direct experience of living, studying and undertaking work placements in the Asia Pacific region. Internships with companies like GHD are a key part of the program, providing opportunities to gain practical experience, build cross-cultural competencies and develop professional networks.

Nathan says he selected GHD out of the participating businesses because he wanted to gain experience and insight into a leading global consulting company.

He says, “I’ve always had a strong interest in Asia. Before coming to GHD, I studied in Taiwan and South Korea, and completed an internship with a bank in Japan. This is my first time in the Philippines and it’s been an eye-opening experience. I am learning a lot about what it takes to work your way up to a project manager role, and the importance of gaining as much experience as possible, especially out on site.”

Carl Willis, GHD’s Manager – Philippines, says, “The New Colombo Plan is a great program we can tap into to connect with students and graduates who are interested in global careers and committed to developing not only technical skills, but also cultural understanding. People who have these attributes play an important role in building on our established presence in the region to access new markets and clients.”

Carl Willis GHD

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Consulting Matters Corporate social responsibility

RedR Report: Hayden Pickering RedR Australia’s Hayden Pickering is being credited with helping to end a humanitarian crisis on the Syrian Jordanian border last year.

Around 50,000 people were stranded when the Jordanian Government closed the border, after an Islamic State attack on a guard post left seven dead and several more injured. The people were fleeing the civil war in Syria and, after the border closure, were left trapped in a no man’s land of desert between the two countries.

A humanitarian crisis quickly unfolded as the Jordanian border region became a closed military zone and the authorities restricted access for Syrians into Jordan and humanitarian access to the stranded population. Many of them are asylum seekers fleeing the war but it’s a vulnerable population mix as Islamic State is known to operate nearby. Whilst water was provided, food was running out and there were increasing serious health issues. The people needed urgent life-saving humanitarian assistance.

RedR deployed Hayden to assist the United Nations to negotiate with the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF), for access to these Syrian refugees.

In September, the United Nations negotiated an agreement with the Jordanian authorities to allow access for humanitarian aid but the terms and conditions of that access still needed to be agreed upon and, as the civil military coordinator, it fell to Hayden to liaise between the JAF and the UN agencies, to finalise those terms and conditions and ensure the access was gained.

“His deployment came at a critical time and it is without a doubt that his contribution has accelerated access at the berm,” his supervisor at OCHA Sarah Muscrot told RedR. “Hayden, very quickly understood how he could use his knowledge and expertise to

Hayden and colleague UN RHC to Jordan David McLachlan-Karr at Berm Photo: RedR Australia

advance our negotiations with the Jordanian authorities to resume the delivery of humanitarian assistance at the berm. With very little support or guidance he developed all of the supporting documents necessary to secure the approval of the Jordanian authorities for the berm operations,” she said.

“It took a couple of months but finally, in November last year, the first aid trucks went over the border and it was a great moment,” Hayden said from Amman.

After the June attack, the Jordanian border region became a closed military zone Hayden explained adding that, not surprisingly, the Jordanians first priority was to secure their borders from terrorist attacks to ensure the

With very little support or guidance he [Hayden] developed all of the supporting documents necessary to secure the approval of the Jordanian authorities for the berm operations.

safety and security of their own people.

“We had to respect that and find a way that would satisfy their legitimate security needs but still enable us to address the humanitarian imperative,” Hayden said.

“The situation in the berm is distressing.

There’s been snow out there over the winter and now we are moving towards extreme temperatures in the forties. When you are living in these conditions, under a plastic sheet, it’s tough,” he said.

Thanks to the efforts of Hayden and his United Nations colleagues, there is now an aid distribution point near the Syrian berm and, since December, the JAF has provided security assistance for the UN and its partners to conduct health screening and provide life-saving assistance for those needing emergency medical treatment.

Within four months, they had allowed 900 people to cross the border into Jordan for medical treatment.

Jordan currently hosts more than 650,000 registered Syrian refugees whilst there are 2.8 million registered in Turkey and over a million in Lebanon.

Corporate social responsibility Consulting Matters

There is no doubt that lives were saved as a result of the resumption of humanitarian aid to people at the berm.

Hayden was subsequently deployed to Turkey where he is now supporting the United Nations efforts to get humanitarian aid to internally displaced people inside Syria.

There is no doubt that lives were saved as a result of the resumption of humanitarian aid to people at the berm. RedR Australia would like to acknowledge the generous funding received from the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to support Hayden’s deployment.

RedR Australia is dependent on the generous support of the Australian public and the Australian and UK Governments to continue our vital work. If you would like to donate to support populations affected by war and natural disasters, visit www.redr.org.au Katrina Peach RedR

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Consulting Matters Project case study

Understanding Slip Resistance Laws In a recent article, we looked at how to reduce public falls and accidents. One point we championed for the reduction of public falls, was the need for small slotted slipresistant grates in public areas. Well, it looks like legislators agreed with us, because new legislation surrounding slip resistance has been implemented. In this article, we’ll examine the real life implications of the test methodologies defined by recently released AS 4586 Slip resistance classification of new pedestrian surface materials, and explore how they are relevant to your next project.

The classifications are explained in the handbook HB 198 Guide to the specification and testing of slip resistance of pedestrian surfaces with a view to aid the designer in assigning the correct level of slip resistance for an application.

These tests determine ratings of slip resistance that are important to understand when undertaking a commercial or industrial project that requires drainage systems to be installed. They ensure that the appropriate level of slip resistance is applied to avoid slips and accidents.

Which level of slip resistance is right?

NSW Angel Place Sydney photo courtesy of ACO Australia.

When are slip resistance standards required?

All slip resistance standards and safety requirements must be rigorously adhered to in commercial and industrial projects in order to maintain public safety, increase access and avoid compensation claims. Pedestrian areas such as walkways, shopping centres, hospitals and other public areas require various levels of slip resistance as outlined by the classifications in HB 198. But it pays to keep in mind that standards for one project, for example an outdoor architectural installation, might be vastly different to, say, those for an indoor food service environment. Furthermore, the compatibility of floor finishes with adjacent grates is critical to avoid undesirable trip hazards. The safety requirements for such spaces will also vary greatly depending on WHS and disability access requirements.

ACO’s Heelsafe® Anti-Slip grates cover a range of slip resistant ratings to cater for drainage projects in a wide range of sites.

What are slip resistance ratings?

In order to assess the slip resistance of a grate or floor surface, three tests are specified in AS 4586 which measure slip resistance in various areas.

• The wet pendulum test can be applied for areas that become wet in the rain, such as stormwater grates.

• The wet-barefoot inclining platform test is designed for wet areas where shoes are not worn, such as water parks and beach areas.

• The third kind of test is designed for commercial and industrial areas that can become dirty with oil or grease. It is called the oil wet inclining platform test and is applied in internal industrial and commercial environments such as kitchens and food processing areas.

With the increase in litigation and compensation for injuries caused by slips and falls, designers must now closely consider specifying grates and floor surfaces that comply with the appropriate standard for slip resistance. However, this does not always mean installing a grate with a high level of slip resistance. Specifying a grate which is too slip resistant can be dangerous for the public and in fact contribute to an increase in public accidents and compensation claims.

Designers need to weigh up slip resistance ratings against other potential hazards.

For example, if a grate has a higher slip resistance rating than the surrounding floor surface, it could catch a toe or heel and cause a trip hazard.

The important thing is for designers not to lose sight of the main objectives when installing grates: ensuring the safety of patrons and providing exceptional surface drainage solutions.

How can I make my project slip resistant?

To help prevent public injuries, ACO believes that slip resistant grates should be implemented where possible. Each of our commercial grates complies with AS 4586 legislative requirements for slip resistance.

Our Heelsafe® Anti-Slip grates are available in stainless steel, ductile iron and plastic designs to suit applications in a wide range of projects. The grates feature raised mechanical nodes for tread durability and are designed to prevent small heels from becoming trapped. These industrial, residential and commercial grates comply with a number of Australian and international standards for pedestrian, wheelchair, bicycle and cane use.

To learn more about proper slip resistant grate specification, refer to www.heelsafe.com.au or call ACO on 1300 765 226.

ACO's Stainless 5 Star Heelsafe® Anti-Slip grate.

Consulting Matters

Trench drainage that performs!

ACO’s Superior Hydraulic, V-shaped sloped trench drains Draining flat pavements is challenging.

Efficient drainage requires water to flow downhill; thereby removing runoff quickly and keeping drains silt free.

ACO’s hydraulically smooth V-shaped Polycrete® Channels ensure maximum liquid velocities even under low rainfall conditions. The result is a cleaner and clearer drain, ready for peak storms.

ACO’s sloped channels can provide continuous sloped runs up to 80m in flat pavements with a single outlet.

Available in a range of widths and load classes.

ACO’s Sydney based Technical Services Department offers complimentary fully documented advice on hydraulics for individual projects.

Ph: 1300 765 226 | sales@acoaus.com.au | www.acoaus.com.au

ACO. The future of drainage

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• Contractual relationships

2017 dates: QLD: 10-12 Aug SA: 17-19 Aug WA: 31-2 Aug-Sept VIC: 26-28 Oct NSW: 16-18 Nov

Facilitated by Tony Horan - one of the most knowledgeable and experienced barristers working in the construction industry in Australia.

Member price: $1,800 Non-Member price: $2,680*

• Scope of duties

• Contract formulation & terms

• Professional indemnity insurance

• Best practice examples

Topics include:

Learn vital information about:

• Onerous contract terms

• Safety in design procedures and documentation

The Role of the Superintendent

Contracts for Consultants

Member price: $2,900 Non-Member price: $3,770

ConsultED ConsultED is an on-line platform that has been developed to provide Consult Australia members (and others) with access to a variety of interactive training courses from the convenience of their desktop.

• Legal,Standards and Codes • Business Practice • Health and Safety • Human Resources

Member price: $40 Non-Member price: $52 Jun 2017

Safety in Design