2019 April Consulting Matters

AUTUMN 2019

Collaboration

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A sector collaborating to improve mental health in the workplace

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Is design the remedy to digital loneliness?

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RedR Report: Tai Ring Teh

Consult Australia’s Annual Leaders Conference was held in Sydney on February 20–21 this year and provided a unique networking platform for consulting and engineering firms in the Asia Pacific region. Now in its fifth year the 2018 program included updates on the economic and political environment in the Asia Pacific region and a greater focus on internal emotional mechicanations within business.

This years conference program can be viewed here and more photo’s from the conference can be found here.

Consulting Matters

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CONTENTS

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A sector collaborating to improve mental health in the workplace

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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Division updates

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Features Collaboration: is it worthwhile? 14 The key to delivering next generation cities

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A sector collaborating to improve mental health in the workplace

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Is design the remedy to digital loneliness?

20

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Is design the remedy to digital loneliness?

Industry & TAFE Collaborate to Revolutionise Welder Training

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Protecting your business The NCPR: Helping consultants reduce risk

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Implications of the Lacrosse Judgment – The power of contracts

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Not a member of Consult Australia?

Business essentials Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) enhanced through collaboration

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The top issues facing small building and construction businesses

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The Importance of Pedestrian Safe External Areas

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Depoliticising Australian Infrastructure

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Corporate Social Responsibility

Surround yourself with the right people

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RedR Report: Tai Ring Teh

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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Consulting Matters

Industry updates

Industry updates MERGERS & ACQUISTIONS Following the successful completion of due diligence, Wood & Grieve Engineers (WGE) is now starting the integration of its business into global consulting firm Stantec having officially joined Stantec on Friday 1st March.

The process will be a gradual one with the firm retaining the WGE name alongside Stantec throughout the transition.

SLR has acquired Northern Resource Consultants (NRC), a 25-person team of environmental specialists based in Townsville. NRC will bring considerable additional capability and geographic coverage to SLR’s existing Asia-Pacific (APAC) business, particularly in relation to its focus on the Mining & Minerals sector with NRC’s services including environmental approvals, compliance, hydrogeology, hydrology, hydro-geochemistry, soils, environmental monitoring, ecology and mine closure and rehabilitation.

APPOINTMENTS GHD has appointed Mikel Alonso as Market Leader - Transportation in Australia. The appointment follows the relocation of David Kinniburgh to take up a new role as Transportation Market Leader - Northern Hemisphere, based in London.

Mikel brings almost 20 years' technical and leadership experience to the role, including senior positions on a variety of landmark transportation projects across Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the United Kingdom.

This includes five years as a technical advisor to the Melbourne Metro Rail Authority.

AECOM has appointed Steve Cooley to the role of Director of Asset Management and Optimisation. Based in Sydney, Steve will be responsible for bringing together local and global AECOM teams to meet the needs of road authorities in the specialist areas of performance-based asset and operational maintenance contracts. Steve has more than 20 years’ experience managing contracts and businesses associated with the first controlled or managed motorway systems developed by Highways England. He is also Deputy Chair of RA's Journey Reliability Chapter.

Louise Adams, previously Regional Director responsible for Aurecon’s South Australian and Victorian practice and the first female member of Aurecon’s Global Board, has been appointed Managing Director Australia and New Zealand for Aurecon. Louise became the first Australian woman on Aurecon’s Global Board in 2013 and is Aurecon’s global spokesperson for Women in Leadership. She has a passion for organisational diversity and the role it plays in innovation and is prominent in Aurecon’s global Future Ready program. In 2016, Louise received a high commendation for Female Champion of Change in Consult Australia’s Excellence Awards and in 2018 she was awarded a Chief Executive Women Scholarship to attend the Wharton Business School in Philadelphia.

Lisa Samways has been appointed Client and Sales Executive Director of Arcadis for Australia Pacific. Lisa was previously Arcadis’ Business Leader for National Buildings Design in Australia and takes on the new role following Stephen Uhr’s appointment as Executive Director Asia Pacific – Clients, Innovation and Strategy.

She will manage the client teams and market leaders, driving pursuits and sales across Australia Pacific, and will also join the Regional Executive Team.

Cardno has appointed Jamie Alonso as Chief Executive Officer for its Asia Pacific Region.

Jamie has close to 30 years’ experience in civil engineering across various disciplines and has held a number of senior regional management roles during his 18-year tenure with Cardno, including operational management, major projects and strategic development.

Arcadis has appointed Trudy-Ann King as Business Leader for its Buildings Design team in Australia. Trudy-Ann is an experienced leader across the built asset industry, having held strategy and market engagement positions with AECOM and the Green Building Council of Australia.

AECOM has split its Australia New Zealand (ANZ) southern region into two separate markets, led out of Sydney and Melbourne with the new New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory (NAC) region headed up by Kerry van Donderen, and Victoria/South Australia (VSA) by Mark McManamny.

Kerry is a chartered engineer with more than 20 years’ experience in the design and project management of major infrastructure projects, both in Australia and the UK, and a Roads Australia Fellow. Mark joined AECOM in 2006 as the group director for civil infrastructure across Victoria and South Australia. He began his career at VicRoads as a roads and highway engineer and has also worked in the UK. Francoise Merit, previously Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Aurecon in Australia and New Zealand, has been appointed as Aurecon’s Global CFO. Francoise has almost 20 years’ experience in the engineering sector encompassing finance, risk management, commercial and contractual negotiations and will be applying her transformation experience from other roles to improve operational and financial processes and financial risk management.

Previous Aurecon CFO Andrew Muller has been appointed as Aurecon’s new Global Chief Operating Officer (COO). Andrew is a senior finance executive who joined Aurecon in 2016 as global Chief Financial Officer following an 18-year career with Lendlease, where he held a range of senior financial management positions both in Australia and globally.

After several years of leading the design and planning practice in Victoria/South Australia, Tim O’Loan has been appointed ANZ Cities leader at AECOM, responsible for overseeing client and market engagement in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland.

Tim is the author of two recent AECOM Brilliant City insights reports on Melbourne and will oversee the practice in helping cities to unlock economic growth and maintain quality of life as their populations grow.

Industry updates

SMEC has grown its water and hydropower capability with the appointment of five senior technical specialists across Australia, welcoming Andreas Neumaier, Chief Technical Principal Dams and Hydropower; Elliot Hannan, National Manager Dams and Hydropower; Jeremy Kent-Johnston, Principal Engineer, Dams and Hydropower; Tim Rhodes, Technical Principal Hydrology and Hydraulics and Mani Manivasakan, Technical Principal Irrigation and Rural Drainage.

Matt Turinski has joined Beca as Transport and Infrastructure Leader for the business in Victoria. Matt has more than 14 years' experience project managing civil infrastructure projects worldwide, including roads, rail, wind and defence. Among the projects he's worked on is Qatar’s Expressway Program, one of the largest in the world.

Transport planning and modelling expert, Paul Stanton, has joined Beca's Melbourne-based team as Transport and Infrastructure Principal. Paul has 37 years of built environment experience across the public and private sectors in the UK and Middle East - most recently as Head of Modelling (Middle East) at IBI Group.

Cardno has appointed Chief Digital Officer, Nicola Dorling (top) to the global leadership team and announced the appointment of a Chief Technology Officer, Elena Schamp (bottom). Nicola will be responsible for developing a new digital strategy as a foundational element of Cardno's future plans. She is an accomplished C-level executive and Board Director with over 20 years of experience in strategy, consulting, transformation and senior finance roles in ASX listed, Big Four consulting, multi-national and large government departments having most recently led the University of New South Wales’ (UNSW) digital transformation.

Green Building Council of Australia CEO, Romilly Madew, has been named as the new Chief Executive Officer of Infrastructure Australia commencing in April. During her 13 years at BCA, Romilly forged strong working relationships with industry, government and community stakeholders through her current role and previous executive positions, including as Executive Director ACT and Sustainability at the Property Council of Australia and National Client Relationship Manager for law firm King & Wood Mallesons. She has also held Board positions with the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council, Sydney Olympic Park Authority and Chief Executive Women.

Consulting Matters

Editor Mark Rock

President Kiri Parr

Chief Executive Officer Nicola Grayson

Chief Operating Officer Kisanne Dulin

Executive Assistant to CEO/COO Carrie Yiu

Accounts Guillaume Marchand

Director State Operations Manager SA & NT Jan Irvine

Policy Advisor James Robertson

Marketing Manager Mark Rock

Corporate Designer Voltaire Corpuz

Administration Assistant

Arcadis has announced the Australian startup, Senscity, will join nine other start-ups from around the world in its Netherland’s based Digital Innovation Hub, the Arcadis City of 2030 Accelerator, powered by Techstars Senscity uses data science to fuel its climate change impact assessment platform. The platform uses the power of the Internet of Things to remotely collect data from urban green spaces in near real time, providing valuable information to understand a city’s stresses and monitor the solutions a city uses to adapt to these stresses. Senscity will empower decision makers with the data they need to plan, design and build our future cities.

Sustainability industry leader Davina Rooney will join the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) as the new Chief Executive Officer with effect from 11 June. Davina comes to the GBCA from her most recent role as General Manager of Sustainability and Corporate Procurement at Stockland where she has led Stockland to be a global leader on sustainability in property, achieving a raft of international accolades from leading organisations DJSI, GRESB and CDP. She has also served on the Green Star Steering Committee, the Green Star Advisory Committee and the Property Council’s National Sustainability Roundtable as Chair for the past two years.

Elena Nikolovska

Editorial submissions mark@consultaustralia.com.au

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

Website: www.consultaustralia.com.au

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Consulting Matters

Industry updates

The Australian Constructors Association (ACA) has announced the reappointment of its current national executive team for 2019.

The ACA President, whose term expires at the end of 2019, is Craig Laslett, Managing Director of Lend Lease Engineering and a Director of Roads Australia. Scott Cummins, Chief Executive Officer of McConnell Dowell, and Cathal O'Rourke, Managing Director of Laing O'Rourke Australia, have been reelected as Vice Presidents for another year.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION Congratulations to all the Consult Australia member firms who made the list of 2018-19 WGEA Employer of Choice for Gender Equality (EOCGE) citation holders amongst a record group of 141 organisations. Well done to AECOM, Arcadis, Arup, Aurecon, GHD, Jacobs and WSP!

NEW MEMBERS SINCE DECEMBER 2018 Playford Consulting Lateral Property Group ACS Engineers (Aust) Pty Ltd GR Webb Consulting Ardmhor Pty Ltd Mining Management Services Cumarsaid Pty Ltd Victoria Design & Management Pty Ltd Piper Alderman Lawyers Perry Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd Melbourne Acoustics FATMA Environmental Typsa

2019 CLIENT CHOICE AWARDS Consult Australia is proud to have been involved in the Client Choice Awards since their inception 15 years ago, and to have been able to continue that relationship this year both as a co-sponsor of our industry category (alongside Pinsent Masons) and through our involvement in the development and introduction of the new Built Environment Award.

Our congratulations to this year’s winners!

Overall Awards (awarded across professions): Best…

• Professional services firm (>$200m) – Golder Profession Awards: Best…

• Consulting Engineering firm (<$50m) – GTA Consultants

•C onsulting Engineering firm ($50-200m) – Tonkin + Taylor •C onsulting Engineering firm (>$200m) – Golder •B uilt Environment firm (new category this year) – EI Australia Practitioner Awards: Most ClientFocused…

•C onsulting Engineer – Elliot Alfirevich, Wood & Grieve Industry Awards (awarded across professions): Best provider to…

•C onstruction & Infrastructure – Douglas Partners • Power & Utilities – Beca The full list of winners and finalists can be found here.

Consulting Matters

2019 Awards for Excellence Call for Entries now open!

Click here to download form

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What’s happening at Consult Australia

From the President Nicola is passionate about our industry and our association and has a wealth of experience gained from time spent in both industry associations and corporate roles which provides her with the skills and insights necessary to build on the association's strong foundation and take us forward to an even brighter future. because of the way that Consult Australia has been able to bring our industry leaders together over a number of years through the Male Champions of Program.

As this year's report states: Firstly, it was with immense pleasure that the Board of Consult Australia appointed Nicola Grayson to the role of CEO to Consult Australia with effect from 4 February 2019!

Nicola is passionate about our industry and our association and has a wealth of experience gained from time spent in both industry associations and corporate roles which provides her with the skills and insights necessary to build on the association's strong foundation and take us forward to an even brighter future. She has a clear vision for the future of the organisation and a strategic approach to achieving that vision which she looks forward to sharing with you in the near future.

Secondly, did you pick up that the statistics published by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) on International Women's Day showed that female graduates were paid less than their male peers in 15 out of 17 industries and that one of the exceptions was in engineering where women are paid slightly more? I like to think that one of the reasons for achieving this outcome in our industry is

We are leaders representing 14 firms in the Built Environment who have come together to accelerate gender equality and the influence of women in our industry.

We lead change within our organisations through a broad range of local and global best practice initiatives (see pages 8-10 of the report).

Looking forward, I am equally as confident that we will lead change through our work in the arena of mental health. This important topic is the subject of our latest advocacy thought leadership piece "Striving for mentally healthy workplaces" and was also a key theme at the 2019 Leaders Conference in February. The quality, honesty and directness of the conversations we are having in this space are truly game changing and I am sure that, together, we can be a catalyst for positive change both within our industry and more broadly.

I look forward to seeing you all throughout 2019. It is going to be a ripper of a year!

Collectively we are working on four key focus areas that are particularly relevant to our industry and essential to long-term success: • Sponsoring Women to Leadership • Engaging Men in Co-Creating Inclusive Workplaces • Attracting Women to STEM (Increasing the Pipeline) • Establishing Quantitative Targets and Accountability Measures (Targets with Teeth) Together we are proving we can achieve change.

Kiri Parr President

What’s happening at Consult Australia

Consulting Matters

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From the CEO As individuals, business owners, and leaders, we need to ask ourselves, are we truly connecting with our colleagues, our clients, and our stakeholders? Yes, we might be communicating, but are we building a sense of trust and authentic connection?

This was a key takeaway from this year’s Leaders Conference held in February, where we considered the importance of connection over connectivity.

In a conference filled with talented, passionate, and vocal professionals, we addressed the broad range of leadership challenges, from economics and politics through to workplace inclusion and mental health. Our panels covered topics as diverse as the generational divide in the workplace, and the ethical dilemmas associated with the growing use of Artificial Intelligence. In considering the need to provide healthy and safe working environments, we heard deeply moving personal stories, shared by people working in our organisations, discussing the stigmas they have faced because of their mental illness, sexuality, or indigenous culture.

We will continue to draw on these powerful stories as we unpack these issues and develop our programme for next year.

All of which leads to a conclusion that it is through trust and a sense of connection that we build collaboration – the theme of this edition of Consulting Matters. In our industry, it is well known that collaboration is a critical behaviour for project work and best-forproject outcomes, yet it can still be elusive.

Competing interests and lack of alignment around goals and objectives are typical barriers. This is why we are delighted that the Australian Government has committed

funding to look at establishing a Centre for Procurement Excellence – one of our key advocacy initiatives.

Through our participation in the Building Ministers Forum, and together with other building industry groups, we continue to call for greater collaboration between state/ territory governments in progressing reforms to restore confidence in building compliance.

Collaboration is also the cornerstone of Consult Australia. Without it, we simply wouldn’t exist. The quality of our services and success of our advocacy are the results of productive and collaborative relationships with our members, policy makers, industry stakeholders, institutions, and subject matter experts. One such example is our Economic Forecast, which authored for us by Australian Construction Insights (ACI) – the 2019 edition is out now and provides critical insights to help with your business planning.

In my new role as CEO of Consult Australia, my focus is to build on the value we bring to your industry, your business, and your career, concentrating on four key businesscritical areas – People, Pipeline, Procurement and Practice. As I head out around the country over the coming months, I strongly encourage you to connect with me and the Consult Australia team as we continue to work together towards a prosperous and vibrant industry through high profile advocacy, thought leadership, engagement, and services.

Nicola Grayson CEO

In our industry, it is well known that collaboration is a critical behaviour for project work and best-for-project outcomes, yet it can still be elusive. Competing interests and lack of alignment around goals and objectives are typical barriers.

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Consulting Matters

What’s happening at Consult Australia

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

QLD

Jillian Carney We ended 2018 focussed on the mental health of our industry. With the launch of the Consult Australia report ‘Striving for Mentally Healthy Workplaces’ on 30 October we met with a number of government agencies to highlight the importance of this report. Our goal – to mitigate the downstream impact of procurement arrangements that are unclear, have onerous risk allocation, tight timeframes or involve short tender periods.

In mid-December we went beyond a conversation and held the State government and Brisbane City Council to account. After becoming aware of instances where our mental health discussions had not been translated into appropriate tender deadlines, we responded to up to five tenderers to request an extension of deadline to 31 January to ensur the full four to five week tender period would exclude the holidays. Following our approach, all but one of these tenders was extended to late January.

We started 2019 with the same focus, hosting an industry breakfast to provide an opportunity for members and industry to learn about current mental health challenges facing workplaces in Australia.

Through a facilitated panel the session explored best practices within the sector and investigated effective approaches in other sectors and internationally.

The Building Industry Fairness Act (Security of Payment) Act 2017 Queensland is also a priority for Consult Australia in Queensland.

We’re represented on the Building Industry Fairness Reforms Implementation and Evaluation Panel. The Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (BIF Act) allows for this panel to work with government and the building industry to assess the implementation and effectiveness of the suite of 2017 building fairness reforms.

Changes to the Act commenced on 17 December affecting how you, our members, respond to invoices and get paid for building, construction and maintenance work. Included are changes to progress payments, the adjudication system, provisions in relation to subcontractors’ charges and new requirements for handling retention monies.

One of the key changes is that payment claims (which may include invoices) will no longer be required to state that they are made under

legislation in order to be afforded its protections. This ‘endorsement’ has been removed in the BIF Act. As every payment claim will now be covered by the requirements and protections of the BIF Act, every payment claim will need to be responded to, either by paying the full amount claimed by the due date or providing a payment schedule.

Critically for consultants the second phase of Project Bank Accounts will come into effect and will have implications on the ‘cost of doing business’, contract administration and cash flow. We have made a submission to the Reforms Implementation and Evaluation Panel on the implementation of Project Bank Accounts and will keep members informed.

We look forward to continued collaboration across industry, across sectors and across government to achieve good outcomes for our members.

Check out our webpage for all upcoming networking, events and training.

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VIC

WA

The North East Link will fix the missing link in Melbourne’s freeway network, connecting the M80 with an upgraded Eastern Freeway. It will be a safe and efficient freeway connection for 100,000 vehicles a day, linking key growth areas in the north and south-east. We are pleased to announce that the CEO of North East Link Authority, Duncan Elliott joined us on March 20, to discuss the project. This has been identified by Infrastructure Victoria as the single biggest investment in road transport infrastructure in Victorian history.

Our most recent advocacy win in WA is as big as it gets with the tabling in Parliament of the Infrastructure WA Bill 2019. Pending support from the State Opposition and cross bench within the Legislative Council, this Bill will see Infrastructure WA (IWA) established as an independent statutory authority as of 1 July 2019 which will be a watershed moment for long term infrastructure planning within the State.

From a member perspective, IWA’s establishment is a massive win in terms of pipeline certainty for our members, as this new authority is tasked to create an independent rolling 20-year infrastructure strategy and 10-year prioritised infrastructure plan for the State. And whilst technically the Bill still needs to pass both houses of the WA Parliament, it is expected that its passage will be relatively trouble free given the benefits that such an authority’s establishment will bring for the community, industry and government alike.

Zeina Iesa

The Consult Australia Mental Health report outlines the impact of mental health on society, the workplace and the effect on businesses.

On April 3, a facilitated panel discussion explored strategies for providing mentally healthy workplaces, identify some initiatives in place for mentally healthy workplaces more broadly – and shared examples of effective actions consulting firms can put in place to meet their social obligations to provide mentally healthy workplaces and to help improve the productivity of their business as a result.

The conversation also considered how small and medium enterprises can implement features of programs developed by larger entities.

Consult Australia's Victoria policy platform has recently been released.

The platform highlights the need to continue the focus on infrastructure as being an important solution to current levels of population growth, and to maximise benefits of investments by getting principles right around how we plan, fund, design, deliver and manage Victoria’s infrastructure. The platform has been shared with key Victorian parliamentarians.

The Division Committee has continued to closely monitor the Engineers Registration Bill in the Victorian Parliament, which was seeking to introduce a mandatory registration system for engineers in Victoria. This bill did not pass through the Legislative Council before Parliament’s last sitting day in late September, and it will now need to go through the full legislative process in the next Parliamentary term if the next Victorian Government chooses to do so.

Our Victorian State Manager, Zeina Iesa has also returned from Maternity Leave. For any division queries, please contact her on Zeina@consultaustralia.com.au Please see the website for more upcoming events here.

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Steve Coghlan

Meanwhile continued positive engagement and collaboration with other peak body organisations, namely the WA’s Construction Contractors Association (CCA), Civil Construction Federation (CCF), Society of Construction Law (SoCLA) and Master Builders of Western Australia (MBAWA) continues. This continued collaborative approach to our advocacy work in WA on the fairer contracts front for our members is progressing very well.

Events wise we most recently held a joint event on Security of Payment with the Society of Construction Law (SoCLA) and Master Builders Association of Western Australia (MBAWA). The event was attended by 170 people, including The Hon. John Quigley MLA, WA Attorney General and Minister for Commerce, who gave the opening address. The event focused on the potential practical and procedural implications for the built environment if/when the recommendations from the recently handed down Fiocco Report come into effect. This event was conducted as a breakfast panel discussion which included young up and coming Principal Engineer Vivienne Edwards of Wood and Grieve Engineers and it provided a great opportunity for Steve Coghlan, WA State Manager, to highlight in his opening address that the security of payment issue was but the ‘tip of the iceberg’ when it comes to the changes necessary to ensure a more collaborative contracting environment in WA for all concerned.

To find out more on what events are happening in WA you can visit our website. As always feel free to email us at wa@consultaustralia. com.au for more information.

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Consulting Matters What’s happening at Consult Australia

SA

Jan Irvine The SA Division is pleased to announce the appointment of the recently elected SA Chair, Mr James Trezona (Aurecon) and Vice Chair, Ms Kylie Schmidt (AECOM).

Congratulations to both. We thank outgoing Chair Mr Scot Coleman (WSP) for his excellent leadership and contribution to the work of the Division over the past two years.

Moving quickly out of the gates in 2019 with our advocacy work in South Australia, Consult Australia recently appeared before the Statutory Authorities Review Committee regarding the current Review in to the State Procurement Board following our submission late last year recommending that building and construction is no longer excluded from the South Australian State Procurement Regulations and that the State Procurement Board work towards adopting the Model Client Policy.

The South Australia Productivity Commission Inquiry into Government Procurement included in the Terms of Reference that the Commission was to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of State Government policies and practices for the procurement of goods and services (not including capital projects) and identify reform options to improve procurement practices and the impact of procurement on local industry output and employment.

A submission was made querying the exemption of capital projects from the current Government Procurement Inquiry as this once again denies our sector opportunity to access: • Collaborative-based approaches to procurement, project management and risk allocation; • Promotion of safer and more productive delivery; • best practice on bidding, contracting and procurement streamlined processes and; • reduced costs.

Consult Australia State Manager Jan Irvine appeared before the Commissioner to discuss the possibility of the scope of the South Australian Productivity Commission – Government Procurement Inquiry being expanded to include capital projects as the issues raised in the paper are as relevant in capital works projects as they are general goods and services. Our view has been taken into consideration and we will keep members updated as any changes occur.

Upcoming events in South Australia include Boardroom Lunches with Mr Jeremy Conway, Chief Executive of Infrastructure SA in March and Mr Tony Braxton-Smith, Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure in April, and an April Industry Breakfast focussed on Securing Future Energy for South Australia with keynote by the Hon Dan van Holst Pellekaan MP, Minister for Energy and Mining As always, visit our SA webpage to keep up to date on upcoming events, and please feel free to contact sa@consultaustralia.com.au for any further information.

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NT

Jan Irvine

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Thank you to our speakers: Nicola Grayson, CEO Consult Australia; Gerry Doyle, CEO Tonkin Consulting; Michael Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Hanlon, Beyond Blue; Neil Burgess, NT Worksafe; Lidia Di Lembo, NT Department of Health and; Michelle Carpenter, Aurecon.

Further details and registration can be found on our website.

Our wider society has long failed to recognise the importance of mental health, particularly in the workplace. While our understanding of mental health has improved over recent years, significant stigmas around mental health are still common. These stigmas are often perpetuated by stereotypes or simply a lack of understanding. They limit our ability to create open and supportive environments, where people are willing to manage and discuss concerns, and to seek appropriate support when needed. Mental health stigmas can only be removed if industry, governments and society all work together.

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Many Consult Australia member firms have also started to realise a traditional approach to mental health is not cutting through.

The NT Division was proud to hold Striving for Mentally Healthy Workplaces on Thursday 28 March. We have assembled a fantastic panel who explored strategies for providing mentally healthy workplaces, identified some initiatives in place for mentally healthy workplaces more broadly - and shared examples of effective actions consulting firms can put in place to meet their social obligations to provide mentally healthy workplaces and to help improve the productivity of their business as a result.

This event was a great opportunity for members, associates and those working in the public sector to learn of current mental health challenges facing workplaces in Australia, exploring best practices within the sector, and investigating effective approaches in other sectors and internationally.

An economic forecast for consulting in the built and natural environment Buy now

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Consulting Matters What’s happening at Consult Australia

ACT

Caitlin Buttress The ACT Division have planned an exciting year ahead for 2019, with events due to take place to engage with key stakeholders, tackling some of the industry’s current issues and challenges. At the beginning of this year, the ACT Executive Committee reflected on its strategic priorities identified in 2018 and the outcomes from those priorities. The Committee continues to focus utilising the DISC framework, encompassing Diversity, Innovation, Strategic Planning and Collaboration. These priorities align with the broader national priorities, and we continue to refine our goals for the coming year as local issues emerge.

Towards the end of 2018 and in early 2019, the ACT saw a number of policy developments that could affect the industry. In late 2018, a draft of the Moving Canberra 2019-2045: Integrated Transport Strategy was released by the ACT Government’s Transport Canberra and City Services and Consult Australia is providing feedback as part of the consultation period. Further to that, the Division is looking forward to engaging more closely with the Directorate over the coming months following an industry briefing late last year. We hope to increase collaboration between our industry and the Government and understand the key priorities, particularly for transport infrastructure, for the coming years.

Following a submission from Consult Australia and our fellow built environment associations in the ACT, last year the ACT Government announced that they would be appointing an ACT Chief Engineer.

After engaging with the interim Chief Engineer George Tomlins on multiple occasions over the past six months providing feedback as he sought to shape the role for the future and advice on what could

be priorities for the permanent appointment, the Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate (CMTEDD) started recruiting for an Executive Group Manager and Chief Engineer, Infrastructure Finance and Capital Works. Although the role will be shared with the Executive position for the Division, we look forward to working closely with the Directorate during their recruitment process and seeing a strong candidate be appointed in the position.

One key focus for the ACT Division in 2019 will be STEM education and addressing the engineering skills shortage in the ACT. We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting a members-only Boardroom Lunch with Dean of Engineering and Computer Science at ANU, Professor Elanor Huntington and Deputy Dean, Professor Nick Birbilis in the coming months to discuss issues facing the education system and retaining those skills in the Territory. More information and a registration page will be available on the Consult Australia ACT page in the coming weeks.

FutureNet ACT have had a busy start to the year, with their first event ‘Canberra Then & Now’ Trivia Night already held at the end of February. The team will be hosting at least three more events this year, with topics ranging from the ‘Energy Trilemma’ to ‘Canberra – a progressive city?’. Follow FutureNet ACT on Facebook and keep an eye on the website for updates and event information.

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ConsultHR ConsultHR is an online web-based subscription tool that enables businesses to comply with current Australian industrial relations laws and demonstrate best practice in their human resources, industrial relations and work health and safety management.

You can view ConsultHR here or get more information by clicking here.

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NSW

Linda Gaunt We are pleased to announce that Stephen Fryer, Principal, Civil Engineer at Northrop has been elected as Vice-Chair of the NSW Division Committee of Consult Australia. Amy-Ruth MacDonald, CEO of MIEngineers remains as Chair of the group.

The NSW Division has had a busy start to 2019. The year commenced with the planning and production of the NSW Election Policy Platform. This was delivered five weeks prior to the election and some of the focus areas included: • Procurement Knowledge Sharing • Development of a Digital Engineering Strategy • Regular updates on the NSW Government Ten Point Plan • Innovation in Infrastructure • Proportionate Liability Shortly after the election communication was received from The Honourable Andrew Constance MP, Minister for Transport. One of our asks in the document was for the NSW Government to partner with industry on a digital engineering strategy focussed on delivering new tools and technologies on future infrastructure projects.

Minister Constance has indicated that the NSW liberals and nationals would be happy to further examine Consult Australia’s proposal regarding this request. The NSW Division Committee has created working groups to follow up on each of the government responses to the election policy platform.

In January we received a request from the NSW Construction Leadership Group (CLG) for feedback on their procurement paper.

Feedback was provided and we are looking forward to participation on a CLG procurement focus group. Additionally, work is currently being undertaken by the NSW Division on Guidance on Security for Construction Projects and this will be submitted to the CLG soon.

Consult Australia’s Mental Health Report outlines the impact of mental health on society, the workplace and the effect on businesses. In mid-June this year we will be hosting a keynote speaker and facilitated panel session looking at various strategies for providing mentally healthy workplaces. We will be working with the national Consult Australia team on this as the event will also launch the Consult Australia Mental Health Ambassador Program.

The NSW FutureNet Business Leaders Program commenced in early March. Three sessions in and feedback from our participants has been most positive. Participants will soon be provided with their group project to work on over the next six months and the opportunity to meet their mentors. They meet on alternative Thursday evenings at Arcadis in George Street, Sydney. Arcadis is our generous venue host.

After almost a one-year hiatus FutureNet Newcastle has reconvened and a small dedicated group of young professionals are working hard to ensure that Newcastle is back on the FutureNet Map. They re-launched in March with an event that concentrated on “Emissions”. With representation from the Newcastle City Council, the University of Newcastle and Golder the presentations and networking throughout the evening were a great success for the fifty people in attendance. FutureNet Sydney continues to thrive with their first event being a Heritage Walk, (sponsored by GML

From left: L inda Gaunt (Consult Austrlalia), Lisa Samways (Arcadis), Annette Pittman (former AECOM), Meg Panozzo (Arup) and Jill Hannaford (GHD)

Heritage), through the Sydney CBD followed by networking, plans are well underway for their next event.

International Woman’s Day (IWD) was celebrated in NSW with an IWD breakfast held at Taronga Zoo. The breakfast attracted 150 people interested to hear from our four panel speakers, Lisa Samways from Arcadis, Jill Hannaford from GHD, Meg Panozzo from Arup and Annette Pitman formerly from AECOM. The panel was expertly facilitated by Nicola Grayson, Consult Australia’s CEO. Numerous other events including our highly regarded “Seat at the Table” Boardroom Luncheons have been organised or are in planning for 2019. Please visit the website for more information.

Platinum Sponsor:

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Consulting Matters Features

Collaboration: is it worthwhile?

Collaboration, meaning essentially working with others to accomplish an outcome, can best be considered from ‘first principles’ in terms of its benefits, costs and risks.

Our business history, including in the built environment sector, was not traditionally one of significant collaboration, but more of many firms involved in design, construction and operations of assets, each one individually seeking to maximise its own profits. This often led to non-cooperative behaviours, low levels of information sharing, and parties trying to appropriate a larger ‘share of the cake’, including when this means other parties getting a smaller share. In the construction sector, whenever building projects went other than perfectly well, which is most of the time, this led to claims on other participants, blame processes and often led to lots of energy and resources spent on legal proceedings. Relationships across entities and within projects were quite often fractious, and this did not lead to effective problem solving and outcomes.

Now we know better!

Higher levels of collaboration, sometimes in the form of alliance arrangements, or other forms of cooperative supply chains and networks, recognise that there is potential for all entities to do better when collaboration is effectively implemented, such that the primary focus includes building a better and larger ‘cake’ as much as determining how best to slice it up! Collaboration creates a positive culture in workplaces, and between entities working on projects! It can lead to high levels of positive engagement and mitigate against opportunism! Better projects can result, with win-win synergies arising.

Yet we mustn’t fool ourselves into thinking that collaboration is a universal silver bullet or panacea for problematic projects: clearly there are occasions when collaboration does not work well.

Although it wasn’t perfect, a good example of collaboration was the Sydney Olympics, in which many parties who did not get on well at all decided to put aside their major differences and work together to ‘Deliver the Best Olympics possible’. Key parties in the otherwise fractious NSW building industry at that time included multiple levels of governments, building and other unions, construction firms, engineers, architects and various Olympic committees and authorities.

Without the collaboration and sense of working together to achieve the common

vision, that outcome that was achieved might have been significantly less impressive.

Outside the building sector, there is ample evidence that collaboration across supply chains creates net value! In manufacturing industries, sharing of information such as production schedules, sales forecasts and other supply and demand information normally leads to better outcomes (building the cake) for all players, and price adjusting then can share the gains, although there are often imperfections in such markets. The net gains are too big to ignore.

For collaboration to be justifiable and desirable, there must be clear net benefits, beyond the costs and risks. Some key economic benefits are that in designing, constructing and then operating built assets, a collaborative approach leads to better information sharing and coordinating throughout the process, that impacts on improved costs, quality and innovation outcomes for the asset. Co-design, and co-production are newer terms that draw in all parties, including the ultimate customer/ asset owner/ operator, throughout the process.

Collaboration creates a positive culture in workplaces, and between entities working on projects! It can lead to high levels of positive engagement and mitigate against opportunism!

Better projects can result, with win-win synergies arising.

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Going forward, are investments in structural and human elements of collaboration worthwhile?

We must acknowledge that there are investment costs in collaboration.

A second major benefit is the difference between highly collaborative approaches to lowly collaborative approaches to situations in building when something goes wrong.

Collaborators are likely to focus on solving the problem first, rather than purely pointing fingers of blame at others, and worrying about their liability/ insurance first. This is because of both the structural arrangements and the ‘softer’ parameters in place in collaborative arrangements. Structural arrangements include the alignment of goals and performance indicators, bonus payments and other rewards and penalties associated with the accomplishment of outcomes.

While these structural arrangements are important, they are not enough, because work is ultimately done by people, and collaboration is done by people, hence

human relationships, goodwill and trust are also key ingredients to success.

Going forward, are investments in structural and human elements of collaboration worthwhile? We must acknowledge that there are investment costs in collaboration.

There are also risks, such as the risk of being let down by someone that we place trust in.

Most business leaders that I interact with have found a strongly positive relationship between collaborative business practices and the outcomes of these, including netting in both costs and risks. Beyond the built environment, successful leaders have a generally collaborative approach to their colleagues, staff, customers and suppliers.

Critics of collaborators should acknowledge that like anything else, of course it doesn’t

end well when it is implemented badly: yet we assert that based on lots of research and case studies, when it is done well it pays off, significantly. It leads to effective teamwork, higher levels of engagement, flexibility, speed and waste reduction within and between organisations.

Danny Samson University of Melbourne Professor Danny Samson conducts Consult Australia’s annual Service Excellence and Innovation education program in Melbourne.

Comments and inquiries welcome: d.samson@unimelb.edu.au

The key to delivering next generation cities The past, disaggregated, unaligned approaches to infrastructure delivery are not suited to satisfy our expectations of communities where we can live, work and play. Australia’s current laser focus on population is driving the desire for the next generation of urban cities to be delivered now. Scarce financial and skilled resources put a spotlight on the need for all players – Federal, state and local governments, planners, constructors, operators and investors – in the infrastructure ecosystem to work together. Like a sporting team, success comes when everyone is skilled, understands their role and collaborates together to a shared goal, like winning the game.

Collaboration takes us from roadmaps to next generation cities.

Infrastructure Australia, its state equivalents and the other infrastructure planning bodies around the nation have laid down roadmaps articulating what infrastructure is needed, why and when.

Roadmaps alone will not deliver our next generation cities. Turning roadmaps into

cities requires everyone in the infrastructure ecosystem, each of us, as individuals and organisations, to better collaborate.

In practice, this means understanding not just our own roles, but each other’s because it enables us to better deliver the cities our communities expect and deliver them now.

For example, planning, housing and transport services collaborating upfront increases the chances of getting the city right the first time.

The odds of getting the city right are much greater when this collaboration is maintained through the delivery phase and as the city comes to life.

True collaboration requires each of us to embrace individual and organisational leadership and have open and honest discussions about what is working well and where there are challenges.

This shared focus and responsibility for delivering strong outcomes is as equally important early in project conception as it is throughout the project lifecycle.

The right capability creates strong foundations for effective collaboration.

The ability to collaborate well requires common alignment and equal capability. It is incumbent on all of us to have, and effectively deploy, the right skills to play our role.

As a national policy leader, a significant shareholder in infrastructure businesses and a substantial provider of funding, the Commonwealth has a critical role in the delivery of our next generation cities.

This reach means it is critical that the Commonwealth strengthens its capability to collaborate, invest and partner with the states and territories, and industry, to deliver strong outcomes.

Leilani Frew Infrastructure and Project Financing Agency CEO

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Consulting Matters Features

A sector collaborating to improve mental health in the workplace One of key themes in Consult Australia’s Striving for Mentally Healthy Workplaces report, released in October last year, is the value of taking a sector-wide approach to tackling prevalent mental health stigmas, and on improving our approach to mental health in the workplace. As a sector working together, we can be far more effective at addressing cultural challenges on how mental health is perceived, and by better understanding the range of best practices for creating mentally healthy workplaces.

Collaborating across our sector to tackle stigmas and improve workplace practices has been the focus of Consult Australia’s Mental Health Working Group, chaired by Gerry Doyle (Chief Executive of Tonkin Consulting and Vice President of Consult Australia). The working group has been meeting regularly over the last 12 months to share and discuss practices at different firms, to meet with experts such as Beyondblue, and to develop an ambitious work plan on what we can do to promote mental health in our sector. These findings are all outlined in Consult Australia’s report.

From discussing practices at the firms represented on the working group, it is clear that many of the objectives in our sector are the same. First of all, our firms understand that caring about the mental health of employees is the right thing to do, and the wellbeing of staff is critical to all services provided. Second, our firms want to create a working environment that builds confidence from an ‘on the ground’ perspective for employees to seek help in the workplace if they are struggling. And third, firms are wanting to provide the right support and

The working group has been meeting regularly over the last 12 months to share and discuss practices at different firms, to meet with experts such as Beyondblue, and to develop an ambitious work plan on what we can do to promote mental health in our sector. training to managers and staff so they can be in the best position to embed a cultural change on the perception of mental health, and to have a conversation with someone who may be struggling.

Shared objectives are why our report outlines a number of recommendations on how firms can work collaboratively across the sector to improve mental health outcomes. Some of these recommendations and why a sectorwide approach will deliver the best outcomes are outlined below.

Consult Australia has committed to establishing a Mental Health Ambassadors Network to champion the importance of the topic in our sector. The network will be open to anyone in a leadership or management role from a Consult Australia member firm.

This recommendation recognises that a visible and active commitment from leaders to mental health is critical for lasting change.

While many firms already have leaders in a position to champion the topic, the sector as a whole (particular smaller and medium sized firms) benefits from having leaders

willing to share their own personal stories and to openly tackle stigmas beyond their organisation.

To this end, Consult Australia will also develop a sector-wide mental health strategy with practical measures developed from lessons learned from across the sector.

While some firms have mental health strategies in place, others such as some smaller and medium sized firms – while having a number of formal and informal initiatives in place – do not yet have an overarching and integrated strategic approach. Consult Australia will seek the knowledge and support of member firms with mental health strategies in place, to ensure lessons learned can be shared across the sector. A focus of the sector strategy will be ensuring it includes a scalable framework that can be implemented by member firms of all sizes.

Lastly, our Mental Health Working Group’s research over the past 12 months has identified a significant range and depth of high-quality material on mentally healthy workplaces. Many firms have also expressed a willingness to share experiences at their organisation. The working group will therefore help create a one-stop ‘Mental Health Knowledge Hub’ on Consult Australia’s website to share material with all member firms.

Consult Australia is looking forward to working with member firms to implement the sector-wide recommendations included in the Striving for Mentally Healthy Workplaces report over the next 12 to 18 months. These recommendations highlight that the sector

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can achieve meaningful change by working together to improve practices and by re-framing how we view mental health in all of our organisations.

Consult Australia is currently seeking nominations from leaders interested in joining its Mental Health Ambassadors Network. If you are interested in collaborating with colleagues across the sector to raise the profile of mental health or would like further information, please contact James Robertson at james@consultaustralia.com.au.

James Robertson Consult Australia Quotes posted on social media

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Consulting Matters Features

Is design the remedy to digital loneliness?

Currently almost 24 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices grace our planet, tying humanity to one another in boundless and magnificent ways. If it’s not the travel bot who somehow knows you need that trip to Rome, it’s the 338-on-average Facebook friends affirming your life with a daily tick and a poke. We are connected and ‘known’ as never before. But ironically, stats suggest, we’re just getting lonelier. Connectivity doesn’t equate to connection, it seems.

to come to - buildings that empower their people with choice as to how they want to work.

Says Kay Sargent, director of workplace strategies at infrastructure solutions provider Lend Lease, “We’re designing spaces today where every employee doesn’t have to sit in a specific spot. Rather than going to sit in one desk all day, it could be that I’ll start working at a bench, then I’ll go to a more quiet space for head-down concentration, then I’ll go to the social hub because I want to connect with my co-workers. We’ve moved beyond traditional offices to agile design.”

The office is now a metaphorical term; selfscanners have replaced the neighbourhood grocer; and the new Friday night MO is to ‘Netflix and Chill’ at home. Technology, with all its convenience, is physically isolating us and emptying out those old hallways of human engagement.

Our designs need to deliberately ensure that accidental ‘collisions’ occur. Nooks and crannies, informal discussion rooms and break-away corners all encourage the quick chat, enhance familiarity, and aim at innovative solutions. Staircases should be central to the design, because they allow colleagues to ‘bump into’ each other and brainstorm ideas. Since we’re designing for human potential, our buildings need to get off our chairs and away from our screens, eyeballing one another in common spaces where brilliant connections breed.

Paradoxically, we have all the ingredients for unprecedented innovation – but without healthy human collaboration, we will never unlock it. Our job as the future’s engineers and architects is to create the kind of workspaces, so seamlessly woven in intelligent human centred design, that they derail disconnect and re-engineer human relationships. If we want to produce our best work yet, we’ll have to build environments that inspire people to do their best thinking together.

Freedom vs friction Gone are the days when ‘freelancing’ was code for ‘unemployed’. The number of free agents earning six-figure salaries in America is on the rise. In fact, by 2020, nearly 40% of US workers will be self-employed – reiterating a seismic shift away from the traditional 9-to-5 career to more nimble forms of digital nomadism. ‘Hot desking’ is, well, hot, at the moment, because it offers freelancers, amongst other things, flexibility and a scenery change. But there’s a flip side to the scenario.

All that alone time can be debilitating. Aside from the evidence which points to all kinds of stress-related ailments, including a dramatic 30% (even up to 60%) rise in mortality rates, lonely people can be creatively hamstrung by

Escape digital to real world

their own isolation. Without a colleague to run your ideas past, or a co-worker to push you over that cognitive hump, the risk is being sucked into your own creative vacuum.

Human friction, wrought by divergent thinking within diverse teams, will always be the blueprint to achieve a high level of differentiation.

Mind the bump We were designed for social interaction – and truckloads of statistics confirm it. The more engaged and activated we are as individuals in the workplace, the more productive and transformative our solutions. So that means we need to build spaces that people want

Human friction, wrought by divergent thinking within diverse teams, will always be the blueprint to achieve a high level of differentiation.

All the more, future buildings can act as havens in a world of digital detachment.

Incorporating natural elements like plants, water, outdoor spaces, natural light and airflow, biophilia design is proving hugely beneficial to employee wellbeing and productivity. Supermaterials, like timber and wood, offer a revitalising escape from virtual reality and foster quietly energised spaces that reduce stress and anxiety. These alternative concrete solutions are gaining remarkable repute, such as Australia’s tallest and largest engineered timber office, 25 King – home to Aurecon’s Brisbane team. Merging the best of sustainable design, technology and design thinking, structures like 25 King are paying off, with engagement, health and wellbeing, and productivity on the rise.

Can design architect our way out of digital disconnect? We believe it’s already happening. And underpinning this vision is optimism. As Noam Chomsky reminds us, “Unless you believe that the future can be better, it’s unlikely you will step up and take responsibility for making it so.”

Evelyn Storer Aurecon

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Depoliticising Australian Infrastructure privatisation can often be superficially unpopular with voters, other states, such as Queensland, have been less willing to adopt this approach.

Politicisation has also been shown to be to the detriment of the tax payer – particularly when projects are committed in spite of their lack of investment merit. This applies to a surprisingly large percentage of infrastructure projects, according to a Grattan Analysis of the Deloitte Investment Monitor. It found that one third of projects between 2000-2015 had been publicly committed before a formal funding arrangement – and that projects of this nature were much more likely to run over budget.

Throughout Australia, and around the world, there are a tremendous number of infrastructure projects in the pipeline. This makes for a competitive playing field in which countries and jurisdictions with the most attractive conditions are favoured by bidders and investors.

circumstances change. It also leaves investors exposed to the increased risk of unforeseeable changes in law during the delivery phase – increasing the likelihood of distressed projects. Jurisdictions that have depoliticised infrastructure naturally gain a competitive advantage.

In the past, Australia has fared reasonably well in relation to some of its global peers, but a recent report by Infrastructure Partnerships Australia showed a 24 per cent year-on-year drop in investment likeliness for Australia with fewer than half of survey respondents finding the nation ‘attractive’.

On a broader scale, the politicisation of factors which drive infrastructure demand (e.g. immigration policy, land use planning, and trade and industry development); is also an issue. Peter Dutton’s recent abolishment of the 457 visa, his reclassification of the 190,000 annual permanent resident intake as a ‘ceiling’ instead of a ‘target’; and, Gladys Berejiklian’s recent call for yet more of a reduction on permanent migrants in New South Wales may well impress voters.

But for global infrastructure contractors and investors, these politically-influenced fluctuations in population growth can be seen as major red flags.

In a national context, there is added competition between jurisdictions and the risk of procurers being further marginalised by contractors and financiers. Why is this an issue? With decreased bidder and investor appetite, applicants are less inclined and incentivised to bring innovation and take risk on the local pipeline, meaning that less favourable deals (from a government perspective) are being struck.

So, what makes an infrastructure project ‘unattractive’? If multiple recent reports are anything to go by, the answer is simple – politics. A study by law firm DLA Piper, for example, showed that 70 per cent of investors have been put off from backing certain projects due to political uncertainty and the prospect of a politically-induced delay.

Who can blame them? With politicisation comes political risk and an increased likelihood that deals will be scrapped and withdrawn from the market if political

Then, there is the politicisation of the funding, finance and delivery models which underpin projects. The proportion of public funding, the size and nature of loans, the type and structure of PPPs – all make for powerful pre-election propaganda. But they create a sense of instability from a bidder and investor perspective.

Aside from thwarting investor appetite, preelection pressure to appease voters can often go against the nation’s best infrastructure interests. Asset recycling for example has shown great success in New South Wales and Victoria, but, since infrastructure

Sydney’s WestConnex is one such example.

The Coalition and Labour Government publicly committed $1 billion to WestConnex before a business case had been completed

by Infrastructure Australia. Seventeen billion dollars later, and an external audit revealed that the project did not deliver value for money for the tax payer. Similarly, the highly political Princess Highway Duplication in Victoria was found to deliver only eight cents worth of benefit per each dollar spent.

So, where to now?

The literature is consistent – let’s remove politics from infrastructure. But how? The “Remarkably adaptive: Australian cities in a time of growth” report released late last year by the Grattan Institute offers some sturdy recommendations, as does Consult Australia’s “Infrastructure Governance in Australia” report, published in early 2018. But the overarching recommendation – to provide a coherent, national strategy for infrastructure development – is not a trivial undertaking.

With multiple lines of accountability – nationally and between jurisdictions – and copious stakeholders involved, developing a coordinated and politically-unbiased strategy remains a significant challenge.

In light of this, the Australian Financial Review’s National Infrastructure Summit will provide a platform for national discussion on infrastructure depoliticisation and development. Bringing together Australia’s chief policy makers, analysts, investors, contractors, procurers and academics, the events will pave a pathway for Australia’s journey towards world-class, livable cities.

Amy Sarcevic Informa Australia

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Consulting Matters Features

Industry and TAFE Collaborate to Revolutionise Welder Training A collaboration between industry and TAFE is set to revolutionise welder training across Australia. Working closely with the Victorian Skills Commissioner and TAFEs nationally, Weld Australia has prepared new, accredited welding curriculum and secured over $4.3 million worth of State and Federal Government funding to establish five Advanced Welder Training Centres (AWTCs).

These AWTCs will raise the standard of welder education exponentially, putting Australia’s welder training on par with the best in Europe and America.

Working closely with the Victorian Skills Commissioner and TAFEs nationally, Weld Australia has prepared new, accredited welding curriculum and secured over $4.3 million worth of State and Federal Government funding to establish five Advanced Welder Training Centres (AWTCs).

Through its regular surveys and member discussion groups, Weld Australia discovered that members had two overriding concerns: the competency of welders, and the cost of qualifying welders according to AS 1554 Structural Steel Welding.

both Europe and America. It is a simple test that assesses welding competency according to a specific weld procedure, based on a practical acceptance criteria.

To resolve this issue, Weld Australia looked for an appropriate Standard that would provide a benchmark for welder competency in Australia. There were two options: AS 2980 Qualification of welders for fusion welding of steels, or ISO 9606-1 Qualification testing of welders - Fusion welding.

In consultation with its members— particularly major asset managers—Weld Australia settled on ISO 9606-1. ISO 9606-1 is the only Standard in the world accepted in

According to Geoff Crittenden (Chief Executive Officer, Weld Australia), “In February 2017, we conducted our first pilot training and assessment exercise to ISO 9606-1. Whilst I had significant empirical evidence that the failure rate to ISO 1554 was in the order of 80 per cent, it came as a shock that in our first two courses the failure rate to ISO 9606-1 was 90 per cent.”

“It was clear we needed to design a training course to bring welders up to the required

Standard. As such, we conducted a strategic review of welder training in Australia and considered several options as to how we may be able to influence a substantial improvement.”

“Ultimately, we decided that the best way forward was to partner with TAFE nationally.

This way, we could collaborate to develop the required courses pertaining to ISO 9606-1, as well as liaise with our members to ensure that the courses were filled with enthusiastic young welders,” said Crittenden.

Rather than follow traditional training techniques which have changed little since the 19th Century, Weld Australia identified the Seabery Soldamatic augmented reality welding simulator as a more modern solution.

The Soldamatic is efficient and effective— training 34 per cent more welders in 56 per cent less time—and reduces training costs by as much as 68 per cent. With zero risks involved, trainees can respond to realistic scenarios without pressure or fear of injury. Furthermore, by gamifying the welding process, training becomes an extremely attractive proposition for the younger generation who are brought up in an increasingly digital world.

Government Funding Secured

The Seabery Soldamatic augmented reality welding simulator.

“Our next step was to develop the appropriate curriculum for welding to ISO 9606-1 standards and to persuade State Governments to fund the establishment of what would become the AWTCs. The AWTCs are essentially an augmented reality laboratory, coupled with a traditional welding school,” said Crittenden.

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The Hon Julie Bishop MP and Geoff Crittenden (CEO, Weld Australia) at the launch of the AWTC in Caboolture, SouthEast Queensland.

Jennifer Oliver (Acting CEO, Box Hill Institute), the Hon Gayle Tierney MP (Minister for Training and Skills), Geoff Crittenden (CEO, Weld Australia), and Neil Coulson (Victorian Skills Commissioner) at the launch of the AWTC at Box Hill TAFE in Melbourne.

In partnership with TAFE around the country regarding funding the establishment of AWTCs, Weld Australia submitted proposals to all State Governments.

AWTCs Established Nation-wide

At the same time, recognising the value of the AWTC concept, the Victorian Skills Commissioner established a Sector Advisory Group to develop the curriculum for training both the experienced and entry level workers.

According to the Victorian Skills Commissioner, Mr Neil Coulson, “Employment in Victoria’s manufacturing sector remains strong and industry demand for welding skills, as exemplified through the awarding of defence contracts, has swelled.”

“Delivering the right training and education and ensuring that the right pathways are available for people to transition from training into work are vital,” said Commissioner Coulson. “Industry input can lead to more strategic and targeted interventions to align the training system with industry needs. As such, the manufacturing industry can help facilitate information sharing and collaboration between government, employers, trade unions and training providers.”

The two courses, developed by the Sector Advisory Group, were accredited by the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) in late 2017. As a result, TAFE across Victoria and around the country can teach the accredited course, which will be subsidised by the parent State Government via their Funded Course List.

As a result of this ongoing collaboration with TAFE nationally, Weld Australia secured over $4.3 million worth of State and Federal Government funding in 2018.

This funding saw five AWTCs established in late 2018, located at: the TAFE SA Regency Campus in Adelaide, South Australia; the Tasmanian Minerals and Energy Council Centre of Excellence in South Burnie, Tasmania; Box Hill TAFE in Melbourne, Victoria; at SkillsTech Acacia Ridge in Queensland; and in Caboolture, Queensland.

“The combination of a curriculum based on global best practice delivered via advanced training technology will, together with onthe-job training, help ensure a strong supply of capable welders, ready to deliver the $100 billion worth of defence industry work in the pipeline,” said Crittenden.

It is expected that at least five more AWTCs will receive funding over the next 12 months.

Sally Wood Weld Australia

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Consulting Matters Feature

Surround yourself with the right people INTRODUCTION Your team consists of a lot more than the people you employ — they are only part of the equation. Leaders work with a team for which there are four critical components.

Alongside your employees, the people who work with you include business owners, partners, your future leaders, specialists and advisors — this is your team. All components have an equally important role in your business.

1. YOUR PARTNERS Choose your partners carefully! Above anything else, you need to be sure you can trust one another, enjoy each other’s company, and work and communicate well to ensure you achieve great things for your business. Sharing similar values and aspirations for the future of your business, alongside being financially astute and forward-thinking are all important traits of a successful partnership.

Finding a partner that offers credibility to your business, while also having skills and expertise that support and complement your own ensure a far broader skillset. This in turn will enable you to plan, grow and run your business more effectively. Today, your partners should possess an element of risktaking, a desire to control their own destiny, and an enjoyment for watching others receive the recognition they deserve. In a nutshell, they should complement your weaknesses and share your business passions.

It goes without saying that you and your partners establish the culture within your business. Cultural misalignment among the leadership team is one of the first things that arises when business becomes difficult. When business is performing well,

inadequate communication can be papered over. When there is leadership conflict and a sense of dissatisfaction in the business, this misalignment is one of the first things to come to the fore that really never goes away.

2. YOUR FUTURE LEADERS Your future leaders should offer diversity to your business by bringing new skills and behaviours you don’t have. What are the characteristics to look for? Professionalism, independence and entrepreneurship. These individuals have a great work–life congruence — they value teamwork and respect others, and have the ability to put their egos aside to listen carefully and nurture those around them. Forward-thinking and open to new opportunities, future leaders challenge the status quo — by not being risk averse in their approach to business. They are keen to discuss their concerns with you and have

solutions, not problems, to the business issues. In a nutshell, they have a winning personality and are invaluable assets to your business.

Your future leaders need to be mentored by you. You need to spend time with them on business management — very few others will! They need and deserve a plan for growth and advancement. In our experience, they typically won’t ask for this plan so the current leaders need to be pro-active about this. This should include an agreement / expectations surrounding: •B usiness development and work generation •S ervicing clients and representing the business • Delivery of services • Design collaboration • Client agreements and fee structures • Their role in strategic objectives • Attracting and retaining key people

Today, your partners should possess an element of risk-taking, a desire to control their own destiny, and an enjoyment for watching others receive the recognition they deserve.

In a nutshell, they should complement your weaknesses and share your business passions.

•B uilding and contributing to cultural values • Business and service innovation • Financial objectives and systems.

3. YOUR PEOPLE Without people, you don’t own a practice — you own a job. It is obviously necessary to focus on hiring people who have the

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Having the right people around your business will enable you to learn from experts in your industry.

You will get the return on your investment that is imperative to the success of your business.

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Surround yourself with experts who: •H ave demonstrated expert knowledge and skills in their field of work • Know how to get things done •H ave a network of people they can refer you to promptly • Complement your weaknesses • Put your interests first

correct skills, but, more importantly, who culturally fit in your business and can bring quality and talent that you will need into the future. Foster a culture of accountability by surrounding yourself with people who want to build a career, rather than have a job.

• Are they passionate?

Your people should be trustworthy, hardworking, productive and work well as part of a team. There should also be diversity in demographics across gender, cultures, age etc. Hiring people with great energy and a positive outlook on the business is essential — after all they are representative of your business and will influence the impression others have of you and your credentials. A successful team needs to have experience, passion and commitment.

Having strong, engaging systems across your business that enable your people to do the right work at the right time will not only ensure your business is run more effectively, but your people will be happier too! Such systems will also enable you to delegate responsibility comfortably. That in turn will ensure your staff members confidently take control within their roles—your systems are your path to independence and fulfilment!

Be careful not to simply go through the process of hiring people and then forget to interact with them. Working alongside your people to develop their skills and responsibilities makes an enormous difference when looking to build a team that is fully engaged in their role and is excited for future opportunities in the business.

Don’t make the mistake of putting the wrong people in charge of hiring or failing to let go of the employees who don’t fit well in the business. The key issue to remember is trust your judgement!

When evaluating your current and potential people, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do they have a great work ethic?

• Are they skilled?

• Do they embrace challenges?

• Are they fun to be around?

4. YOUR TRUSTED ADVISORS The main difference between a business and being self-employed is the team you surround yourself with.

Consider what skills you don’t have in your business and surround yourself with experts, mentors and advisors that bring this capability. This will include experts in finance, tax, legal, risk, marketing and strategy etc.

Having the right people around your business will enable you to learn from experts in your industry. You will get the return on your investment that is imperative to the success of your business.

•A re reliable, credible and available when you need them •A re forward thinking and able to assist in driving your business further.

Proper guidance from your accountants, tax advisors, financial advisors, and legal counsel is imperative for building a strong, successful business. Although these advisors can be expensive, their advice can provide you with an incredible return on your investment by helping you structure a strong business while avoiding pitfalls along the way.

Once you have established a strong relationship it is important to nurture it as your business develops further. Asking questions as you go and liaising closely together will help to build a stronger relationship on which you can fully manage every element of your business.

Being able to receive the support and advice you need from the experts around you will make an enormous difference to how you view your business and the decisions you make as a result. Having a strong and respected team on board will contribute to any decision you make — it is the combined input of your team that makes it the right decision.

Rob Peake Management for Design

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24

Consulting Matters

Want to talk insurance with someone who knows your industry?

Working your way through your businesses insurance requirements, particularly when it comes to professional indemnity, can be like navigating your way through a forest.

That's why, way back in 2009, Consult Australia created the PI Pathway and partnered with brokers that we were confident not only knew our industry, but would also provide our members with the level of service that we would be happy to endorse.

Bovill Risk IC and Planned Insurance have been partners on the pathway since its inception, and nine years later they are continuing to help our members find their way through the insurance forest for not just PI insurance but across all their business insurance needs.

To make sure you have the best available insurance for your business or project contact our PI Pathway Partners now.

Protecting Professionals

Bovill Risk & Insurance Consultants www.bric.com.au

Planned Cover www.plannedcover.com.au

Darren Pavic, Broking Manager PO BOX 1020 Richmond North Victoria 3121 1800 077 933 bw@bric.com.au

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

Photo courtesy of Seb Zurcher

26

Consulting Matters Protecting your business

The NCPR: Helping consultants reduce risk Consultants must enforce their construction specifications as the simple act of requesting to view conformance certificates will improve Australia’s compliance regime. This mitigates the serious risks of non-conforming building products. It is also necessary to check the currency of certificates. For example, CodeMark has just withdrawn some of their certificates.

To protect their businesses and projects, consultants working across the building and construction industry can use the new National Construction Product Register (NCPR) for free. It is a public online database that records the verified evidence of conformity of building products and materials sold in Australia. This new initiative by NATPSEC is an invaluable tool for building professionals and is very much needed.

“Use of non-conforming products to replace those specified by designers’ compromises quality and project outcomes and can ultimately impact on the safety of the people using the finished asset,” says Carl Jenkins, Chair of Consult Australia’s ACT Executive Committee.

It was November 2014 when a fire in Melbourne dragged non-compliant and non-conforming building products into the spotlight. The Lacrosse Building in Melbourne’s Docklands caught fire on its eighth storey in the early hours of the morning. About ten minutes later, this fire had already spread up 13 storeys of the building’s façade. A contributing factor to this extraordinarily fast-moving blaze was the polyethylene aluminium composite panels used as cladding on the outside of the 23-storey tower. The speed of the fire was unprecedented. Almost 500 people were evacuated and needed emergency accommodation. Fortunately, damage was only structural. There were no fatalities.

Although the polyethylene-core cladding did not cause the fire, it certainly accelerated it and augmented its severity. The combustible cladding should never have been there, on the façade of a high-rise building. It left a high risk of fire and did not follow the NCC. Issues with structural steel bolts, glazing and electrical cables have been of particular concern to engineers. In August 2015, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued a mandatory national recall of substandard electrical cables. The cables’ plastic insulation coating becomes

prematurely brittle and presents an electric shock risk and a risk of fire. Close to half of the dangerous cabling remains unidentified in Australian homes and buildings. In 2016 and 2017, glass panels that had not been tested to Australian Standards shattered and fell onto inner-city streets in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.

Non-conforming building products are used for different reasons and in different ways,

often in ignorance of their full potential for problems. This is where the NCPR is especially important. Information about the conformity of different products and materials and their applicable standards is too often spread over different locations, involving different organisations, Government departments and certifications. The NCPR groups together all of this important information in one easily accessible place.

This simplifies the process for consultants

Although the polyethylene-core cladding did not cause the fire, it certainly accelerated it and augmented its severity. The combustible cladding should never have been there, on the façade of a high-rise building. It left a high risk of fire and did not follow the NCC.

Protecting your business Consulting Matters

27

NATSPEC also accepts CABs accredited by overseas organisations.

NATSPEC is not alone in responding to the risks associated with non-conforming building products. A Senate inquiry was completed at the end of 2018; the report Building Confidence by Peter Shergold and Bronwyn Weir was published one year ago; and Governments throughout Australia have initiated audits to examine thousands of public and private buildings. Non-conforming building products are no small problem.

The Victorian Cladding Taskforce and the Queensland Building and Construction Commission’s audit taskforce into nonconforming building products were both set up in 2017. Queensland also amended four acts, including the Building Act 1975, to update them with the Chain of Responsibility legislation. These amendments establish and enforce the duties of each person in the supply chain of a building product or material. Those who work with building products, including engineers, architects, manufacturers, builders, surveyors and importers, have a legally enforceable role to verify, as far as reasonably practicable, that each product used in their project is not a non-conforming building product. The NCPR is what building professionals need to be sure that they are working with appropriate, suitable products that have verified evidence of conformity. when checking a product’s suitability and giving the best advice to their clients.

Consultants can encourage their preferred product manufacturers to make an application to the NCPR so that each product’s suitability can be verified and it can be listed in the database. The absence of a product from the register does not necessarily mean that it has invalid evidence of conformity, and the inclusion of a product in the NCPR does not represent an endorsement by NATSPEC. The database is in its infancy, with about 1000 product listings. The NCPR will only continue to grow, improving Australian construction quality as it does so.

The improvement of Australian construction quality is exactly what NATSPEC works to consistently achieve. NATSPEC, a not-for-profit, Government- and industryowned organisation, maintains the National Building Specification for Australia. As it has never been involved in advocacy or policy development, Government departments and

industry organisations support NATSPEC as the administrator of the NCPR. Consult Australia was one of NATSPEC’s founders in 1975.

“NATSPEC continues to provide a key service to industry through the provision of impartial advice on building products,” says Mr Jenkins.

“Its register of master specifications is invaluable to the consulting industry.”

NATSPEC is not a conformity assessment body (CAB), so it relies on conformity assessments performed by other organisations. Each CAB has been certified by an accreditation body. The main accreditation bodies in Australia are the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) and the National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia (NATA). Australia has multilateral recognition and mutual recognition agreements in place with many other countries, which means that

The NCPR is a definitive, national approach to addressing non-conforming building products. NATSPEC’s database will not immediately bring the issue to a close, but it is a significant contribution to the worldwide effort of resolving the problem of unsafe building products.

For further information, and to check the conformity and validity of products, visit: www.ncpr.com.au.

Emma Green NATSPEC Communications

28

Consulting Matters Protecting your business

Implications of the Lacrosse Judgment – The power of contracts The Lacrosse judgment was handed down on 28 February 2019. It has received much press in the construction and insurance industries.

The judgment dismisses this misconception and confirms that, yes, contracts can and do redefine professional roles.

Our article assumes a level of knowledge of the case and focuses on the implications of the judgment for the construction industry.

The Architect was caught out by contract provisions requiring them to prepare Contract Material that would satisfy the BCA, to “fully define all building elements, finishes, materials”, and to “inspect and approve samples as required”.

Party

Liability finding

Why?

Builder

100% - but recoverable from others

Liable to Owners Corporation for breach of statutory warranties. But can recover almost 100% of that amount from its consultants.

Not negligent because the Builder was not expected to have the same knowledge about combustible cladding as consultants

Building Surveyor

33%

Issuing a building permit for a building clad with Alucobest ACPs which did not comply with the BCA

Architect

25%

Specifying a cladding system “indicative to Alucobond”, which did not meet the requirement under the BCA to be noncombustible, and also approving the Builder’s substitution of Alucobest

Fire Engineer

39%

Failing to obtain a clear understanding of the model of cladding to be used, and misdescribing the cladding in a report

Cigarette smoking tenant

3%

Negligent for failing to ensure that his cigarette was fully extinguished

The court’s findings on the liability of the consultants and builder are useful only as a very general guide, because the judgment emphasises how greatly the outcome depended on the specific design, contracts and dealings on this project. On other projects, the outcome could be very different.

Lesson – The Importance of your Contracts and how contracts caught the consultants out The court says the consultancy agreements were “pivotal in ascribing liability”. Why? Because they defined the scope of the consultants’ services, and in each case the consultant was found to have a much broader responsibility than they had thought.

The importance of a carefully negotiated and priced scope of services is the single most important take-away for consultants, especially on novated projects where the scope may be reduced. The court quotes one of the expert witnesses as saying: “The contract’s certainly important – [but] the contract, I don’t believe, can redefine basic professional roles.”

The Fire Engineer, likewise, was caught out by a scope that promised “a full fire engineering assessment”, and the Building Surveyor by provisions like “make all due inquiry … to ensure compliance with” the BCA. In the witness box, the Architect said their role was much more limited, with the Builder exercising a high level of control. But this carries little weight with courts, because of the paramount importance of contracts in the law. The fact that the parties on the ground behaved differently did not diminish the legal obligations to which the consultants had bound themselves when their contracts were signed.

The contract of the Project Manager/Superintendent, by contrast, promised only to “use reasonable endeavours” to ensure construction in accordance with the D&C contract, and “manage the project consultants” to design the project in compliance with the BCA. Of the consultants, only the Project Manager was found not liable.

The lesson is to pay close attention to your scope of services on every project and link it to your fee. If your role includes investigating hundreds of builder substitutions, charge for that work. If it doesn’t, state in your scope that this is not your role, and clarify that any approval of substitutions by you will be for aesthetic/visual purposes only. Avoid broad terms like “full fire engineering assessment” unless you will actually provide that level of service.

In Conclusion The Lacrosse judgment is a powerful reminder that is vitally important to fully engage in the contracting process and obtain expert advice to help you. informed by Planned Cover reviewed over 1,500 contracts for construction consultants in 2018 as well as providing seminars and webinars on how to manage risks like “partial services” engagements and novation. Consultants should draw on our range of risk management services, as well as seeking legal advice on contracts.

Wendy Poulton Manager Risk Services, informed by Planned Cover (See our website for a more detailed report on the judgment)

Business essentials Consulting Matters

29

Subsurface Utility Engineering enhanced through collaboration The process of managing subsurface utilities can only be a success in Australia (and quite frankly in most places in the world) with collaboration by all stakeholders. These stakeholders include a long list of project owners, developers, project managers, State and local authorities, public utility authorities, design engineers, surveyors, locaters and last (but by no means least) the constructor on the ground. The contention of this article is that the correct practice of (SUE) is very much dependent on successful collaboration amongst all stakeholders.

National engineering consultancy firm Wood & Grieve Engineers (WGE) has been working with Standards Australia and Engineers Australia to improve our country’s generally poorly regulated approach to managing underground utilities. The new approach looks to focus on solutions implemented during the engineering design process rather than waiting until construction occurs, as is current practice.

This Standards Australia committee has recently completed the upgrade of AS5488 which will now include a new Part 2 that focuses on the management of subsurface utilities and is expected to be available in Australia (via SAI Global) in March 2019.

This committee has been chaired by former Queensland Department of Main Roads Director General Bruce Wilson. Bruce himself is an outstanding advocate for collaboration and has been throughout his long and distinguished career.

Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) refers to an engineering management process that involves engineering, geophysics and geospatial disciplines and technologies to manage certain risks associated with utility mapping at appropriate quality levels, utility coordination, utility relocation design and coordination, utility condition assessment, communication of Subsurface Utility Information (SUI) utility data to concerned parties, utility relocation cost estimates, implementation of utility accommodation policies, and utility designs.

So in review of this definition of SUE, it is evident that this process can only be successful with good collaboration. There are so many intricacies and nuances associated with developing a project in consideration of what utilities may be affected and if so how to design around, protect or relocate them.

Anyone who has ever worked within an arm’s length of subsurface utilities will recall

negative outcomes and on review will most likely agree that with better collaboration, “things might have ended better”.

Five countries have SUE standards in place – the USA, Canada, UK, Malaysia and Ecuador.

Specifically with regards to Canada and again on the collaboration front, WGE are in a final due diligence phase of a merger with Stantec. The concepts of mergers are by no means foreign to the engineering industry both within Australia and abroad. WGE’s National Underground Utility Manager Rob Sansbury says “The collaboration that we have enjoyed with Stantec to date, across numerous aspects of our business, has been truly enlightening and most rewarding.”

Canada has a subsurface utility standard known as CSA 250, and Sansbury has picked up close collaboration with Canadian counterparts of his within Stantec, to further align approaches to the management of subsurface utilities. “We have much to learn from such a large organisation that has been managing subsurface utility designs across enormous projects for a number of years”.

WGE in collaboration with Engineers Australia, Consult Australia and Open Learning has created an on line training course to lift the understanding and importance of subsurface utility engineering across the country. In short, the intent of the on-line training material is to inform all participants that SUE should be recognised as a specialist area of engineering and through strong collaboration the new AS5488

will better serve the industry and all utility stakeholders.

The on line course is not expensive at $285, takes only 8 hours to complete and gives a strong overview of SUE as well as some detail about what the upgraded AS5488 is aiming to achieve. Course attendees are able to directly input what they think subsurface utility management should include, which is a first of its kind. In addition, the on line training method could equally be viewed as a collaborative opportunity for participants to work with each other participants and engage directly through the platform with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).

Check out the on line course here https://www.openlearning.com/eeaust/ courses/intro-to-subsurface-utilities-eng

Sansbury further notes that, “A key factor in the success of the upgraded AS5488 will be if it is released to an informed marketplace. The current AS5488 has not been well adopted, primarily as a result of ineffective collaboration with the marketplace and we realised that, in parallel with upgrading AS5488 we needed to create a training course that was accessible to all to permit collaboration toward an improved environment within which to manage subsurface utilities.”

Rob Sansbury Wood & Grieve Engineers

30

Consulting Matters Business essentials

The top issues facing small building and construction businesses

To provide more tailored support to small businesses in the built environment, Cbus has developed a Small Business Insights Report.

The Cbus Small Business Insights Report is based on a survey of Cbus employers conducted in December 2018, incorporating the voice of more than 900 Australian small businesses working in the building and construction industry.

Initial insights have identified small building and construction businesses appear to be doing well, despite headwinds in the residential construction sector, with many businesses providing positive feedback.

Around 40 per cent of businesses reported that their circumstances had improved in the

six months to December 2018 and only 13 per cent reported deteriorating conditions.

Key reasons for this include an overall increase in turnover over the six months to December 2018, increased staff hiring and improved cash flow. Businesses with more than 20 employees were more positive when looking back on the last six months.

For the following six months (to June 2019), almost half (46 per cent) of the businesses said they expect business conditions to improve with only 6 per cent expecting conditions to deteriorate over this period. Around two-thirds (63 per cent) of businesses expect to hire more staff and nearly half (44 per cent) of businesses expect turnover to increase.

Initial insights have identified small building and construction businesses appear to be doing well, despite headwinds in the residential construction sector, with many businesses providing positive feedback.

Despite the positive outlook, small businesses face some pressing business issues, including finding new work and skilled staff. Other significant issues included managing cash flow, managing administration and paper work, as well as collecting accounts receivable.

View the full report at www.cbussuper.com. au/smallbusinessreport to see how your business compares to other small businesses and find valuable insights for your business.

Felicia Goh Cbus This information is about Cbus. It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take into account your specific needs, so you should look at your own business needs, objectives and requirements before making any financial decisions. Read the relevant Cbus Product Disclosure Statement and related documents to decide whether Cbus is right for you. Call 1300 361 784 or visit www.cbussuper.com.au for a copy.

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Business essentials Consulting Matters

31

The Importance of Pedestrian Safe External Areas The importance of pedestrian and shared areas in our cities is being increasingly realised. In a recent report, consulting engineers Arup outlined 50 benefits associated with making cities more walkable, from improvements to mental health to supporting local business. Jeff Speck, author of Walkable City, notes, “Get walkability right and so much of the rest will follow.”

As the youngest generation of Australians move away from driving, The importance of pedestrian areas in our cities will only increase.

Pedestrian and shared areas must be designed with the pedestrian in mind, as the alternative can be hazardous. The risk of slips, trips and falls in poorly designed pedestrian areas is high, and the legal consequences of these accidents can be extreme. Bodily injury claims across Australia totalled over $440 million in 2013. Liability for slips, trips and falls can extend from business and property owners to councils, architects and designers. nother central consideration is compliance A with relevant legislation and building standards. The National Construction Code, including the Building Code of Australia, only applies to building works. And is therefore inapplicable to most exterior areas. However, many councils have their own extensive planning regulations for external spaces, especially when it comes to streetscapes. Accessibility and disabled access requirements are also important. For example, the City of Sydney has a 550 page Streets Technical Specification. Under the Disability (Access to Premises – Buildings) Standards 2010, external pathways – which are required for access to buildings – must be accessible.

Slips, Trips & Falls Pedestrians’ greatest risk in external areas is slipping, tripping or falling. Designers can, and must, minimise these risks in their designs. Overly bumpy or steep pedestrian spaces will create trip hazards, particularly for the elderly, disabled and children. One consideration that often leads to steep or bumpy spaces is the need for surface water management. Grated pit and pipe systems, common in external areas such as car parks, require an undulating surface so that surface water will run off into the pits.

Although managing surface water is a key consideration when it comes to designing pedestrian friendly external areas, this need

not come at the expense of smooth, flat surfaces. Trench drains allow for external spaces to be designed with only a slight camber in a single direction. Furthermore, as shown in a report by independent quantity surveyor, Rider Levett Bucknall, precast modular trench drains are cheaper to install than pit and pipe systems Slips, trips and falls can also occur on an even surface if the surface material has inadequate slip resistance. However, the correct amount of slip resistance is not always the greatest amount of slip resistance. Large, unexpected changes in slip resistance can themselves be trip hazards, so architects must take into account the compatibility of slip resistance between the walking surface and the different elements they specify, such as drainage grates. Standards Australia have provided guidance for specifying the slip resistance of pedestrian surface materials for typical locations inside and outside of buildings in its handbook HB 198 Guide to the specification and testing of slip resistance of pedestrian surfaces. his advice is based on the testing methods T of AS 4586 Slip resistance classification of new pedestrian surface materials. Note that, contrary to common belief, it is the P values of the Wet Pendulum Test, not the R values

of the Oil-Wet Inclining Platform Test, that are relevant to most pedestrian spaces.

Without proper surface water management, water pooling will occur, which creates a risk of accidents. Global climate change has only increased the challenge of surface water management. As the City of Melbourne Climate Change Adaptation Strategy notes, “the potential for storm drain inundation and flash flooding will likely increase with more intense rainfall events accompanied by sea level rise.”. Surface water ponding, which was once seen as just being inconvenient, is now becoming a safety issue.

Finally, it is important that all elements specified in external pedestrian and shared areas can withstand the weather and wear they are exposed to. Even the most pedestrian friendly design can create slip hazards if it has been damaged. For shared spaces, wear caused by cars, trucks and trolleys must be considered, as well as wear caused by water ponding. This is why durable materials must be used.

Grate Slot Width Overly wide slots in drainage grates pose risks to pedestrians. At best, they will require women (wearing small heels) to walk over the grate, which is not necessarily convenient or pedestrian friendly. At worst, the heel

32

Consulting Matters Business essentials

may fall or become trapped in the grate, which could cause the shoe to be broken, the woman to fall and to suffer serious injury.

Overly wide slots also pose risks to people using walking canes or frames, as the end of the cane or frame may become stuck in the grate. This risk is severe, as people using walking canes or frames will already be having trouble walking. The wheels of wheelchairs can also be caught in overly large drain slots, thus creating accessibility issues. Bicycle riders are also at risk.

The current Australian Standard for drainage grate slot width is contained in AS 3996 Access covers and grates. However, this standard is quite out of date, and does not take into account all the risks of a modern urban environment. Section 3.3.5 of the standard states that slots should be no greater than 25mm wide, but a slot of that width could still easily trap heels, canes and wheelchair tyres. Australian Standard AS 1428.2 Design for access and mobility, which applies to some external areas, specifies that slots should be no greater than 13mm wide, which is still wide enough to catch some heels. The American Standard ASME A112.6.3 states that a grate designed to resist the entry of high-heel shoes should have slots no wider than 8mm.

Ultimately, it is up to the judgement of the designer what size slot to use. However, there is a dilemma. The smaller the slots, the less likely it is that they will catch any heels or walking canes. But, narrower slots also collect less water, and clog up with debris (silt, cigarette butts, leaves, etc.), meaning that overly narrow slots can lead to water pooling or bypassing which, as was discussed above, is itself a hazard. Given this paradox, some compromise must be found. Maria Rigoli is a highly experienced landscape architect, having played a crucial role in the realisation of Barangaroo Reserve amongst other projects. She has suggested that having 10mm wide slots is a reasonable compromise between protecting heels and canes, and collecting surface water. This also accords with the finger entrapment clauses of AS 4685 Playground Equipment and Surfacing, Meaning that it should be safe for little fingers. While some heels may be smaller than 10mm, 10mm should be safe for almost all heels, and any smaller width would start to provide problems when it came to collecting surface water. While it may not satisfy everyone, as Maria Rigoli notes, you can only ever design for 98 per cent of the population.

John Sordo ACO

Consulting Matters

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33

34

Consulting Matters Corporate social responsibility

RedR Report: Tai Ring Teh

More than 700 local emergency WASH workers responding to the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh have received training in monsoon preparedness and response thanks to the work of Australia Assists deployee, Tai Ring Teh. Tai spent eight months with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) focusing on building local capacity as a Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Officer from April to December in 2018.

Tai said, “The sanitation sites and Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) and treatments being implemented were in great need. Our priorities were to prevent the transmission of disease, especially cholera, and to assist in

preparedness for the monsoon season that began in June.”

Tai was the co-lead in the Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) working group, and conducted a training and facility tour of the settlement’s WASH infrastructure for frontline WASH actors to ensure a coordinated response.

“We gathered all the WASH managers and engineers we could find – around 70 people altogether – who then went around to look at the settlement’s facilities and understand what everyone else is doing and what improvements can be made. We needed to be coordinated,” Tai said.

Tai spent eight months with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) focusing on building local capacity as a Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Officer from April to December in 2018.

Consulting Matters 35 Expand your skills for the humanitarian sector with RedR Australia’s internationally recognised training courses

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36

Consulting Matters Corporate social responsibility

Tai provided guidance on emergency FSM, which resulted in significant improvements by local actors in its effectiveness and efficiency. In addition, Tai also ran training in emergency preparedness and response to monsoons, including conducting 12 WASH emergency simulation exercises that were incredibly well received by partners.

“One of the main findings showed that showers need to be included in sanitation sites, especially for women for menstrual hygiene. The survey found women don’t feel secure changing their menstrual products in the toilets or at home due to a lack of privacy, so bathing facilities have become extremely important,” said Tai.

“I became the focal point to provide knowledge to the NGOs and was delivering training two to three days a week. Lots of people wanted to attend the sessions which was great,” said Tai.

“More accessible toilets for people with disabilities are also needed, and open defecation is still an issue among children, indicating a need for education in that area.

The survey highlights what needs to be focused on in the future.”

“UNHCR and its WASH partners confirmed they have sufficient knowledge and capacity to sustain all WASH activities as I had trained over 700 WASH personnel through my role and by working side by side with Head Office (HO) and HO’s partners.”

Tai said one of the greatest achievements of his deployment was the improvements he saw local workers make to WASH infrastructure in the settlement as a result of his training. He was also proud that the settlement did not see a cholera outbreak.

Tai spent the final weeks of his deployment undertaking a survey about WASH priorities for the settlement moving forward.

“When I arrived, local NGOs and engineers were unable to implement WASH infrastructure to capacity. By October, the

whole thing had turned around and the capacity was almost on par with international NGOs. That is the key difference my training made.”

“In an emergency, our work has to be done at the lowest cost possible and there are huge health risks. There wasn’t a cholera outbreak, which was a remarkable achievement.”

Elliana Saltalamacchia RedR Consult Australia is a founding member of RedR Australia. For more information about RedR Australia, take a look at their website at www.redr.org.au.

Tai was deployed as part of the Australian Government’s civilian humanitarian deployment program, Australia Assists through delivery partner RedR Australia.

Project case study Consulting Matters

37

In-house 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: http://bit.ly/caeducation

Contracts for Consultants

Safety in Design • Designer duties under current legislation • Hazard identification tools

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Member price: $3,074 Non-Member price: $3,996

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.

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

Mar 2019

Learn vital information about: