Consulting Matters December 2020

SUMMER 2020

2020 Awards Showcase

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Characteristics of all successful Architecture, Engineering, and Design businesses

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Laying the groundwork before disaster strikes

LEADERSHIP THROUGH THE DECADE OF DISRUPTION We thought we knew what disruption looked like until Covid-19 changed our world.

Hopefully Covid-19 will be the biggest disruption of the decade, but experts will tell you it certainly won’t be our last, so what's next?

How do you lead your organisation and your teams through this decade of disruption?

Over the course of two days we will explore the four key characteristics that will be required from leaders to navigate what Jim Collins refers to as the ‘Stockdale Paradox’ and embrace ‘the genius of the AND’.

Using the key characteristics to solve the Genius of the And/Stockdale Paradox we can weave them together to better serve our clients, staff, stakeholders, ourselves, and our family – they are: - Ethical - Inclusive - Empathic - Purpose driven

These characteristics cannot be looked at in isolation, but must all work together – like independent circles in a puzzle ring.

24-25 February 2021 Online

REGISTER HERE

Consulting Matters

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CONTENTS

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14 Laying the groundwork before disaster strikes

2020 Awards Showcase

Industry updates Industry updates

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New members

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What’s happening in Consult Australia From the President

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From the CEO

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SME Highlights

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State & Territories Updates

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Awards for Excellence President's Award

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Small Firm of the Year

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Medium Firm of the Year

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Large Firm of the Year

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Collboration for Project Excellence

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Technological Innovation

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Superior Sustainability

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Innovative Design

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Community Engagement Excellence

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46 Small Business Excellence

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Future Leader

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Champions of Change - Female Leadership

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People First

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Highly Commended Awards

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Business essentials Cbus commits over $950 million and allocates a further $850 million to support Australia’s economic recovery

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Characteristics of all successful Architecture, Engineering, and Design businesses

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Protecting your business Is now the time to celebrate Insurance risks?

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Corporate Social Responsibility Laying the groundwork before disaster strikes

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 www.consultaustralia.com.au

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Industry updates

Industry updates INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS Professionals Australia are pleased to announce the appointment of Jill McCabe as their new Chief Executive Officer. Jill has an impressive background in advocacy and industrial relations. Working in roles across the Victorian public sector since 2003 covering industrial relations and workplace health and safety, Jill has held executive positions at director level including as the Director Office of Women's Policy, Director Community and Economic Participation and Director Office for Youth.

Kate Drews has been promoted to lead SMEC’s Urban Communities business in Australia, following the retirement of Michael Jones. Since joining SMEC in 2018 as the National Manager, Urban Renewal, Kate has led the growth and diversification of SMEC’s Australian Urban Renewal business.

Kate has more than 25 years of industry experience and has held several senior leadership roles. She was recently appointed a Director on the Board of Consult Australia.

After moving from Brisbane to Seattle to lead Jacobs’ People & Places Solutions operations in Northwest USA in late 2018, Jacobs welcome Eva Wood back to their Australian operations as Vice President & Executive Director of Operations Delivery & Solutions - Central West & Northern. In her new role, Eva will lead Jacob’s Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland operations.

Beca has appointed David Papps to the Beca Group Limited (BGL) Board effective 23 October 2020.

David’s appointment will temporarily increase the size of the BGL Board from seven to eight directors before returning to seven directors on 31 March 2021.

Kate Robilliard has joined Jacobs as their new Water Resources Team Leader for New Zealand and South East Australia. In this role, Kate will lead around 70 of their people at the forefront of delivering innovative #solutions for their water clients across New Zealand and South East Australia.

SMEC are pleased to announce the appointment of Jeffrey Davis to the position of National Manager, Roads & Highways in Australia. Jeff has over 32 years’ experience in design, documentation and construction aspects of a variety of civil infrastructure projects. Having previously been in the role of SMEC's Queensland Transport Manager for seven years, Jeff has overseen the recent delivery of the Gateway Upgrade North and Logan Enhancement Projects.

Jacobs social strategist, Sarah Alexander, has been appointed to the role of Regional Solutions Director – Strategic Consulting for Asia Pacific. In this role Sarah will drive collaboration between Jacob’s strategic and technical capabilities to develop practical and fresh solutions that help realise the future opportunities facing our cities and regions across the Asia Pacific region.

Jacobs architect and computational design and parametric design specialist, Marina Villanueva, has been appointed as Regional Solutions Director – Digital Delivery. In this new role, Marina will help Jacob’s clients leverage their data to deliver better value in projects, increasing assets efficiency through digital technologies and designing workflows and processes that enable the design of sustainable cities and the infrastructure of tomorrow.

INDUSTRY NEWS Congratulations to Aurecon Chief Executive of Australia and New Zealand, Louise Adams, on being named Australian CEO of the Year. Aurecon’s Chief Executive of Australia and New Zealand, Louise Adams, has taken out the top award at The CEO Magazine’s 2020 Executive of the Year Awards. She's the second woman to win the CEO of the Year Award in the event's nine-year history.

Tonkin welcomes Mark Gobbie to the Tonkin team. Mark recently joined the team as Strategic Advisor – Water, Transport and Business Operations. Mark brings extensive leadership experience and technical skills in the water sector and is especially passionate about developing exceptional infrastructure outcomes that put people first.

Paul Francis has joined Jacobs as Regional Solutions Director – Digital Solutions for Asia Pacific. In this new role, Paul will drive innovation and digital transformation at Jacobs; encouraging and inspiring the teams he works with to challenge the status quo and use the power of diverse thinking to bring smarter, connected, contemporary, and customer centric solutions to their clients.

SLR, a global leader in environmental and advisory solutions, has acquired KDC, a planning and development consultancy headquartered in Newcastle, New South Wales. The integration of the KDC team will build upon SLR’s industry leading environmental planning, management and approvals capabilities. By providing additional expertise in development and strategic planning advice, SLR will now offer true endto-end services, particularly to clients in the Built Environment sector.

Industry updates

The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) is auditing labour hire businesses to ensure they are paying their employees correctly. The audits will commence in December 2020 and will examine records from November 2020.

These audits will focus on key areas identified in the outcomes of the ABCC’s 2019 labour hire audit campaign.

Consulting Matters

NEW MEMBERS P&M Consulting CmdrKat Consulting MacDonald Corporation Australia Connell Griffin S&L Manley Pty Ltd Carlow and Carlow

Aurecon was named The Australian Financial Review Most Innovative Company in Australia and New Zealand for 2020. Aurecon beat out all the other industry winners to the title of Australasia’s Most Innovative Company for 2020.

Editor/Marketing Manager Mark Rock

President Gerry Doyle

Chief Executive Officer Nicola Grayson

Finance Manager Penny Clarke

Engagement Manager Linda Gaunt

Policy Lead (People and Pipeline) and VIC Manager James Robertson

Policy Lead (Practice and Procurement) and NSW Manager Kristy Eulenstein

Manager SA, TAS and the Territories Jan Irvine

State Manager – WA Diane Dowdell

Database Manager Michelle O'Neill

Progress Report

2020

Corporate Designer Voltaire Corpuz

Accounts Guillaume Marchand

PA/Office Administrator Karen Pooley

Administration Assistant Tessa Bloom

Editorial submissions mark@consultaustralia.com.au

Read more

consultaustalia.com.au/championsofchange

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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What’s happening at Consult Australia

From the President In a year that has forced many of us to change the way we approach things; I decided to double down and make a concerted effort to soak in the joy and celebrate the good things. The warmth of the sun, the beauty of the bush, the freedom to go outside and run, the companionship of friends – they all exist in this world even during a global pandemic.

2020 will long be remembered for the first pandemic in 100 years, the first time Australia shut its borders to the outside world, and the first time our states shut their borders to one another.

In a year of firsts, Consult Australia hosted our first online awards night. On Thursday 29 October, we gathered virtually to celebrate the achievements of our industry from the comfort of our own homes and offices.

Personally, I enjoyed the virtual awards.

They had all the bits I usually appreciate without the music, dancing, alcohol and lots of people. I didn’t have to try and hide from Nicola as I snuck out early - I could go home and unwind after a big couple of days.

We had some fantastic projects and award winners this year. I would like to extend my congratulations to all of you. Once again, we were reminded of the wonderful industry that we all contribute to.

Yet, this year’s awards got me thinking.

What is there to celebrate in a year that has stretched so many of us to the edge of breaking (or in some cases past that point)?

I’m sure all of us would like to be positive people, who are grateful for what we do have – especially when we still have so

much. Australia is one of the safest places to live, we have very low infection rates currently and even Melburnians are starting to exit lock down. Parts of our sector are still able to work almost unaffected and the government is looking to our industry as one of the catalysts to help exit the COVID-19 recession.

While I would like to have the ability to savour the positive things, I am known by my friends as the last person to remember to celebrate anything. I just move onto the next thing that I need to do. This is something I have been trying to work on. I have tried to write down the good things that happen, I have tried to say them to another person, I have tried to get other people to do the whole celebrating thing for me. But to date I still gloss over the good things and move straight to the next problem – it is just how my brain is wired.

In a year that has forced many of us to change the way we approach things; I decided to double down and make a concerted effort to soak in the joy and celebrate the good things. The warmth of the sun, the beauty of the bush, the freedom to go outside and run, the companionship of friends – they all exist in this world even during a global pandemic.

So, in the face of uncertainty and change, my challenge to you all is to dwell on the good things. Reflect on what you are grateful for.

But more than that, tell the people you love about the things that make you happy– share your joy. Gratitude and joy are powerfully contagious.

My sincerest congratulations to everyone who entered the awards, whether you won or not. My deepest thanks to the team at Consult Australia for reminding me that we can still celebrate even with all the uncertainty around. And my deepest gratitude to any of you who made it this far in my column – thank you for reading!

Gerry Doyle President

What’s happening at Consult Australia

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From the CEO The holidays are right around the corner and in the lead up we are running our campaign across the country to support a mentally healthy industry by asking clients to consider the impact of tenders released over the Christmas/New Year period. We have already received a great response in support from two water authorities, Melbourne Water and Water SA, and Sydney Metro in NSW. We’ve also shared the campaign with the Australian Constructors Association.

Looking after our mental health could not be more important as we come to the end of what’s been an exhausting year for us all and throughout this year, we’ve been adding to the mental health knowledge hub for members. Members can access these essential guides via our website (see COVID-19 briefing notes). We have doubled the number of briefing notes produced this year to not only to help you tackle COVID-19 but also other key issues that impact your business. We could hardly believe it ourselves when we counted them all, we’ve produced 41 briefing notes this year! This includes for the first time client briefings on some of the issues that crop up around the contract negotiating table. We’ve designed these so that you can share them with your clients showing what the industry position is, one of my personal favourites covers the thorny issue of fitness for purpose warranties.

Before the end of the year, we’ll also be publishing our new thought leadership report on the importance of considering the full range of social impacts in infrastructure proposals and outlines some options better consideration of social impacts in business cases. This follows on from our 2019 work on taking an integrated approach to business cases. We are very proud of the level of engagement we’ve had across the

country with the infrastructure bodies, most notably Infrastructure Australia who called out our submission to their Audit as one of the most well-constructed and reasoned.

Recognition has also been received from the Commonwealth Government congratulating us on our level of engagement and ability to champion the issues that matter on behalf of our members.

It's great to look back and celebrate our achievements, which of course brings me to the fantastic Awards for Excellence – we didn’t let life get in the way of the celebration and with our Roaring ‘20s theme we brought the night in style to you through the power of technology. Thank you to everyone who entered and to all who got into the spirit of the theme, which made the event extra special. A huge congratulations to all the winners. Thank you to our esteemed judges and sponsors for their ongoing support.

On the day of the awards we also held our annual Congress meeting, which brings together the Consult Australia Board and the chairs of all our committees, including FutureNet and our expert roundtables (25 member representatives).

Each representative shared their group’s achievements and challenges over the year and looked ahead to what they’d like to focus on over the upcoming year. We explored ideas for membership growth to help us develop a more focused strategy on growing the membership. Finally, we considered a blueprint for the industry, taking a futurefocused approach to consider where we want the industry to be in the next 5 years, which will help shape the focus of our policy and advocacy work. We’ll be sharing this thinking with members early in the New Year.

I hope you enjoy this edition, which celebrates the incredible work of our industry

Looking after our mental health could not be more important as we come to the end of what’s been an exhausting year for us all and throughout this year, we’ve been adding to the mental health knowledge hub for members.

and its contribution to our economy and society – looking forward to lots of exciting entries next year. In the meantime, wishing you all a very happy and well-earned Summer break!.

Nicola Grayson CEO

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What’s happening at Consult Australia

SME Highlights First SME Summit a Success!

On 21 October 2020, Consult Australia held our first inaugural SME Summit – created by small business members for small businesses.

We were thrilled with the response, with 90 registrations to the online event. Attendees met many of the Consult Australia team, including Board President Gerry Doyle, Board Director and SME member Holly Carson, CEO Nicola Grayson, and many of our state and territory managers. In plenary sessions there were presentations on the new normal of remote working by Rob McDonald of MI Engineers and PI insurance tips & tricks by Cos Cirocco of Planned Cover and Patrick Beaumont of BRIC Insurance Consultants. The break-out sessions were also popular, covering a broad suit of topics under our 4 P’s of; people, pipeline, practice and procurement. Many thanks to Jamie Shelton of Northrop, Julie Gratton of Aurecon, Kiri Parr of Kiri Parr Pty Ltd, Mandy Holloway of Courageous Leaders and Mark Fairweather of HDR for their valuable assistance. We look forward with anticipation to the 2021 SME Summit.

Call to action on PI Insurance In November Consult Australia put out a call to its SME members to use their collective voices to raise awareness of the state of the PI market with their local members of parliament. This initial phase is just to alert MPs to the issue and we propose a follow-up campaign to seek action. Thank you to those members that positively engaged with this initiative.

Consult Australia see this as only one aspect of our continuing campaign to advocate for changes to de-risk the Australian market.

Another aspect was our briefing to the Commonwealth AttorneyGeneral setting out government actions to alleviate the situation. For example, for government contracts to be subject to unfair contract term protections noting that the rest of the market takes its lead from government actions.

Small business wins with enhancements to unfair contract term protections At the start of the year Consult Australia made a submission supporting the proposal to enhance protections for small business from onerous and unfair contract terms. Recently, all Ministers for consumer affairs around Australia agreed to strengthen the Australian Consumer Law: • More businesses will be protected from unfair contract terms.

Businesses with less than 100 employees or an annual turnover threshold of less than $10 million will be eligible for protection.

• More contracts will be subject to the unfair contract term protections. There will no longer be a threshold for the upfront price payable under a contract for it to be covered.

• More certainty will be provided on what is a ‘standard-form contract’. Factors such as repeat usage of a contract template, and whether the small business had an effective opportunity to negotiate the contract will be included.

• More reliance will be able be placed on a court declaration of an unfair contract term. Unless proven otherwise, a contract term used in similar circumstances as a term found to be unfair by the court will also be unfair.

It is hoped that these changes will lead to fairer standard form contracts and give small business confidence. We will keep you updated on the timeline for the implementation of these changes.

SME Open Forum Continues in 2021 Consult Australia launched our SME Open Forum in August 2020 as a bit of an experiment. We wanted to give our small and medium members direct access to Consult Australia's Board President, CEO and Policy Team. With no set agenda, SME members can raise in the forum any and all concerns and questions. With three successful SME Open Forums held in 2020 we are looking forward to more engagement with our smaller business members next year – keep an eye out for your email invite to the first one of 2021.

Policy Team Shines a Spotlight on Active SME members Our Policy Leads James Robertson and Kristy Eulenstein rely on member input to drive the national advocacy campaigns. We know there is very little time when running a small business to answer our calls for information, but when you do it is invaluable and ensures that Consult Australia truly is the voice of the consulting industry.

Looking back on 2020, the Policy Team would like to take the opportunity to thank the following SMEs as being amongst our most active contributors to Consult Australia policy development:

What’s happening at Consult Australia

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COMING SOON! Category Submissions opening soon

2021 Awards for Excellence

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What’s happening at Consult Australia

State & Territories 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.

NSW Kristy Eulenstein In New South Wales, there is no doubt that practice has led the way this year as regulatory change was a dominant force, especially relevant to the building sector. We saw the introduction of the Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act 2020 and the Building Commissioner’s power to conduct occupational certificate audits. In addition, the certifying space saw amendment of the Building and Development Certifiers Act 2018 and well as the introduction of the Building and Development Certifiers Regulation 2020 – with impacts we continue to grapple with especially for those in fire safety. Finally, the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (D&BP Act) which is a major overhaul for the industry. Consult Australia has continued to push for better reform including through our participation on the various Building Commissioner’s ‘pillar groups’ and by leveraging our ties with other associations including Engineers Australia, the Property Council and the Fire Practitioners Association of Australia. A key regulatory win was an amendment to the D&BP Act protecting practitioners from undue influence.

Like all other jurisdictions, pipeline issues came to the fore as we engaged with government on the response and recovery to COVID-19.

Consult Australia’s positive engagement with Infrastructure NSW (INSW) in 2020 has earned us a seat on INSW’s new Infrastructure Industry Forum which will meet quarterly to discuss key functions of responsibility by INSW including the 10 Point Commitment, construction sector emergency management responses, progress of the Government’s infrastructure program and future infrastructure planning. We will be joined by the Australian Constructors Association, the Insurance Council and Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, among others on the forum.

Procurement is never a quiet area and as the voice of consultants we have engaged with government clients on procurement and contracting terms of concern including WaterNSW and Transport for NSW, backed my members willing to challenge the rationale of key contract terms (including fitness for purpose and bank guarantees). While change has not been swift, we have earned the respect of government clients as we explain the links between contract terms, legal disputation in our industry and professional indemnity issues. 2021 will be an interesting year as we continue our engagement with key stakeholders.

We have also developed a relationship with NSW School Infrastructure over the past twelve months through our people advocacy activities.

We met with them early in the year to discuss STEM education challenges and potential partnership initiatives to showcase industry career opportunities from these education pathways. We have since followed this up with a member event on the NSW School Infrastructure work program, and to explore further opportunities supporting an infrastructure industry cadetship program for indigenous Australians from vulnerable backgrounds. We also continued to engage with SafeWork NSW on WHS and workplace mental health matters, having them along as a guest to share tips with members on dealing with COVID-19 impacts and the shift to remote working.

NSW Gold Sponsors:

VIC James Robertson Our members in Victoria experienced additional challenges in 2020 with the prolonged impact of COVID-19 from a second wave and the Stage 4 business restrictions. We proactively approached our government contacts to get clarity for members on the additional restrictions during the Stage 4 lockdown and highlighted local impacts on our members to the government by sharing findings from our Industry Health Checks. This was in addition to our briefing on response and recovery that was circulated around the country. Noting the particular economic impacts in Victoria, we also submitted to the state budget highlighting the stimulus benefits from further investments in our industry, including the value-add from focusing on upfront design and engineering services.

Practice issues have been at the forefront of recent activity in Victoria. The Treasurer, Deputy Treasurer and Minister for Planning are currently considering our briefing setting out issues with the Construction Supplier Register (CSR) including the requirement from the Building Act 1993 (Vic) that body corporates have a ‘nominee director’ for each registration class for the body corporate to be registered. We are aware that a number of clients use the Building Act 1993 (Vic) to formulate pre-qualification requirements and therefore our advocacy could have wider impact that just the CSR.

What’s happening at Consult Australia

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As the government continues developing the regulations to bring in engineering registration by 1 July 2021, Consult Australia continues to push for reduced regulatory burden, including our urging of the Victorian Treasurer to work with the Council on Federal Financial Relations for a national approach to registration.

In terms of procurement and pipeline we have developed a strong relationship with the Major Transport Infrastructure Authority, led by DirectorGeneral Corey Hannett. The Authority oversees the Level Crossing Removal Project, Major Road Projects Victoria, North East Link Project, Rail Projects Victoria and the West Gate Tunnel Project. In 2020 we have engaged with a number of these teams to stress the importance of collaboration ideals being reflecting in practice (including in contract terms) to achieve the best success.

On the people front, we continued our engagement with the Victorian Government promoting the importance of skills in our industry and developing a strong talent pipeline. We met with the Education Department to highlight skill shortages in our industry and the need to promote and increase uptake of STEM subjects in schools. We also continued to promote a mentally healthy industry by participating in an industry advisory group at WorkSafe Victoria for the WorkWell initiative and by joining a cross-industry Infrastructure in Wellness Committee.

VIC Gold Sponsor

QLD In Queensland, the key win for 2020 was our collaboration with the Queensland Major Contractors Association (QMCA) on the Charter for Change which aims to improve the critical relationship between design consultants and contractors. Ultimately, we need increased collaboration to ensure we have a more sustainable construction and infrastructure industry. This initiative delivers on both our people and procurement areas.

This spirit of collaboration continued as Consult Australia was invited to work with the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), QMCA and the Civil Contractors Federation (CCF) to develop a collaborative model. This work continues as we demonstrate to TMR how past projects around the country could inform this model.

With our drive for a stable regulatory environment for our members to practice in, we want to say thank you to the members that provide services to Queensland for responding to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s (DPM&C) enquiry about the cost of separate state/ territory engineering registration schemes. It is clear that the DPM&C see Consult Australia as an influential and knowledgeable stakeholder with this request for information. As Queensland is currently the only jurisdiction with a government registration scheme in place for engineers, it was vital to have that insight from members who have staff registered with the Queensland Board of Professional Engineers. Consult Australia continues its advocacy for reduced regulatory burden as other states and territories develop regulations (Victoria and New South Wales) or explore the issue (Australian Capital Territory etc).

We ran a successful forum on STEM education challenges with the Education Department, the Office of the Chief Scientist, the Queensland University of Technology, local schools, and other industry stakeholders. These discussions highlighted the value of industry partnerships in improving the quality and uptake of STEM education, and for creating greater awareness of related career opportunities amongst students. We also continued to promote opportunities for members to support work experience and learning opportunities for our industry’s next generation through our partnership with Grandshake.

From a pipeline perspective, we continued to highlight the importance of further investments in infrastructure and built environment projects in our election platform and engagements with the government on COVID-19 recovery efforts. We also engaged with Building Queensland on considering social value in infrastructure projects, and their latest guidance on how business cases can assess these benefits.

QLD Gold Sponsor

SA Jan Irvine A significant and recent win for our people area has been the government’s agreement with our proposal to significantly change South Australia’s two Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMAs). The DAMAs are reviewed annually, and in November 2020 we were advised that a range of engineering occupations have been added to SA’s regional workforce DAMA and are eligible for a number of concessions. Occupations added include Civil Engineering Draftsperson, Structural Engineer, Civil Engineer and Transport Engineer.

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Consulting Matters What’s happening at Consult Australia

We have made significant progress on procurement and practice in South Australia with the government agreeing, in response to the SA Productivity Commission Review with many of our recommendations such as centralised procurement, upskilling of public sector procurement officials and a review of standardised contracts, terms and conditions. In addition, we have been working with the Department for Infrastructure and Transport on how it procures engineering consultants for buildings projects. As a result, the Department revised their practices to pilot some of our recommendations. For example, round three of the Education Capital Works Program is piloting a ‘modified cascading model’ we put forward. This model minimises the administration effort required by the Department and also offers cost savings to industry.

As in other jurisdictions, our focus on pipeline issues through the lens of economic recovery resulted in meetings with: • the Premier

• the CEO of the Department of Infrastructure and Transport

• the Treasurer

• the CEO of Infrastructure SA

• Minister for Planning, Transport and Infrastructure

• the CEO of SA Water

• the CEO of the Department of Treasury and Finance Department

• the CEO of Renewal SA.

• the CEO of the Department of Infrastructure and Transport To the successful engagement above, Consult Australia has also been recognised as a key contributor by being invited to join the Government COVID-19 Construction Sector Recovery Sub Committee to provide insights of our industry on how best to support the sector and ensure that it is well placed to support and contribute to the COVID-19 recovery for a stronger more resilient state. Our role in this committee led to further work with Infrastructure SA highlighting the labour multiplier from business case development investments by the Government.

In addition, we held a very successful event discussing the pipeline of work from local government, of particular interest to our SME members.

Matt Pinnegar, CEO of the Local Government Association of SA outlined a number of strategies in place to support councils in the current situation. Following this event and with Consult Australia’s renewed focus on stronger engagement with our smaller members, we launched our first SME focussed SA Update.

SA Gold Sponsors:

SA Silver Sponsors:

ACT Consult Australia is considered a valuable contributor by the government, as demonstrated by our invitation to be part of the ACT Infrastructure Sector Group led by Major Projects Canberra. The group includes government agencies (for example the Chief Minister and the Treasury and Economic Development Directorate) as well as industry groups. At the height of the implementation of lockdowns and restrictions because of the pandemic, the group met daily. Topics of discussion included; border closures, economic stimulus, learnings from other jurisdictions, infrastructure pipeline (including market capacity and the types of projects to be advanced), and of course, contract management.

The development of an engineering registration scheme in the territory moved quickly during 2020 with the government engaging with Consult Australia as one of the primary industry voices. The Chief Engineer, Adrian Piani met with the ACT Committee to discuss plans and regulatory issues. We advocated strongly for mutual registration and discussed potential models that might alleviate practice issues for our members.

Also, in the practice space, the government passed the very broadly drafted Labour Hire Licensing Act 2020 (ACT) which could capture our members that often have arrangements that fit the broad definition of ‘labour hire’. While we support the policy intent of the Act to protect vulnerable workers, we continue to advocate for a sensible exemption for members as the scheme could (as in Queensland) impose significant administrative and financial burdens without a countervailing community protection outcome. We recommend that South Australian approach, exempting businesses where labour hire is not a core function, be replicated.

In 2020, we continued our successful engagement in the Planning and Construction Industry Chief Executive Reference Group (PACICERG) where industry and government discuss issues including COVID-19 impacts on people and the always relevant procurement issue of cost of tendering.

Utilising the ACT Election, we developed a policy platform for the territory and broader region to open dialogue with a range of government stakeholders including the newly elected member for Eden Monaro and the ACT Leader of the Greens.

NT Consult Australia’s work on response and recovery to COVID-19 impressed the Chief Minister Michael Gunner who invited us to make a submission to the Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission’s NT Rebound Taskforce, to influence the decision-making on pipeline issues.

Northern Territory members also met with the Treasurer, Nicole Manison to discuss the government’s approach to economic recovery including assistance available to business and the government’s strategy to access and secure Commonwealth funding. This meeting gave our members the opportunity to voice concerns, offer assistance and influence ministerial decision making.

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We also provided input on behalf of members into consultations on implementing the Federal Government’s Roads of Strategic Importance Initiative where we highlighted the benefits of taking a business-case led approach to maximise economic and social outcomes from these investments.

Having engaged with the Department of Trade, Business and Innovation (DTBI) on procurement issues, we were invited by the Executive Director of Industry Growth within DTBI to a workshop on the Value for Territory Assessment Framework and Phase 1 Local Content. DTBI sees Consult Australia as the voice for consultants and the preferred pathway to engage with our industry.

For some time, members have been concerned about the current conditions of engagement for consultants when working with Power and Water Corporation. After a significant amount of work behind the scenes, we secured a Boardroom Breakfast for our members to meet with CEO Djuna Pollard and Chief Procurement Officer Justin McKenzie. We see this as an opportunity to open the door to collaboration between industry and Power and Water Corporation for optimum outcomes in 2021 and beyond.

In 2020, the NT Committee was rejuvenated as we contacted all members located here to promote the current and proposed priorities of the committee and encouraged increased engagement through committee participation. We now have a refreshed committee with a clear plan for the next year.

Tas The Tas Committee relaunched early in 2020 and while there were challenges moving forward with some aspects of the groups planned actions, this highly committed group has made significant progress.

We have secured a monthly meeting between Consult Australia and the Department of State Growth as well as gaining two seats on the Department’s Road Construction Industry Forum (RCIF). At the monthly meetings we will discuss procurement, pipeline, consultative processes and how the Department utilises external consultants, having diminished internal capacity and capability.

Participation on RCIF is significant as this is a long running forum which was recently revamped to represent the stakeholders involved in the procurement and construction of roads projects in Tasmania. Consult Australia is the only voice for consultants on the forum and is joined by the Civil Contractors Federation along with associations representing other groups in the supply chain.

WA Diane Dowdell Consult Australia’s most recent procurement win in WA has been our successful challenge to the proposal presented at a Metronet delivery workshop that the upcoming tender would set a multiplier for consultant direct costs in an alliance model. In our immediate correspondence to Leo Coci, Executive Director for Infrastructure at Main Roads we raised our concerns about government directly influencing the price of work. We suggested that the audit approach within alliances is the appropriate mechanism to confirm direct costs. Within two weeks the government’s policy changed. Future projects will apply the audit approach rather than a set multiplier for direct costs. This was reflected in an addendum to the request for proposal for the Swan River Crossing. This demonstrates the importance of Consult Australia having access to early engagement on projects so that we can provide that industry voice against ill-conceived policies and plans.

In other procurement news, we continue our positive engagement with the Department of Finance and the Procurement Reform Team on actions to improve government procurement practices. This includes our submission on the proposed debarment regime, where the Liability and Contracts Roundtable assisted with input.

We have positive engagement with the government on practice issues especially in respect of building reform consultation, both on commercial buildings and engineering registration. The government has sought additional meetings with us to discuss the practical impact of proposals and to develop solutions.

On the pipeline front, we assisted Infrastructure WA with their work developing a state infrastructure strategy. In addition to our member event on the topic, we made a submission to Infrastructure WA with our recommendations for this important work. From these activities, we were invited to join Infrastructure WA’s External Reference Group.

To support our people advocacy activities, we also provided advice to members experiencing challenges moving staff into WA with border restriction in place due to COVID-19.

WA Platinum Sponsors:

WA Gold Sponsor:

WA Silver Sponsor:

AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE

Roaring 20s Consult Australia would like to thank our sponsors

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2020 Awards for Excellence Award Categories: Collaboration for Project Excellence Technological Innovation Sustainability in Design Innovative Design Community Engagement Excellence Small Business Excellence Future Leader Champions of Change – Female Leadership

The Consult Australia Awards for Excellence is an annual event that provides a unique opportunity to profile and promote the outstanding achievements of Consult Australia’s member firms to the industry and community. The Awards have always demonstrated the business acumen and technical excellence of our industry in project and service delivery and this mandate remains at the heart of the Awards program.

All Consult Australia member and non-member firms are eligible to enter any of the Awards categories. Firm of the Year Awards are selected according to staff size i.e. firms with less than 20 staff were eligible for Small Firm of the Year, firms with 20-199 staff are eligible for Medium Firm of the Year and firms with more than 200 staff are eligible for Large Firm of the Year.

Consult Australia encourages each of its members and non-members to submit at least one entry to ensure they have the opportunity to be recognised for their outstanding work. Winners of the 2020 Consult Australia Awards for Excellence were announced online on Thursday, 29 October 2020.

People First

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AWARD CATEGORIES Collaboration for Project Excellence

Technological Innovation

Small Business Excellence

This Award recognises collaboration initiatives between project participants and the client, which contributed to project excellence.

Recognises member firms who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in the innovative application of new or existing technology.

This Award recognises member firms with less than 20 FTE who have demonstrated excellence through innovation, collaboration, client engagement, people and culture or in the conduct of their business operations.

Innovative Design Community Engagement Excellence This Award recognises exemplary community / stakeholder engagement and its contribution to project outcomes.

This Award recognises firms who have demonstrated outstanding innovation in any aspect of the design process.

People First Superior Sustainability This recognises the achievement of sustainable outcomes on an internal or external project that go above and beyond expectations in the application of the firm’s services (e.g. through design, advice, and/or the application of sustainable materials and principles etc.).

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

Highly Commended Awarded to projects acknowledged by the judges to be finalists for consideration for a Gold Award of Special Merit.

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This Award recognises member firms that have implemented and delivered outstanding initiatives that benefit their people.

Champions of Change - Female Leadership The Champions of Change – Female Leadership Award recognises a mid or senior level female professional who has demonstrated leadership capabilities and/or is championing change within her firm or in the industry more broadly.

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

SPECIAL AWARDS President’s Award

Medium Firm of the Year

Made by Consult Australia’s President in recognition of the individual or firm who has contributed most to Consult Australia and/or the industry over the course of the preceding year.

Firms with 20 – 199 employees with a nomination in any of the award categories are eligible.

Small Firm of the Year.

Firms with 200+ employees with a nomination in any of the award categories are eligible.

Firms with 1-19 employees with a nomination in any of the award categories are eligible.

Large Firm of the Year

JUDGING Consult Australia would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank each of the judges on the 2020 panel for generously donating their time and expertise to support this year's Awards for Excellence.

All judges are independent and are engaged to ensure the highest possible standards of fairness and impartiality are applied to the judging process. All judges are also required to ensure the confidential nature of all submissions is maintained.

Judges: Tony Barry Vice President, FIDIC, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers Helen Gillies Non Executive Director, Monadelphaus Dr Marlene Kanga AM Non-Executive Director, Standards Australia Professor Brian Uy Head of School for Civil Engineering, The University of Sydney The judging criteria applied to select the Award winners principally revolves around consulting excellence. This is reflected through the originality, innovation, quality, results and impact of each submission. Community, environmental and social aspects are also considered.

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PRESIDENT'S AWARD

SYD GAMBLE

Syd Gamble is the highly deserving winner of the 2020 Consult Australia President’s Award as chosen by Consult Australia President Gerry Doyle. Syd has been recognised for his work throughout the industry but also for the significant contributions he has made to Consult Australia over many years.

As a senior technical director at Arcadis, Syd works across major infrastructure projects managing the technical resourcing and programming and ensuring the technical deliverables meet their clients expectations and Arcadis’ internal processes. Syd has over 35 years’ experience as a civil and structural engineer working across a range of projects including bridges, roads, railways, civil works, maritime works, building structures, water retaining structures and building remediation in Australia and South East Asia. Notable accomplishments include working across city shaping projects including WestConnex 1b and Westconnex Rozelle Interchange as well as Sydney Metro North West and Sydney Metro CBD and Barangaroo Headland Park.

Within Arcadis Syd is also passionate about diversity and sustainability, driving initiatives, such as leading the Arcadis Reconciliation Working Group, to ensure diversity and sustainability is prioritised both internally and with the projects Arcadis works on.

This passion for the industry has led to Syd taking a very active profile within the Consult Australia community. He has been a member of the Consult Australia NSW committee for the last five years.

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Within Arcadis Syd is also passionate about diversity and sustainability, driving initiatives, such as leading the Arcadis Reconciliation Working Group, to ensure diversity and sustainability is prioritised both internally and with the projects Arcadis works on.

During this time, he has been an unofficial mentor to many committee members and the Consult Australia team members he has worked with. Syd shares his wealth of knowledge willingly with the committee for the industry's greater good. He has been instrumental in the venue sponsorship for the Consult Australia Future Leader Program, always ensuring that the venue is prepared for the program and attending himself on occasions to ensure every need.

Syd is a regular attendee at government meetings with Consult Australia staff to support Consult Australia members and to ensure specific industry representation at the table. Whenever there is a requirement for members to sit on various committees or attend meetings Syd is helpful in researching and putting forward details of the right person for the job. Syd is diligent and thorough in dealing with submissions to assist Consult Australia and is always happy to share his knowledge to the betterment of the industry Syd attends most NSW events and encourages Arcadis staff to do so.

He is an active driver of the advocacy work of Consult Australia for the benefit of the industry and willingly gives of his time.

As Chair of the Infrastructure Roundtable, Syd engages all participants and drives strategic discussions on Consult Australia’s role in the infrastructure sector and pipeline issues. He is also consistently active in the Procurement Working Group by driving all work relating to the group. Syd is always willing to provide feedback and support at short notice and many team members of Consult Australia call upon his experience to provide support to assist in developing member resources (such as briefing notes).

Syd always provides advice considering the broader industry rather than self-interest, for example drawing out issues of particular relevance to SME businesses.

Importantly Syd embraces Consult Australia’s 4 P’s by being involved in pipeline, procurement, practice and people.

Syd is one of a kind, an absolute Consult Australia supporter, he is always there to assist with any given situation or just to provide an ear.

2020 FIRMS OF THE YEAR

SMALL FIRM OF THE YEAR

Tungsten Structures aspires to be the Australian building industry’s number one for value adding structural engineering.

Tungsten Structures is a refreshingly vibrant Australian owned Structural Engineering firm with a team of precision driven professionals at its core. They are the Consult Australia Small Firm of the Year for 2020.

Tungsten Structures aspires to be the Australian building industry’s number one for value adding structural engineering.

Founder & Managing Director, Vince Williams, established the company in 2015 and aims to further build upon his company’s reputation for keeping promises, and providing reliability and certainty to all their client’s projects.

Within Tungsten their purpose is to embrace and utilise their creative mindsets to achieve the greatest potential. By doing this they not only save their clients maximum construction dollars through contemporary, investigative and economical designs but also produce highly innovative, engaging, and interactive documentation.

Maximising potential, achieving exceptional outcomes, creating innovative solutions, pushing boundaries, going above and beyond for clients, saving maximum construction dollars and positively impacting the environment through reductions in construction materials are all part of their

drive and belief. They believe they’re outside of the box and aim to think different Their goal is to offer a unique service offering to that of the robotic and generic one size fits all solution currently offered in the marketplace by being fresh, with considered solutions and are fun to deal with for their clients.

Tungsten Structures currently work primarily with design and construct (D&C) builders and D&C sub-contractors, within exclusive relationships, to provide significant value to the lives and projects of developers, owner occupiers, and real estate investment trusts.

They are recognised industry experts, specifically, for providing efficient and data rich industrial and retail sector structural engineering designs.

Judges’ Comments Tungsten Structures are to be congratulated for winning the 2020 Consult Australia Small Firm of the Year. Since 2015 they have built a solid competitive business, carving out their own unique niche within the market, Vince and his team should be recognised for their solid work and commitment to not only their clients but the environment and their drive to become fully carbon neutral.

Congratulations to the team, this year, they are the deserving Small Firm of the Year.

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2020 FIRMS OF THE YEAR

MEDIUM FIRM OF THE YEAR

Tonkin have won the 2020 Consult Australia Medium Firm of the Year Award.

This is back to back awards for Tonkin in this category and their team are to be congratulated on this result. Tonkin are a leading provider of engineering, environmental and related services to private and public organisations. Since 1955, Tonkin has provided solutions and strategic advice for all tiers of government and private clients across all industries, with a focus on the buildings, environmental, land development, marine and riverine, transport, waste and water sectors At Tonkin, they put a high value on curiosity and collaboration, thriving on solving complex problems and finding creative and progressive ways to exceed the expectations of their clients. Tonkin bring holistic thinking to the table, working for the benefit of the natural environment as well as the project at hand.

Tonkin attributes its success and longevity to firmly believing in and maintaining their core values. This starts with their people.

Their employees are their business and they take great pride in retaining high calibre professionals in a competitive environment with most staff members being long-term employees who truly value and respect the client relationships they’ve formed.

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At Tonkin, they put a high value on curiosity and collaboration, thriving on solving complex problems and finding creative and progressive ways to exceed the expectations of their clients. Tonkin bring holistic thinking to the table, working for the benefit of the natural environment as well as the project at hand, and finding creative and progressive ways to exceed the expectations of their clients.

The team at Tonkin strive to find imaginative solutions to complex challenges, often saving their clients significant sums of money.

They aim to operate in an environment of curiosity, making a difference by being dependable, collaborative and skilful. Tonkin also values their clients; they feel that rather than working for them, they collaborate to achieve their goals with outstanding results.

At Tonkin the safety of the community, its clients and staff are always at the forefront of its work and actions. Their goal is to always act with integrity—maintaining open, transparent communication based

on respect. Ultimately Tonkin plans and designs with a bigger picture in mind, always aiming to add unexpected value that benefits every stakeholder.

It is this focus, both internally and externally that has led them to being awarded the Consult Australia Medium Firm of the Year Award. Their team should be congratulated for the work environment that they have created, by staying true to themselves.

Judges’ Comments: Tonkin are to be congratulated for winning Medium Firm of the Year, the judges this

year were very impressed with Tonkin’s focus on its people and emphasis on this aspect of what makes their business a success. Their company at all levels have embraced the firm’s pathos and are to be congratulated for the outcomes they’ve achieve. Their emphasis and recognition of mental health in particularly was worthy of being recognised, they thoroughly deserved the Gold award they won in the People First category. The judges believed that this year Tonkin were a worthy recipient of the 2020 Medium Firm of the Year Award.

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Consulting Matters 19

2020 FIRMS OF THE YEAR

LARGE FIRM OF THE YEAR

Arup have won the 2020 Large Firm of the Year Award at this years Awards for Excellence. This marks three years in a row for Arup this category and they are to be congratulated for their efforts in this year’s awards.

Arup originally came to Australia to undertake the structural design of the Sydney Opera House and from there now work from eight offices across four key areas of influence: cities, connectivity, health, and resources.

Their desire to shape a better world ensures clients receive smart design ideas with a social purpose, which will have a positive influence for current and future generations.

Arup are an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists, working across every aspect of today’s-built environment. They were founded on the belief that the built environment can change people’s lives for the better. Every day, their aim is to help clients solve their biggest challenges by harnessing its diverse skills and constantly expanding what’s technically possible As an independent firm, owned in trust for its members, Arup are guided by their founder's spirit and principles. They choose work where they can make a real difference in the world, stretch the boundaries of what is possible, and delight their clients whilst achieving socially valuable outcomes.

Arup’s commitment to a sustainable approach to all its projects is both enshrined

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in a formal sustainability policy and embraced personally by the individuals that together make up the firm. Arup’s ownership structure actively reinforces this approach and holds the firm accountable to its own people for its independent approach, and to its social and corporate responsibility. Arup remains a diverse group of individuals from a range of cultural backgrounds. This diversity helps foster the creativity that is Arup’s hallmark.

Judges Comments: In 2020, Arup have demonstrated excellence across a variety of award categories this year wining four Gold Awards in the Innovative Design, Future Leader, Community Engagement Excellence and Champions of Change Female Leadership Categories. The four winning submissions are all to be commended for their high standard and were all well deserved. Arup in 2020, are the deserving winners of the Large Firm of the Year.

Arup also deserve special mention for winning Large Firm of the Year for the last three years, in such a competitive field. This feat is to be congratulated and their team should be justifiably proud of what they have been able to achieve, congratulations to Arup, our 2020 Large Firm of the Year.

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CONGRATULATIONS TO EACH OF OUR 2020 GOLD AWARD WINNERS COLLABORATION FOR PROJECT EXCELLENCE Logan Enhancement Project SMEC GHD Design Joint Venture (SGJV)

SMEC and GHD have been awarded the Consult Australia Collaboration for Project Excellence Gold Award for the Logan Enhancement Project (LEP) The LEP was delivered and managed under a Design and Construct Contract between Transurban Queensland and CPB Contractors and its designer, the SMEC and GHD Design Joint Venture (SGJV).

Jared Cooke, SGJV’s Design Manager, said the award is unique as it recognises the critical nature of open and successful collaboration on significant infrastructure projects. "We are particularly proud to win this coveted award as it recognises exemplary collaboration initiatives between firms, member firms or project partners.

"The Logan Enhancement Project (LEP) is an outstanding example of ingenuity and collaboration overcoming significant engineering challenges.

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"Due to our shared key objective to ‘keep the road users moving,’ detailed design was substantially completed in a fast-tracked 48-week period, enabling construction to begin early.

"We worked collaboratively with Transurban Queensland, the State, wider stakeholders and the community to maximise return on investment for Transurban and deliver whole-of-life value.”

The $512 million LEP represents the first successfully delivered market-led proposal in Queensland. It involved upgrading four kilometres of the Logan Motorway and ten kilometres of the Gateway Extension motorway.

“LEP improved key congestion hot spots through the construction of new southfacing ramps, 18 bridges and the laying of approximately 500,000 tonnes of asphalt, all under live motorway conditions,” Jared said.

“It was designed to improve safety and reliability, reduce travel times, enhance connectivity to key residential and business areas, and futureproof the network.

"We were able to ensure delivery of incremental improvements on traffic-flow during construction through a genuinely collaborative approach.”

Ian Brodie, SGJV’s management representative, said the award was a testament to the team’s willingness to engage collaboratively with all project stakeholders. “We are honoured to receive this coveted award as it is a great example of how successful collaboration can result in the best project outcomes when based on strong and trusted relationships.

"We aimed to deliver excellence against every project objective, and provided design solutions that optimised safety and efficiency, travel times and flow across the network.”

The $512 million LEP represents the first successfully delivered market-led proposal in Queensland. It involved upgrading four kilometres of the Logan Motorway and ten kilometres of the Gateway Extension motorway.

Judges’ Comments: The judging panel would like to congratulate the SMEC GHD Design Joint Venture for winning the gold award for Collaboration for Project Excellence for the Logan Enhancement Project. The judges wanted to make comment that this is an extremely impressive outcome on a highly complex road interchange project. The joint venture and the multiple number of stakeholders in this project with excellent outcomes, make this an outstanding entry. The project itself overcame engineering challenges and achieved a good sustainability outcome.

THE LEP was a very significant project, undertaken on an operating motorway and it is benefiting from close, well-managed collaboration in an integrated team environment. A very impressive undertaking with an excellent result. The SMEC GHD Design Joint Venture team are to be congratulated for their work on this project and should be extremely pleased with the outcomes that they have achieved. A welldeserved winner for this category.

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TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION Project Gilghi Aurecon and Ampcontrol

Indigenous and remote communities across Australia now have access to affordable and continuous potable water thanks to an innovative new off-grid, modular water treatment plant brought to you by Aurecon and Ampcontrol. Congratulations to this year’s Technological Innovation gold winners for Project Gilghi.

More than 40,000 Indigenous Australians in 694 locations nationwide rely on groundwater for their water supply.

Groundwater in arid areas can contain high concentrations of naturally occurring minerals (nitrates, arsenic and uranium) and are often rated non-compliant with Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG). As a result, a large number of remote communities rely on potable water transported by truck, a costly and inefficient expense that in 2017 cost the Australian government more than $13 million in transportation fees.

Gilghi, meaning “water” or “place of water” in the Barkindji indigenous language, was three years in the making. Development for the client, Ingkerreke Resource Services, was enabled by a $70,000 Municipal and Essential Services Special Purposes Grant from the Northern Territory Government.

Designed by international engineering, design and advisory company Aurecon and Hunter based electrical engineering company Ampcontrol, Gilghi takes feed water from a

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The advanced filtration system draws source water from an inlet tank, before passing it through three stages of treatment, including media filtration (sand media, carbon and softener), reverse osmosis and UV disinfection.

variety of sources, including groundwater, rivers, lakes and oceans and turns it into drinkable water, compliant with ADWG.

It has been initially deployed in the community of Gillen Bore, which until 2019 relied on the continued transport (150km round trip from Alice Springs) of potable water due to the high salinity, hardness and low pH levels found in their existing bore water.

“We wanted to challenge traditional engineering design. Typically, we design the treatment process first and then think about the energy design, but for Gilghi, we came at it from both angles so that we could use a sustainable power source to challenge the concept of needing to go to the grid,” said Julian Briggs, Aurecon’s Design Director for Water and Wastewater Treatment.

The advanced filtration system draws source water from an inlet tank, before

passing it through three stages of treatment, including media filtration (sand media, carbon and softener), reverse osmosis and UV disinfection.

Ordinarily, water treatment systems run continuously, but Gilghi makes smart use of available solar power to run the plant and charge the batteries during the day. This includes the development of a specialist electrical control system using multiple power sources to purify the water, before feeding the clean water into the community’s reticulation system.

What makes this unique is the collaboration between Aurecon and Ampcontrol to solve the problems found within the water-energy nexus. This has resulted in a breakthrough innovation that can significantly contribute to reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goal 6, which aims to ensure access to clean water and sanitation for all by 2030.

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

“Project Gilghi is easily maintained, it is owned by the people in the community and it provides job opportunities in the community,” said Ampcontrol’s Product Manager, Wayne Diemar.

With the system now operational, both Aurecon and Ampcontrol are looking at further applications in remote areas and indigenous communities, across Australia and the world.

Judges’ Comments: The Judges were very impressed by the scope of Project Gilghi and the reach that this particular project can have throughout the world. It was recognised as an outstanding adaptation and application of multiple technologies to address a serious problem for remote communities. The potential for this application all over the world is far reaching. Its modular design, scalability and simplicity to implement addresses a very difficult problem that has remained unsolved for many decades.

It was recognised as an innovative approach to solve an assume on what we generally assume is a basic right - access to clean water. Aurecon and Ampcontrol are to be congratulated for their great work on this project and richly deserve the gold award for Technological Innovation.

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SUPERIOR SUSTAINABILITY Transport Canberra City Services for 2019 ACT Government Municipal Infrastructure Design Standards and Municipal Infrastructure Technical Specifications for Water Sensitive Urban Design Infrastructure Cardno and the ACT Government

Cardno and the ACT Government have won this year’s Superior Sustainability Gold Award in the 20201 Awards for Excellence.

Canberra have had a proud heritage in highquality water management, refining their development from highly engineered urban waterways to appreciating and implementing natural processes for water quality management.

Since 2005, Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) has been trialled and adopted in the ACT to better protect their urban waterways, lakes and ponds, and ultimately contribute to a more sustainable urban community. The strategy also sought to rectify inconsistencies in ‘best practice’ across the region caused by an absence of specifications available for WSUD infrastructure in the ACT. To mitigate the urban impacts on their waterways, implementing quality WSUD infrastructure specifications is intrinsic for the Canberra region as it encourages reduced mains water use, improved stormwater quality and managed stormwater flows and promotes greywater reuse.

This project involved the development of the Municipal Infrastructure Standard (MIS) and Technical Specifications (MITS) for WSUD Infrastructure and incorporates

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new technologies and aligns with Australian best practice standards. They reflect current knowledge and best practice and are underpinned by local ACT experience derived from constructing, operating and maintaining stormwater and WSUD systems since the 1980s in order to meet the ACT Government’s objectives. The documents facilitate the actualisation of the ACT Water Strategy, enabling a sustainable future for their community through a strategically naturalised and improved environment.

The project intrinsically considered environmental outcomes by creating documents that; •g overn the safe conveyance of runoff to a receiving water body without causing flooding, loss of lives, or compromising the safety of people and damage to property •m inimise the impact of urbanisation on the environment through stormwater quality and quantity targets • c onsider and minimise the potential impacts of climate change on the environment by making an allowance on rainfall intensity, and by undertaking a sensitivity analysis •b etter accommodate the stochastic nature

of rainfall by adopting the latest approaches promulgated in the Australian Rainfall and Runoff guidelines.

Improved outcomes from implementing these better design standards • reduce the risk of flooding and pollution • advance the quality of life for the people and the community • supports better landscape outcomes with enhanced aesthetics • provides opportunities for passive recreation and relaxation for the public, resulting in social benefits.

A recent review indicated that the 2019 stormwater standards and specifications have seen a rapid uptake for WSUD design and result in consistent, well developed, value-for-money engineering outcomes through easily constructible design and documentation, and tangible and intangible benefits. Incorporating the maintenance considerations is beneficial to the environment and the community itself, as it ensures the measurement effectiveness is maintained into the future and leads to the sustainable use and management of stormwater.

SUPERIOR SUSTAINABILITY

Proactive and consistent collaboration between Cardno, ACT Government – Transport Canberra and City Services (TCCS) and stakeholders significantly contributed to the success of the project. Continuous communication throughout the project ensured a completely integrated approach for statutory planning, technical design, infrastructure construction, and infrastructure operation and management. Both Cardno and ACT Government – Transport Canberra and City Services are deserving winners of the Superior Sustainability Gold Award in this year’s awards.

Judges’ Comments: The Judges wish to commend and congratulate Cardno and the ACT Government – Transport Canberra and City Services on this year’s Gold Award win. This was a very significant joint venture project which was very complex, the development of the standard for Water Sensitive Urban Design will have long lasting impacts on the environment and community for years to come.

While it may not be seen by some as the most exciting assignment, this project is of fundamental importance to the sustainability of water resources. Establishing standards, as has been done here, which will guide future development is crucial to achieving long term improvement and change in urban water management. This project has delivered and made a very significant contribution to urban water management within the ACT community, both Cardno and ACT Government are to be congratulated for winning the Superior Sustainability Gold Award in this year’s awards,

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INNOVATIVE DESIGN Queensland Country Bank Stadium Arup

Arup has been awarded the prestigious 2020 Design Innovation Award by Consult Australia for the Queensland Country Bank Stadium which has become a new focus for sport and culture in North Queensland.

The 25,000-seat multi-purpose stadium which opened in February, capitalises on its beautiful location with innovative structural design and sustainability features.

The undulating, pandanus leaf-inspired cantilevered roof can withstand cyclonic winds and covers more than 75% of seats.

The elegant design incorporates ‘folded plates’ to achieve its unique geometry in place of trusses which are traditionally used in stadium roofs. Arup’s Project Director, Ian Ainsworth said it was an honour to receive the award from Consult Australia. “We knew it would be a city-shaping project for Townsville and we brought our global stadium design and spectator experience understanding to the work,” Ian said.

“The completed stadium roofline looks deceptively simple due to its streamlined, visual consistency, but the realisation of the competition-winning architectural vision was only possible through the innovative development of geometrically-driven and cost-efficient design solutions honed using advanced parametric tools.

“Through parametric design, the sinuous and complex roof form was able to

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The undulating, pandanus leaf-inspired cantilevered roof can withstand cyclonic winds and covers more than 75% of seats. The elegant design incorporates ‘folded plates’ to achieve its unique geometry in place of trusses which are traditionally used in stadium roofs. be constructed from simple straight components, ultimately minimising material quantities.”

The Arup team based in Brisbane and Townsville worked closely with national, state and local government, the rest of the design team led by architects Cox Architecture and Counterpoint Architecture, and the managing contractor Watpac, providing structural and civil engineering, traffic and transport consultancy, environmentally sustainable design and acoustics consultancy services.

The sustainability initiatives included within the new stadium include rainwater harvesting, energy efficiency and water saving fixtures. In late 2016, Arup joined with Cox Architecture to win a design competition for the stadium. The winning Cox-Arup design was based on a horseshoe-shaped bowl and roof design

which opens to the north east to catch the prevailing breezes and allow panoramic views to the city centre, Castle Hill and Magnetic Island.

Judges’ Comments: The Judges would like to congratulate Arup for winning the 2020 Innovative Gold Design Award, they felt that it was a great project with an innovative design, linking it to the local natural environment, with the creative use of digital tools and 3D printing in the design process giving the town a wonderful end result providing social and economic benefits to the community.

INNOVATIVE DESIGN

They are to be congratulated on their outstanding entry and the outcomes achieved for an iconic structure for FNQ. The design innovation in the mimicking of the Padanus leaf in a folded plate structural form is innovative and gives the stadium a real link to the natural form. The technical innovation in carrying out wind tunnel testing in a cyclonic region on a structure with a very atypical form for a stadium is highly novel. The team is to be applauded for their efforts and are deserving winners of this year’s gold award.

Consulting Matters 29

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT EXCELLENCE Making Cities safer for women and girls with light Arup with Monash University XYX Lab

Arup and Monash University’s XYX Lab have been recognised as this year’s Consult Australia 2020 Community Engagement Excellence Gold Award Winners for their ground-breaking collaborative work to help make cities safer. The award recognised the exploration of the views of women and girls and the focus on addressing their concerns regarding safety after-dark in urban environments.

Arup’s Melbourne Lighting team worked with Monash University’s XYX Lab and global charity Plan International to research and influence lighting design so cities can be inclusive and safe. “We learnt the true value of engaging through traditional (face-to-face) and digital (crowd sourcing) methods to uncover qualitative and quantitative data that can help create a truly inclusive design strategy” said Arup Lighting Designer Hoa Yang.

“We discovered that not enough attention is being paid to how light can shape and promote activities, events, pedestrian movement and perceptions of safety at night.

“Starting with how people experience spaces has allowed us to reinforce our design skills with the needs of the community and come up with solutions that promote social resilience.

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Arup’s Melbourne Lighting team worked with Monash University’s XYX Lab and global charity Plan International to research and influence lighting design so cities can be inclusive and safe.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT EXCELLENCE “Winning this important award is particularly meaningful because the relevance is universal for socially beneficial community outcomes.”

The initial on-line mapping data about bad personal experiences was sourced by Plan International’s Free to Be project (supported

by Arup) and provided insights into lighting as a contributing factor. This crowdsourced data from more than 600 people was validated by field work and co-design workshops with XYX Lab. Arup’s contribution was pro-bono, supported by the firm’s internal research funding. The findings were shared with professional colleagues and groups, with interest extending beyond lighting design into urban design, architecture, consulting, risk and security.

The Arup team has been collaborating with Melbourne’s Darebin Council and residents to develop a safer local centre under the Victorian Government’s safer cities program. Arup lighting designer Tim Hunt said, “It’s about perceptions of safety and how we can re-light the city. Fundamentally it’s based on the key message that brighter does not equal safer. Also that the contrast, the colours, the surfaces are really important. It’s something we possibly haven’t given priority to in external and urban lighting.”

Judges’ Comments: The Community Engagement Excellence Gold Award has been awarded to Arup and Monash University’s XYX Lab for what was a very important public safety initiative. This project was a collaborative research project delivered pro-bono to improve approaches to design lighting for public spaces for a more inclusive outcome especially for women and girls, both parties should be congratulated for the work and effort put into this project which has outstanding societal outcomes.

This project had an innovative approach to researching community needs and using the research to underpin design for the community with the stakeholders involved.

While not entirely new in projects driven by economic and other demands, it is a great credit to Arup, its partners and this team that the need for the design improvement has developed from community research.

They are deserving winners of the Gold Award.

Consulting Matters 31

SMALL BUSINESS EXCELLENCE Saving the planet, materials and dollars!

Tungsten Structures

Tungsten Structures have won the Small Business Excellence Gold Award in this year’s Awards for Excellence for Specialised Value Engineering - Saving the planet, materials and dollars!

Tungsten Structures were established in 2015 and have built their business by disrupting the engineering market by aligning their service offering to be sold on the quantifiable value they add to their clients’ projects upfront rather than the time it takes them to complete a project. This is a low-rise sector industry first approach that has seen the demand for their service soar, saved their clients tens of millions of dollars and eliminated from the environment over 11,400 tonnes of CO2 emissions (and counting!).

Recognising that the building industry is saturated (with profit margins

constantly being squeezed) and the local manufacturing industry was struggling to compete against cheaper import materials, Tungsten Structures came up with a creative solution to respond to these challenges both for themselves and their clients.

Tungsten Structure’s teams’ approach on projects is to take a step back, looking at the project with fresh eyes, without constraints, then meticulously putting the project back together with a much more efficient structural framing concept and construction methodologies. All whilst remaining in strict accordance with the “Principle’s Project Requirements”.

Their innovative solution has seen Tungsten Structures create highly specialised, alternative yet conforming, efficient designs, that results in their clients saving significant dollars in the production of their

buildings and ultimately driving the demand for Tungsten Structure’s unique Value Engineering services.

Tungsten Structures have created a unique and extremely sort after Value Engineering Service that is repeatedly delivering excellence to its clients through maximum construction cost savings, giving them an edge to compete against international import markets and the planet through reducing CO2 emissions which directly links to their community gifting program. They are to be congratulated on their continuing growth and are worthy winners of the 2020 Small Business Excellence Gold Award.

Judges’ Comments In what is a very competitive market for small businesses, the judges wish to congratulate Tungsten Structures for winning this year’s gold award for Small Business Excellence. They are to be congratulated for their entry, as the application of value engineering and embedding it into the design service to improve performance in a competitive market is excellent and should be commended.

The judge’s called it an innovative approach for delivering optimised steel structures for low rise residential development, in a competitive space the firm’s team is to be congratulated for the work they do, and the assessment of the company of carbon neutrality is a nice way to display/illustrate the effects they have achieved by focusing on the concept of value engineering. A thoroughly deserving winner of this year’s Small Business Excellence Gold Award.

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Consulting Matters 33

FUTURE LEADER Meg Panozzo Arup

Arup’s Meg Panozzo has taken out this year’s Consult Australia Future Leader Award in recognition of her project leadership skills and commitment to improving and promoting gender diversity in the workplace. A Chartered Civil Engineer who graduated with first class honours in civil engineering, Meg is the Project Manager for the multi-million-dollar Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway Upgrade.

Arup Principal and Sydney Office Leader, Ryan Andriessen said it is unusual for someone relatively early in their career to be the Project Manager on such a highprofile project. “Meg exemplifies everything we seek in our future leaders and I am delighted that she has received this award,” Ryan said.

Within Arup, Meg has founded an initiative called ConnectSTEM to empower and support women in engineering. Under her leadership the group has grown, with more than 90 members in Sydney alone.

It delivers initiatives to inspire and educate women of all ages.

Meg said she was honoured to receive the award from Consult Australia, “I am passionate about my work, the people I work with and the industry,” she said.

“I am always keen to share insights and experience to help others in their career journeys and offer both formal and informal mentorship to junior members of our teams.”

Peter Bailey, Arup Principal, described Meg as an extraordinary leader and engineer, with the ability to harness her genuine interest in people and her gift for connecting

34 Consulting Matters

with people of all types and direct them to making positive change in our industry.

“Meg has motivated many young women to become active and promote the benefits of gender diversity and seek careers in STEM and she been willing to promote her thinking through social and other media channels,” said Peter.

Through ConnectSTEM, she also aims to challenge her team and provide opportunities for skill-building outside of the normal realms of day-to-day work. Meg’s work with ConnectSTEM led to her being named Young Social Pioneer of 2019 by The Foundation for Young Australians.

Andrew Pettifer, Arup Principal observed, “Meg combines a dedication to her technical development with a really well-rounded sense of the personal skills needed to thrive in a complex high-pressure environment.

Judges’ Comments: Meg is to be applauded for her win in the 2020 Future Leaders Category, year on year, the standard of candidates continues to be of the highest standard and all the nominees are to be commended for their work. Meg is a very deserving winner of this accolade though, she has demonstrated that she is a strong influencer, inspires others and is a sound project manager. Meg’s level of achievement is excellent and appreciated for the enthusiasm and commitment she brings to everything she does. Meg’s entry was extremely strong across the board, her work within Arup and her external achievements made her entry one that was truly outstanding, her professional engineering and leadership at an early age as well as her contribution to diversity in engineering and the community make her the Consult Australia 2020 Future Leader Gold Winner, a title she has richly earnt.

“An inspirational emerging leader and a role model for the next generation, she shares her passions for engineering and life in general with openness and authenticity.”

Meg is to be applauded for her win in the 2020 Future Leaders Category, year on year, the standard of candidates continues to be of the highest standard and all the nominees are to be commended for their work.

CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE – FEMALE LEADERSHIP Dr Marianne Foley Arup A career of championing positive change in business, industry and the community has been recognised with a major award for Arup’s Dr Marianne Foley. Dr Foley, Arup Australasia’s Buildings Leader, was named Consult Australia’s Champion of Change – Female Leadership Gold Award Winner for 2020.

Chair of the Arup Australasia Region, Peter Chamley, congratulated Marianne on the prestigious award, saying she leads from the front and advocates and implements change with logic and empathy.

“Marianne’s generous leadership style and success within Arup have made her a role model, particularly for young women,” Peter said.

“Her professionalism and personal integrity give credibility to her views and have extended her influence and contribution beyond Arup to the industry and wider community.”

Celebrated for her technical innovation as a fire engineer, Marianne has worked on famous buildings such as the National Aquatics Centre in Beijing (the Water Cube) and 50 Martin Place in Sydney. Her leadership roles have included being a Member of the Region Board, Leader of the largest office - Sydney, inaugural Member of the Arup University Council and Leader of the Consulting Sector for Australia and Singapore. In that role, she grew the business more than 60% and increased diversity within the teams.

Marianne is currently the Building Sector Leader for the Region (Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia) overseeing business strategy and execution, client relationships, projects and a team of 650 professionals. Her focus is embedding sustainability into all aspects of the work.

Among colleagues she is known for her mentoring (formal and informal), her regular communications, respect for others, approachable manner and generosity in sharing information and advice. She was given the firm’s highest honour becoming an Arup Fellow in 2017 for ‘technical and design excellence, and the ability to innovate and inspire’.

Through conference speeches, videos, podcasts and social media, she advocates

for attitude change regarding diversity, opening up career opportunities for women in the profession, STEM education and professional excellence. Behind the scenes, she volunteers for organisations such as NGO Habitat for Humanity.

Marianne is sought out for her professional knowledge, experience and award-winning expertise to advise leading industry forums, particularly on improving engineering education and levels of professionalism.

Marianne said it was an honour to receive the recognition from Consult Australia which represents consulting firms in the built and natural environment.

“The journey is important - what we do each day really matters. Awards help showcase what can be done and what’s being done. Role models and stories are incredibly powerful and create visibility of what’s possible,” she said.

“I hope my work creates a positive impact on the community. I want to be part of making the world a better place, and we can all do that in our own small ways, in the parts that we can influence.

Judges’ Comments: In what was truly an outstanding category, Dr Marianne Foley was the deserving winner of this years Champions of Change – Female Leadership Gold Award.

The judges commentated that Dr Foley was truly an outstanding entry. Her leadership credentials have been established through outstanding technical credentials as arguably Australia's and one of the world's leading consulting engineers in Fire Engineering. Some of the projects she has led are truly outstanding. Her contribution to both Arup and to the wider profession, namely UQ, Warren Centre and numerous high-level industry advisory committees are excellent.

Marianne is a real champion; she is clearly an outstanding leader within Arup and has achieved great recognition for her work. She is an exemplar and a leader achieving at a high level in the profession. Her contribution to diversity and inclusion is outstanding.

Marianne is to be commended for her work and is a deserving winner of this year’s gold award.

“If I can make the case for change, and help others on that journey, I guess that’s what makes a champion of change.”

The judges commentated that Dr Foley was truly an outstanding entry. Her leadership credentials have been established through outstanding technical credentials as arguably Australia's and one of the world's leading consulting engineers in Fire Engineering.

Consulting Matters 35

PEOPLE FIRST Building resilience and a mentally healthy workplace Tonkin Consulting Tonkin have won the People First Gold Award in this year’s awards for excellence for Building resilience and a mentally healthy workplace, their industry-leading mental health and wellbeing program.

Tonkin have been recognised by the Consult Australia judges as a leader in the industry, receiving the People First award for delivering an outstanding initiative that has benefitted their people.

Tonkin’s CEO, Gerry Doyle and one of Consult Australia’s Mental Health Ambassadors, said “We are delighted to achieve this level of recognition. This award demonstrates the dedication and hard work of our people, who are passionate about delivering exceptional outcomes for our clients through a supportive, encouraging and courageous organisational culture. We are proud to lead our industry by putting our most precious resource, our people, first.”

Mental illness affects one in five Australians and is the biggest safety issue facing our industry. Tonkin have developed a mental health program to build the resilience of their people. This program helps their people to be physically and mentally healthy, founded on Tonkin’s ‘It’s ok to ask for help’ culture.

Tonkin believes that their role is to support their people to be the best that they can be, not just the person at work, but the complete person. With this program they set out to: * Educate their staff about their mental and their physical health, so that they could understand the things that they could do. * Understand how they could design their workplace to assist people in improving their mental health.

Tonkin’s commitment to support the mental health and wellbeing of their people is a fundamental part of their strategy to 2022.

What was striking about the success of this program, was the impact it has had on their people, their productivity, and their performance.

Since 2017, Tonkin’s revenue has grown significantly, and the firm has expanded into new markets and regions. Despite rapid growth and major change, their people feel

36 Consulting Matters

Mental illness affects one in five Australians and is the biggest safety issue facing our industry. Tonkin have developed a mental health program to build the resilience of their people. This program helps their people to be physically and mentally healthy, founded on Tonkin’s ‘It’s ok to ask for help’ culture. more empowered, supported, and confident about the organisation’s future than ever before.

Gerry Doyle says “For us, this is an indicator of truly sustainable growth. The major success from this program was the strength of our teams within the business.

The support that our people provide each other in managing stress and maintaining connection has lifted considerably.”

“A key indicator of the program’s success has been the firm’s ability to adapt to change. In 2020 this was tested with COVID-19. Our teams came together to support each other through major change.

The business adapted rapidly to the new way of working and we quickly came up with ways to have fun and support each other remotely.”

Tonkin, deserving winners of this year’s People First Gold Award, congratulations to their team.

PEOPLE FIRST

Judges’ Comments: In 2020 especially, this award submission was especially prudent, Tonkin should be congratulated for the proactive approach they have undertaken in the mental health and well being space. They are very much deserving winners in the People First category.

Tonkin and their CEO Gerry Doyle have really taken an industry lead on highlighting the importance of the mental health of its employees. One could argue that not only is leading in the Consulting industry, it is leading across all Australian industries. The program has also been highly relevant in the COVID-19 pandemic we are all navigating through. The program also espouses the old adage that the most important issue for any organisation are its staff and herein their "mental health wellbeing".

The judges called it a fantastic initiative and an outstanding program with brave leadership from the top and demonstrated success in terms of financial outcomes and employee empowerment. The judges recognised this is an area receiving greater attention across industry and could not be more poignant than in 2020. It focuses on the value in humanistic behaviour and addresses a most important aspect of a better world - inclusion. It is not unique or new, but this program demonstrates that this firm has the will and the passion to drive change for the betterment of all. A great exemplar for our industry.

“A key indicator of the program’s success has been the firm’s ability to adapt to change. In 2020 this was tested with COVID-19. Our teams came together to support each other through major change. The business adapted rapidly to the new way of working and we quickly came up with ways to have fun and support each other remotely.”

Consulting Matters 37

HIGHLY COMMENDED

INNOVATIVE DESIGN

INNOVATIVE DESIGN

Project: Sydney Metro North West – OTS Firm: SMEC, Mott MacDonald and KBR

Project: EZONE University of Western Australia Innovative Structural Solution Firm: Pritchard Francis

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

Project: SNAPshot Firm: Arup

Project: Digital Twin Firm: Digital Twinning Australia

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

SUPERIOR SUSTAINABILITY

Project: Trunk Water main overland flooding modelling Firm: GHD

Project: 25 King Firm: Aurecon

38 Consulting Matters

HIGHLY COMMENDED

COLLABORATION FOR PROJECT EXCELLENCE

CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE FEMALE LEADERSHIP

Project: Bankwest Stadium Firm: Aurecon

Sarah Board Firm: SMEC

FUTURE LEADER

FUTURE LEADER

Harriet Floyd Firm: Aurecon

Pratik Shrestha Firm: Aurecon

Consult Australia would like to thank our sponsors

Consulting Matters 39

40

Consulting Matters Business essentialss

Cbus commits over $950 million and allocates a further $850 million to support Australia’s economic recovery Cbus Super, Australia’s leading Industry Super Fund for the building and construction industry, has a proud history of investing back into the industry and creating jobs for its members through Cbus Property#.

Now, more than ever, Cbus’ commitment to investing in Australian projects and developments will be vital as Australia continues on its road to economic recovery.

Since March 2020, Cbus has committed over $950 million to Australian businesses through equity raising, debt finance and project financing. An extra allocation to the Cbus debt portfolio means Cbus now has a further $850 million in additional capital to invest in companies and project finance.

The fund has committed over $240 million in general corporate debt to Australian businesses and a further commitment of $260 million into debt funding for construction projects across Sydney and Melbourne including: • funding of $160 million for the development of over 390 new apartments and associated retail and commercial facilities over two locations in South Melbourne and the inner North East of Melbourne; • $100 million in an NSW based construction facility for a residential project close to the Sydney CBD. In addition, Cbus has also injected over $450 million into quality Australian companies that were raising capital to continue operating and employing into the recovery.

More projects and investments ahead Over the next twelve months, Cbus will continue to actively look for opportunities that create strong returns and jobs for its members, playing an important role in Australia’s economic recovery and supporting our members’ financial wellbeing during their working lives and into retirement.

Visit cbussuper.com.au/road-to-recovery to learn more about Cbus’ role in Australia’s road to recovery.

Felicia Goh Cbus

This update was brought to you by Cbus, the industry super fund for building, construction and allied industries. # Cbus Property Pty Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Super Pty Ltd and has responsibility for the development and management of Cbus’ direct property investments.

This information is about Cbus and doesn’t take into account your specific needs. You should look at your own financial position, objectives and requirements before making any financial decisions. Read the relevant Cbus Product Disclosure Statement to decide if Cbus is right for you. Call 1300 361 784 or visit cbussuper.com.au for a copy.

Cbus' Trustee: United Super Pty Ltd ABN 46 006 261 623 ASFL 233792 Cbus ABN 75 493 363 262

Business essentials Consulting Matters

41

Characteristics of all successful Architecture, Engineering, and Design businesses What separates the average (and most) Architecture, Engineering, and Design (AED) firms from the most successful? Is it the design work? Their business processes? The personalities at the top? How are they able to consistently create great work, while growing their businesses, and achieving impressive profitability?

There are common characteristics across these leading and high performing firms that enable them to succeed where many others struggle. They are industry leaders that are dedicated to building relationships and they work selectively, allowing their expertise and skills to shine. It is the characteristics of leading architecture, engineering, and design firms that, not coincidentally, enable them to be the most commercially successful.

They tightly control the design process and fewer people are involved Leading AED firms tend to have less (and not more) people involved in the design initiation process. Working with fewer people at the initial stages allows them to have tighter control of the design process. The central idea is strong, consistently applied, and clearly communicated to the client by the design initiators—a core group within the business. To borrow from Mies van der Rohe, “less is more".

They focus on what they are great at Expertise comes with experience and talent—which doesn’t come overnight.

Great AED businesses have clarity about their expertise, and they focus on this. They concentrate on what they are great at. They don’t take on work that isn’t within their expertise and they clearly articulate and deliver their value proposition. They thrive in their specific niche.

They are very good negotiators The leaders of successful design firms are very good at negotiating—their opinions are considered and highly valued. Negotiations are reputable and more often than not, all parties feel respected, listened to, and satisfied with the outcome, whether that be a design, a project delivery, or business negotiation. Their negotiations strengthen their relationships.

They take on work on their terms High performing AED businesses are clear about the work they want to take on and just

Working with fewer people at the initial stages allows them to have tighter control of the design process. The central idea is strong, consistently applied, and clearly communicated to the client by the design initiators—a core group within the business. To borrow from Mies van der Rohe, “less is more".

as importantly the work sectors and clients.

They have a clear sense of the value they bring to a project; their point of difference and they are able to clearly articulate this to the marketplace. They don’t pursue and take on work with clients that don’t share their values. They don’t negotiate on price.

They are sought out by the marketplace Successful AED firms have a value proposition that sets them apart from most.

They are sought out by the marketplace due to the reputation of their leaders, their expertise, their ability to collaborate and innovate, and their relationship skills. Due to their demand, these companies become very valuable.

They charge more than others Successful design firms are typically more expensive than others. They are commercially astute but understand clearly the value they bring to their clients and to the project.

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Consulting Matters Business essentials

Successful design firms surround themselves with experts in business. It’s their team. Whether that be across strategy, finance, IT, BIM, project delivery, contracts, mentors, or systems.

They focus on communicating their specific expertise, innovation, and their unique value proposition—so that the client understands the flow on benefits to the project and their business. They’re not reducing their fees.

They surround themselves with business expertise Successful design firms surround themselves with experts in business. It’s their team.

Whether that be across strategy, finance, IT, BIM, project delivery, contracts, mentors, or systems. By surrounding themselves with business expertise, the leaders are able to focus on what they are great at—design, generating work, and client relationships; and they are constantly learning from these experts.

Their clients love working with them Clients love working with these firms. The client experience across all touchpoints is compelling—client service is paramount and this culture flows throughout the entire business. They partner with their clients to build mutually beneficial relationships to deliver outstanding work.

They attract the best and brightest people—and they retain them One of their core capabilities is their ability to source and entice the best and brightest professionals and then to develop and retain them. People are at the core of what they do. They provide fulfilling challenges, flexible working conditions, and clear paths to leadership. For them, it’s about people. not buildings.

The leaders focus on client relationships, winning work, design, and representing the business The leaders concentrate on building and maintaining close relationships with clients, winning reputable work, developing designs, and representing the business to the best of their ability. The leaders as a collective are across all elements of the business—the “business drivers”. However, they certainly aren’t intimately involved—there are others in the business that have this covered.

They don’t complain about the industry because they are winning Their businesses are thriving, they are producing outstanding work, they are surrounded by talented people, working with good clients and they are commercially successful. What’s to complain about! For them, the industry is exciting and compelling.

They don’t compare themselves with others Because these businesses are winning, they’re not interested in comparing themselves with others—forget benchmarking! They are achieving their aspirations, well respected and sought out by the industry. They are outward looking, seeking worldwide industry trends and innovation. But they pay minimal attention to others in their space.

They provide above average remuneration These businesses have talent and they reward their people accordingly. That sets the benchmark across the organisation. Team members are valued and remunerated for the value they bring to the business. They provide above average remuneration.

They’re clear about who they are and where they are heading Successful AED firms have an unclouded vision of why they do what they do. The leadership is aligned with this direction and hence this flows throughout the entire business. It's articulated and communicated regularly. They are focussed and driven by this purpose and where they are heading.

And it’s not necessarily to conquer the world.

It’s to be the best at what they do.

Their consultant teams are of a similar ilk Successful architecture, engineering, and design firms associate and align themselves with equally successful professional consultants. When they come together as a team, they are consultative industry leaders.

They work with the best, in order to operate at the top of the industry. And they don’t talk about it.

They get business Although the leaders are focussed on what they are great at—client relationships, design and delivery, and generating work, they are somewhat surprisingly educated and informed about most business matters. And that may be across, commerciality, fees, contracts, the marketplace, financials, or people management.

Rob Peake M4D Do you want to achieve a greater level of success?

Management for Design is your essential business partner, to enhance your performance.

Refocussing your way of working means you’ll spend less time micro-managing, while the key decisions will always remain firmly in your hands.

For more information, contact Rob Peake on rpeake@m4d.com.au.

Protecting your business Consulting Matters

43

Is now the time to celebrate Insurance risks?

We are sure there are many of you wanting to celebrate the beginning of a new year and the end of a particularly troubling one. News of the approval of the vaccine in the United Kingdom gives us all hope for a Covid-19 free 2021!

One thing to celebrate this year has been the resilience of the construction sector.

BRIC is heavily involved in the domestic building sector and we have seen substantial increases in the volume of works in Victoria and New South Wales during the year.

This is despite severe restrictions as to site capacities and workforce mobility.

Also interesting is that Covid-19 did not interrupt the machinations of government with two significant pieces of building legislation arriving in NSW during the year, namely the Design and Building Practitioners Act (NSW) 2020 (“D&BP Act”) and amendments to the Building and Development Certifiers Act (NSW) 2018 (“B&DC Act”).

From an insurance perspective the two pieces of legislation are quite different.

The B&DC Act follows the path of most legislators throughout Australia in that it is quite specific regarding the type of insurance,

The legislation has been designed to rectify systemic problems in the NSW building industry, however we believe this provision leaves open the possibility that many consumers will continue to be exposed to unscrupulous building practitioners/engineers, bringing the professions into disrepute. the quantum of the limit of liability and what aspects of cover can be excluded. This generates frequent discussion with NSW regulators in determining the compliance of a policy. This is positive as this level of regulator diligence is not applied in other jurisdictions in Australia. At the end of the day such stringent requirements for insurance and the rigour of the regulators reinforces the importance of the insurance as a consumer protection measure.

By contrast the D&BP Act is very different.

This act addresses specific insurance requirements for professional engineers and building practitioners (Insured). The regulations under this act define what insurance is required. Whilst the regulations are still only in draft form and are open for

public consultation, they simply require the professional indemnity policy insure all the liabilities of an Insured since they first became registered.

What is then of considerable concern to us is that the proposed regulations allow each Insured to determine their own level of insurance to be adequately covered. There are no minimum requirements and the determination will apply to the limit of liability, the excess and the scope of cover provided.

Whilst many Insureds will act prudently to protect their assets and provide a reasonable level of consumer protection, others will simply race to the bottom purchasing, the cheapest policy, lowest limit and exclusion riddled coverage.

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Consulting Matters Protecting your business

Most in the engineering profession will ensure they comply with the highest standards expected of a professional, taking responsibility for their actions and purchasing significant limits in their insurance and the broadest level of coverage.

However, they will continue to be dismayed by those who undercut their pricing and continue to cut corners in their professional practice including when it comes to the procurement of insurance.

The legislation has been designed to rectify systemic problems in the NSW building industry, however we believe this provision leaves open the possibility that many consumers will continue to be exposed to unscrupulous building practitioners/engineers, bringing the professions into disrepute.

Most in the engineering profession will ensure they comply with the highest standards expected of a professional, taking responsibility for their actions and purchasing significant limits in their insurance and the broadest level of coverage. However, they will continue to be dismayed by those who undercut their pricing and continue to cut corners in their professional practice including when it comes to the procurement of insurance.

Without a legal minimum level of cover, consumer protection will be eroded, and the ability of practitioners to exist on a level playing field will be diminished.

Insurers are also concerned regarding the introduction of a Statutory Duty of Care in the D&BP Act. Whilst premiums can cater for future works, the legislation applies retrospectively, creating a totally unknown risk that is extremely difficult for insurers to quantify.

This is resulting in blanket exclusions appearing in policies that remove any cover for liability which is only created by this new Statutory Duty of Care.

Whilst the approach of Christmas, a new year and the introduction of a Covid-19 vaccine is cause for celebration, we are unable to say the same about this new legislation.

Should you desire assistance to secure your professional indemnity insurance, please call 1800 077 933.

Chris Bovill BRIC To the extent that any of the above content constitutes advice, it is general advice without reference to your needs or objectives and therefore cannot be relied upon. Before acting on the above information you should obtain advice specific to your needs.

Chris Bovill is the founder and Managing Director of Bovill Risk & Insurance Consultants Pty Ltd (BRIC) and has been arranging professional indemnity insurance for engineers since 1994.

BRIC are specialist professional indemnity insurance brokers who have arranged PI insurance for thousands of engineers.

Consulting Matters

Talk insurance with someone who knows your industry That's why Consult Australia has partnered with brokers that we are confident really understand our industry and will also provide our members a level of service that we would be happy to endorse.

Bovill Risk IC and Planned Insurance have partnered with us for over ten years, and continue to help Consult Australia members find their way through the insurance forest for insurance and across your business insurance needs.

Contact our partner brokers now to see how they can help your business.

Protecting Professionals

Bovill RiskBovill, & Insurance Consultants Chris Managing Director www.bric.com.au

PO BOX 1020 Richmond North Victoria 3121 1800 077 933 bw@bric.com.au

Planned Cover Simon www.plannedcover.com.au

Gray, State Manager PO Box 1983, North Sydney New South Wales, 2059 1800 077 933 sydney@plannedcover.com.au

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46

Consulting Matters Corporate social responsibility

Laying the groundwork before disaster strikes CLIMATE CHANGE IS ONE OF THE GREATEST THREATS FACING OUR PLANET. THE CHANGING CLIMATE MEANS MORE SEVERE WEATHER EVENTS AND DISASTERS OCCURRING, LEADING TO MORE PEOPLE DISPLACED FROM THEIR HOMES. FOR REDR AUSTRALIA, THE MOST VISIBLE RESULT IS INCREASED NEED FOR HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE.

Rather than waiting for disasters to strike, for the past four years, RedR Australia has focussed its efforts on supporting nations to reduce the risk of disasters and prepare for when they occur. This means drawing on our roster of nearly 800 skilled professionals to deliver expertise, ranging from legal and protection experts through to engineers.

Heidi Winder, RedR Australia’s Regional Manager in the Pacific, says that formalising national structures and procedures reduces the impact of disasters and the effects on vulnerable populations.

“If countries prepare well, the more effective and predictable their response will be.”

“Preparedness has been a global movement among humanitarians since 2016 when the Global Preparedness Partnership was initiated at the World Humanitarian Summit.

It was acknowledged that we need to work across the whole humanitarian cycle and not just respond after critical incidents or crises.”

“The goal is for countries to reach a level of preparedness so that most disaster events can be managed locally with a reduced need for international assistance.”

For the past three years (2017-2020), RedR Australia has worked in eight Pacific Island countries (PIC) and deployed 75 technical specialists to reduce disaster risk and build resilience.

“This starts with modernising a country’s legal framework and how a government will coordinate their response. Most Pacific countries have endorsed or are in the process of endorsing new Disaster Risk Management Acts that specify how different governments will coordinate in a disaster. For example, this legislation indicates when a national emergency is declared and specifies how to request international assistance.

These specialists have helped safeguard against food shortages, provided emergency management skills, filled critical technical gaps in Information Management, IT and logistics, established legal frameworks and enhanced gender protection and disability inclusion.

Once the legislation and framework are in place, policy and procedural documentation are needed, as well as standard operating procedures. Our specialists from the RedR Australia roster work alongside PIC Government officials to develop such critical documents.”

“It is really about modernising and standardising systems so when disaster strikes everyone knows what they need to do, who to liaise with, and can implement a response themselves rather than relying on the international specialists to fly in and do the work”.

“Training, including simulation-based training exercises, is the next step to practically prepare those who will be responding to ensure they are equipped with the skills to respond. In the preparedness training we offer in the region, we introduce the various clusters such as the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and discuss the applicable international standards.”

These specialists have helped safeguard against food shortages, provided emergency management skills, filled critical technical gaps in Information Management, IT and logistics, established legal frameworks and enhanced gender protection and disability inclusion.

Corporate social responsibility Consulting Matters

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Consulting Matters Corporate social responsibility

Once the legislation and framework are in place, policy and procedural documentation are needed, as well as standard operating procedures. Our specialists from the RedR Australia roster work alongside PIC Government officials to develop such critical documents.�

As we have seen with the Covid-19 pandemic, when there is a crisis it is those who are the most vulnerable that are the most impacted. This is why RedR Australia has deployments focussed on listening and supporting those who are traditionally excluded - including women, girls, the elderly and people with disabilities.

Heidi highlights that Australian technical expertise is needed to prepare for effective disaster response, however, it is the soft skills that play a big part in an effective deployment. “Soft skills, such as building relationships, listening and supporting local leaders are invaluable when working with communities.�

Bridget Moylan RedR If you would like to find out more about becoming a humanitarian by joining the RedR Australia roster, building your skills through our training courses or donating to RedR Australia, visit redr.org. au.

Corporate social responsibility Consulting Matters

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The skills, knowledge and expertise of our people are crucial to ongoing humanitarian efforts.

RedR Australia’s humanitarian standby roster enables United Nations agencies, international non-government organisations and the Australian Government to access our trained specialists in varied disciplines ranging from information management through to public health during a humanitarian crisis.

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Online training available!

Thinking about professional development?

Consult Australia offers a number of intensive training programs to provide consultants with invaluable skills, knowledge and advice. This powerful training puts you in control and allows you to better protect your business.

For more information visit: www.consultaustralia.com.au/education

Contracts for Consultants

Safety in Design • Designer duties under current legislation

2021 dates: coming soon

Learn vital information about: • Contract formulation & terms

• Hazard identification tools

• Contractual relationships

• Risk assessment, control, and management

• Liability & Insurance

• Safety in design procedures and documentation

• Professional indemnity insurance

• Onerous contract terms • Dispute resolution

• Best practice examples

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

Member price: $1,908 Non-Member price: $3,339* Includes the Safety in Design Tool Kit which is free for members.

*

The Role of the Superintendent Topics include: • Scope of duties

2021 dates: 4-5 March 20-21 April 20-21 May 22-23 June

2021 dates: 3 March 19 April 19 May 21 June

• The dual roles of the Superintendent • Decision making and conveying information • Liability of the Superintendent • Insurance issues

Member price: $3,446 (Online course $3,101 incl GST) Non-Member price: $4,368 (Online course $3,931 incl GST)

Did you know that Consult Australia also offers in-house training?

Consult Australia can run our Contracts for Consultants, Role of the Superintendent and Safety in Design courses for your team in-house and can also give you the option to tailor the content to specifically meet your firm’s requirements.

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

Prices for in-house courses are very competitive and you can get more information here or by emailing education@consultaustralia.com.au.

Member price: $1,750 (Online course $1,575 incl GST) Non-Member price: $2,343 (Online course $2,108 incl GST)

Note only online courses are being currently offered.

These will be run via video conferencing

Dec 2020

Learn vital information about: