In an Australian first, Holcim has published an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for its ready-mix concrete range known as ViroDecs™.

This groundbreaking initiative will help shape the way the construction industry analyses the environmental impacts of buildings and infrastructure.

As the first concrete manufacturer in Australia to undertake an ISO compliant study and independent verification process, Holcim can now quantify for customers the total environmental impacts of its ready-mix concrete.

The data will enable Australian developers and builders to make more environmentally sustainable construction material selections without compromising on performance.

The publication constitutes a major investment in comprehensively analysing and communicating to customers the embodied environmental impacts of Holcim’s Ready-mix concrete.

Holcim CEO George Agriogiannis says the development of a concrete EPD is a critical missing piece to having all key infrastructure and building products represented by an EPD in Australia.

“Holcim ViroDecs™ sets a clear commitment to providing accurate and transparent environmental data for our customers, and a framework for continued improvement on Holcim’s part.”

Environmental Product Declarations are a comprehensive disclosure of a product’s environmental lifecycle impacts and other relevant information in accordance with international standards^.

The document covers the first three core stages of the product lifecycle, including raw material extraction, transport of raw materials, and product manufacturing.

Holcim’s ViroDecs™ EPD meets strict international (ISO) and European (EN) standards, is independently verified, and registered by EPD Australasia and the International EPD System.

East Light Rail, Stage 1B Basement works at Barangaroo South, Sunshine Coast University Hospital, Logan Enhancement Project, Sydney Metro NorthWest – Tunnel, Stations and Civil Works, NorthConnex, WestConnex M5, and Sydney Metro City and Southwest – Tunnel and Station Excavation Works.

How the EPD can be used in the Infrastructure Sustainability and Green Star rating schemes: Technical information and case studies exploring the EPD’s role in construction industry sustainability rating schemes.

Holcim’s management systems: An introduction to the comprehensive and multifaceted management systems in place to improve accountability, risk management, safety, health, and environmental outcomes at Holcim.

Lifecycle Analysis information: Detailed interpretation and technical data representing the lifecycle analysis of Holcim’s Ready-mix concrete.

EPD product description: Materials and features of Holcim’s ViroDecs™ Ready-mix concrete range.

Environmental performance: Detailed index of all environmental impacts considered in the EPD, and analysis of its performance.

Interpretation: Comparison of the ViroDecs™ General, Fly Ash Blend, Blast Slag Blend and Triple Blend.

Other lifecycle stages not included in this EPD: Discussion of lifecycle stages of concrete products and projects.
CLICK HERE for more information about the Holcim ViroDecs™ EPD.

GHD is one of the world’s leading professional services companies operating in the global markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation. Privately owned, GHD deliver engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services to public and private sector clients across five continents and the Pacific region. GHD were a founding member of ISCA, and are a deep-rooted supporter. GHD are gold partners for the 2019 Western Australia Conference. We caught up with the team at GHD to speak about their current projects, proud achievements, and the WA Conference:
Which projects are GHD currently working on, in WA and further afield?

In the sustainability space, GHD are currently assisting Main Roads WA on numerous planning and development phase projects, as well as the detailed design and construction of the Metropolitan Road Improvement Alliance projects. Beyond WA, GHD is assisting the Western Sydney Airport Co. throughout their planning and implementation of sustainability and Infrastructure Sustainability, as well as assisting the implementation of IS on the Northeast Link project.

What sustainability successes/ innovations are you most proud of?

Some success to mention include:

• Recycled Road base – GHD has been a part of the majority of Main Roads WA projects which have trialled this product, either in small sections, or as one of the primary road bases. We have been able to assist Main Roads WA in the technical and environmental considerations for the use of this product. Late last year it was pleasing to present a training course to the recycled road base manufacturers on how they can best manufacture their products to minimise environmental risks.

• Eric Singleton Wetland – GHD provided drainage design and environmental support to assist the City of Bayswater in the development of this new wetland. Through the drainage design process, we were able to maximise the length of water path flow, thereby enabling more time for sediments to drop out and improve water quality. The site had historical contamination issues, and GHD were able to assist the City in determining the most sustainable remediation method that suited the project and minimised waste to landfill.

Why did you partner with ISCA for the WA Conference?

The incorporation of sustainability principles within infrastructure projects has been recognised as important for a long time now, but it is just as important to follow this up with proactive actions to make sure this occurs, and measure the actual outcome. Partnering with ISCA makes sense, as the fastest way to improve sustainability outcomes is to have a wide understanding and knowledge base of sustainable ideas, projects and initiatives. GHD has recognised this from the start, given we were one of the founding members of ISCA (back when it was called AGIC) – partnering with ISCA for the WA Conference was a natural progression on this.

What are you most looking forward to at the Conference?

The Conference will provide a great opportunity to engaging with others in the industry and to see what’s going on outside of our key projects and industries. We are looking forward to hearing from others, and sharing our experiences to further educate the industry, and allow sustainability improvements to occur at a faster pace.

What next for GHD?

GHD is supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 by making them part of our strategy, culture and day-to-day operations. We recognise that the challenges facing our planet require innovative thinking and bold actions. Through our professional services, we continue to assist our clients respond to these challenges, and we’re excited by the opportunities for fresh thinking this presents.

WA Conference Platinum Partners: Jacobs

Jacobs leads the global professional services sector providing solutions for a more connected, sustainable world. With a talent force of more than 50,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of services including scientific, technical, professional and construction- and program-management for business, industrial, commercial, government and infrastructure sectors. Our team is right there on the front line of change; helping clients tackle the big issues and challenges and making an enduring, positive difference in the world, one project delivery at a time. Jacobs are an active member and long-time supporter of ISCA and are our platinum partner for the 2019 Western Australia Conference.

We caught up with the team at Jacobs to speak about their current projects, proud achievements, and the WA Conference:

Which projects are Jacobs currently working on, in WA and further afield?

Our teams are working with clients across a broad range of projects here in Western Australia. In terms of sustainability projects, we’re currently supporting Main Roads WA and the Public Transport Authority to incorporate sustainability principals on a range of infrastructure projects. Interstate, Jacobs has played a key role in realising sustainability outcomes on Gold Coast Light Rail, Sydney Westconnex New M5, Sydney Metro Northwest projects and for Queensland Urban Utilities.

What sustainability successes/ innovations are you most proud of?

Some of our recent sustainability success include:

·           Successfully achieving ISCA ratings in each of the Design, As-built and Operational categories. In each of these categories, we have also achieved or are on track to achieve the highest possible rating level, representing a positive net sustainability contribution. Our recent ISCA accredited projects include the Great Northern Highway upgrade project, where sustainable project outcomes are being driven through an ‘integrated’ delivery model, research during project planning stages, a commitment to local procurement strategies and the application of the IS rating framework.

·           Being part of the North East Program Alliance team responsible for delivering two level crossing removals and the new Rosanna Train Station project which achieve an Excellent Design IS rating last year. Rosanna Station has also received a commendation in the Public Architecture and Urban Design categories at the recent 2019 Victorian Architecture Awards.

·           Working with New Zealand Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Government of Kiritati to deliver a feasibility study and conceptual plan — including coastal engineering, urban and landscape design and environmental and social impact assessment — to explore the option of increasing the height of a 300-hectare area of land to approximately two meters above the highest measured sea level.

Why did you partner with ISCA for the WA Conference?

Around the world, across all disciplines, our people strive to constantly demonstrate our commitment to sustainability and innovation through our words and actions. We embrace the challenge of designing and delivering solutions that provide enduring value, recognising that technology, science and innovation are central to finding sustainable solutions. In partnering with ISCA for the WA conference, we can support an organization whose vision and values are strongly aligned with our own, share learnings from some of our project deliveries with other likeminded organisations, learn from other organisations delivering similar projects, and ultimately contribute to conversations that matter about how we can tackle our sustainability challenges head on.

 What are you most looking forward to at the Conference?

The Conference is a great opportunity to learn through shared experience with industry peers and partners. We look forward to gaining insights from technology and thought leaders in the sustainability field, sharing information on some of the interesting things Jacobs is exploring and most importantly find some common opportunities to accelerate sustainability practices.

What is next for Jacobs?

Sustainability lies at the heart of everything we do at Jacobs. It is how we ensure long-term business resilience and success while at the same time positively contributing toward a more connected, sustainable world.

We strive to make a positive environmental, societal and economic difference for businesses, governments and communities around the world — from the way we operate our business, to the work we perform with clients and other organizations. Our Plan Beyond Strategy is closely aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development goals where we, as a business, can influence and advance progress, and sets out how we are going to achieve our goals. For example, in FY2018, we reduced carbon emissions by more than 37 million tons in Value+ Savings on client projects, equivalent to a full year’s energy use by 4 million homes.

Our current priorities include integrating sustainability planning into our innovation framework and developing and launching a new global sustainability and resilience project framework. In doing so, we can advance innovations that improve energy efficiency, resilience, conservation, reuse and reclamation of vital air, land and water resources and build strong partnerships with clients, suppliers and stakeholders that deliver sustainable solutions.

Speak at ISCA Connect – the 2019 IS Annual Conference | Melbourne, 15-17 October

Do you want to speak at ISCA Connect? We’re looking for speakers from our network and beyond. The conference shaping up to be our biggest yet, and is a unique opportunity to address the IS Community. It’s an opportunity to share, learn and connect.

The Process

We’re keeping it simple – if you’d like to speak, or know somebody that should, have a look at the topics below, and write a SHORT abstract. This should outline what you’ll be talking about and why it’s a topic the Australasian IS industry would like to hear about. Attaching supplementary attachments is recommended – videos of you speaking at other events, PowerPoint presentations (or PDFs) in relation to your topic, or any existing publications.

All abstracts must contain a short speaker bio, and a high-resolution headshot, for marketing purposes.

Please send your abstracts to events@isca.org.au by 9^th August.

Themes and Topics

The themes are the titles below, the future of transport, social sustainability, circular economy, carbon neutrality, regional investment in communities, implementing new materials in infrastructure projects, and the innovation and impacts workshop. The bullet points below them are suggested topics within these themes.

Day 1, 15^th October, is Infrastructure Sustainability Practitioner’s day – a half day dedicated to our ISAP community, in which attendees gain insights into wins and challenges from projects from planning through to operations. As yet, we do not have any themes for this – but if you would like to share technical insights into your project, this is the section for you.

The Future of Transport

• Driverless cars/ vehicles
• Legislative bodies involved in law around new transport innovations
• Alternative mobility technology (e.g. passenger drones)
• Alternate fuel types (hydrogen, EVs)
• Mobility apps (Uber, Lime, Whim)
• Data/ Cyber Security

Social Sustainability

• Modern Slavery early implementation
• Indigenous empowerment
• Community Engagement
• Refugee empowerment
• LGBTQI inclusion
• Gender Equality

Circular Economy

• Policy and procurement frameworks for Circular economy
• The business case for Circular economy
• Circular & lifecycle design (projects/organisations)
• Collaboration to drive the Circular economy (specifically – how people collaborate with different business units in organisations to drive Circular outcomes)
• Circular futures I: how technology can turbocharge the Circular economy
• Circular futures II: how a Circular economy framework can re-shape how we think about the built environment

Climate Change/ Carbon Neutrality

• Major orgs who have committed to a Carbon Neutral date
• Infrastructure Projects who have excelled in climate change mitigation
• Economics of Climate Change
• Climate Emergency
• TCFD/ ASFI

Regional Investment in Communities

• Projects/ people/ orgs making a difference in rural communities
• Drought relief
• Local employment and skills development

Implementing New Materials into infrastructure Projects

• Project Manager perspective

• Engineering academic perspective
• Client / agency perspective
• A supplier perspective

Innovation & Impacts Workshop

• Innovative materials and manufacturing
• Digital and Data
• Geopoylmer concrete
• Biofuels/Hydrogen
• Technology
• BIM
• Just about anything innovative – technology, processes, materials

IS Practitioner’s Day

• Planning; Design; As Built; Operations
• Project Innovations
• Project overviews and updates
• Successful project processes and implementation of the IS Rating
• Cost-benefit analyses – the value of sustainability

Implementing IS on T2T: Cost Benefit Assessment

 The ISCA Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) Rating Scheme has provided a means of enabling performance monitoring and measuring of non-traditional project success factors and outcomes for the Torrens Road to Torrens River (T2T) project. This assessment describes the learnings and summarises the costs and benefits of implementing the IS rating scheme on the T2T project. 

Key findings:

• Department Public Transport and Infrastructure’s (DPTI) trial of mandating verified IS Design and As-Built ratings as a contract requirement on T2T has been successful in creating a range of financial and non-financial benefits, which creates value for the State in the short and longer term, in addition to short term benefits to the T2T delivery consortium.
• Establishing a Sustainability Key Result Area (pain share / gain share arrangement) linked to the achievement of verified IS rating scores (KPIs) has had success in driving contractor decision making behaviours beyond cost, programme, quality and safety.
• The KRA gain share reward and capital savings from implementing two initiatives primarily driven by the IS rating (beyond contract and DPTI specifications) exceeded the total outturn costs for administering and resourcing the IS ratings and capital costs of those initiatives.
• Significant OPEX savings to asset owners have been forecast from one of these initiatives.
• Several non-financial benefits have been attributed to the specification and implementation of the IS rating process on T2T.

The project achieved an independently verified IS Design ‘Leading’ rating (v1.1) of 76.3 points and ‘Leading’ As-Built rating of 81.9 points, exceeding the KPI Exceptional score (maximum gain share target) of 66 IS points with significant sustainability outcomes. This is a notable achievement which would not have been attainable from BAU practices and standard DPTI specifications.

To optimise the value of sustainability and use of IS ratings on future projects, four recommendations are provided for the delivery consortium and ten recommendations are provided for DPTI, as contained in section 5 of this report.

Download T2T IS Cost Benefit Assessment

ChandlerWoods

Human resources, recruitment and consultancy agency providing high-quality talent management and people solutions to small and medium businesses.

What  does sustainability mean to ChandlerWoods? 

ChandlerWoods’ focus is on helping small to medium businesses develop into a viable long-term business through people practices that build a sustainable workforce for the future, rather than just implementing practices for here and now.

We see that it’s important that people can see a pathway for them to progress in their occupation and/or industry (e.g. Bricklayers – struggle to physically work for all of their lives).

In Australia, the Department of Jobs and Small Business has a growing list of professions with skill shortages. Many of these falls into the construction industry.

Since the GFC in 2007, investment in attracting and developing new people (Talent) into the construction industry has slowly grown but not at the pace the market requires. Coupled with a large part of the workforce (Baby Boomers) moving towards retirement, it creates pressures such as skills shortages where there are not enough skilled people to go around.

This inflates the cost for the Talent that is available creating a situation where retention of Talent becomes a challenge as competitors will pay more to secure a finite resource. (e.g. Cost of laying bricks has risen 67% over the last 5 years)

The solution is being able to attract people to these entry level roles into the construction industry and communicate there is flexibility in the workplace for them to transition to another role in the future where their experience and previous skills can add value and open new opportunities for them.

ChandlerWoods have extensive experience in developing programs and processes that help organisations and industry attract, retain and develop Talent.

Why did you become an ISCA member? 

ChandlerWoods were involved in drafting the credits for V2.0 Rating. From our HR and learning background we saw the opportunity of how the tool could help address the skills shortage challenges the construction industry is facing by the need to invest in people and people practices. We felt in order to drive Workforce Sustainability we needed to continue our association with ISCA as a member.

How have you benefited from being part of the IS Community? 

We have been able to have open conversations with organisations about sustainability from a people perspective and what impact it can have on their people by instilling a positive culture, ongoing learning, development, attraction and retention of their people.

We are starting to overcome the biggest obstacle we see, in getting companies to think about their people more strategically as a lot of construction companies think mostly from the perspective of what’s going to be beneficial in the immediate term. A big part of sustainability is shifting focus from short to long term goals, especially in human resourcing, the results from implementing sustainability measures won’t be fully visible in the short term.

What notable projects are you currently working on? 

We have been doing extensive work in the Services industry, helping small to medium business shift their HR processes to include sustainability people practices allowing them to continue their growth journey with a capable workforce driving that growth.

We do this by partnering with organisations to see what their main drivers or opportunities for growth, identifying people strategies that will drive long term sustainable business benefits with its workforce able to adapt to and be positioned to handle future work opportunities.

What does the future hold for ChandlerWoods? 

We see ourselves as a trusted partner for small to medium businesses. We can help improve workforce diversity in the construction industry and help address the issues around skills shortages and being able to retain and develop your best people.

In the construction industry there is a ticking timebomb where we have a lot of older workers from the baby boomer generation about to retire, with not enough new apprentices signing up to apprenticeships to fill that gap – which is especially large in NSW. There is not enough incentive for young people to move into the construction industry, so that’s why we want to put our focus on helping organisations to INVEST in attracting and building the capability they need to deliver their services rather than trying to BUY capability in an ever decreasing and competitive market.

By working closely with our customers, ChandlerWoods are helping to shape a sustainable workforce in Australia that can deliver on future opportunities.

If you think that ChandlerWoods can assist you then please contact Richard Brincat (Richard.Brincat@chandlerwoods.com.au) or visit www.chandlerwoods.com.au

2019 Infrastructure Sustainability Judges

After another huge year of ratings, achievements and records, the 2019 Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) Awards are set to be the largest to date. This year the Awards Gala Dinner will be hosted by Gretel Killeen and set in the splendour of the Crown Hotel’s Aviary in Melbourne. Six awards will be presented the 2019 leading people, projects and organisations in the industry;

1.     IS Individual Leadership Award

2.     IS Emerging Young Leader Award

3.     IS Innovation and Impact Award

4.     IS Organisational Leadership Award

5.     IS Outstanding Achievement Award (Design)

6.     IS Outstanding Achievement Award (As Built)

Four of the awards (Outstanding Achievement Awards are based on IS Rating score) will be scored by our hand-picked judging panel. The judges represent a diverse range of talents and experience – aside from a passion for sustainability, the panel covers expertise in; human rights, sustainable development goals, urban design and planning, smart cities, responsible procurement, social sustainbility and the wider built environment.

Patricia Garcia AO – United Nations Association Australia

Patricia is a highly- respected humanitarian and human rights advocate with experience in project design and delivery, campaigning and fundraising. She is a 2017 Rotary Peace Fellow and Honorary Associate at the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies SSPS, University of Sydney where she is a sessional lecturer on human rights and humanitarian practice including the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Agenda. As the former Manager of the UNAA National SDGs Program which she established in 2017, Patricia continues to promote and advance the 2030 SDGs Agenda in Australia and internationally.

She has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2016 and was a finalist in the 2016 NSW Australian of the Year awards for her contribution and services to the international humanitarian aid and development sector over the past two decades.

Patricia has worked in some of the world’s longest running conflicts and complex humanitarian emergencies, including Afghanistan, Sudan, Bosnia and Burma, and with Rwandan refugees in the former Zaire in 1994, with organisations Austcare, Oxfam, Peace Winds Japan, German Agro Action, Norwegian Church Aid, UNHCR and UNOPS.

David Singleton AM – Former ISCA Chair

David Singleton seeks outcomes for a better world. He is one of Australia’s leading cities and infrastructure experts, with 40 plus years of experience, including 5 years as Arup’s CEO in Australia, 7 years as Arup’s global infrastructure leader and 7 years as Chairman of Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia. Five times one of Engineers Australia’s 100 Most Influential Engineers, David is a respected thought leader, expert advisor to academia, governments and global businesses on resilient leadership and practice, specialising in sustainable solutions for the infrastructure and built environment sectors.

David undertakes a number of roles in relation to smart cities and is currently Chairman of Swinburne University’s Smart Cities Research Institute Advisory Board, where he helps to improve the liveability, productivity & resilience of Australian communities through smart cities, sustainability in infrastructure and key city shaping projects.

Suzanne Toumbourou – ASBEC

Suzanne Toumbourou is the Executive Director of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council, a body of peak organisations committed to a vision of more sustainable, productive and resilient buildings, communities and cities. Suzanne’s passion and expertise lies in communication, collaboration and an inclusive agenda for a sustainable Australia.

Suzanne hopes that there will be an increased market appetite for sustainable energy efficient building in the future, with a vision of creating buildings that are more comfortable and healthier to live and work in.

Suzanne has worked as the Executive Officer for Getup! and the Australian Conservation Foundation, harnessing her passion for sustainability to drive for genuine and broad sustainability inputs and outcomes across her work.

Sean Barnes – Akina Foundation

Sean Barnes is Director of Social Procurement with the Ākina Foundation in Aotearoa-New Zealand. His role is leading the Fwd: procurement programme and providing advisory services to support business, social enterprise and Government agencies in the areas of procurement, strategy and sustainability. Sean is passionate about realising the potential for business to deliver positive social and environmental impact and connecting people and ideas to lead change.

Sean has significant experience in leadership and executive roles in NZ and Australia with both the private and public sector, holds a Ph.D. in Chemical and Process Engineering, and is a Chartered Member of Engineering New Zealand. He also is a Trustee of the Engineering NZ Foundation.

SUBMISSIONS OPEN 10th JULY 

Arcadis and Mott MacDonald Awarded Sydney Metro City & Southwest – Southwest Metro Design Services Contract

A $26 million contract has been awarded to help deliver the metro upgrade of the T3 Bankstown Line between Sydenham and Bankstown.

Metron T2M, a joint venture between Arcadis Australia Pacific Pty Ltd and Mott MacDonald Australia Pty Ltd, will deliver design services for the stations and the railway corridor between Marrickville and Punchbowl.

The metro upgrade means all 11 stations will be fully accessible, including:

• delivering lifts for the first time at Punchbowl, Wiley Park, Canterbury, Hurlstone Park and Dulwich Hill stations;
• configuring platforms to be level with train doors, removing the step up into the train which is common at many stations on the line.

Sydney Metro is Australia’s biggest public transport project, delivering 31 stations and 66 kilometres of new metro rail, revolutionising the way Australia’s biggest city travels.

Sydney Metro City & Southwest extends the metro rail 30 kilometres from the end of Sydney Metro Northwest at Chatswood under Sydney Harbour, through new CBD stations and south west to Bankstown.

Phil Kajewski, Managing Director Transportation Australia Pacific, Arcadis: ‘‘This is an incredibly important piece of the Sydney Metro project and we are very excited to help bring this to life. Being able to easily move around our cities is critical not only to the sustainable growth of our cities but to the quality of life of our citizens.

“Our scope of works includes the upgrade of nine train stations along the Bankstown line to enable them to accommodate the new fleet of single deck, frequently stopping, driver-less trains. Arcadis’ scope also includes the upgrade of the rail systems along the 14km corridor between stations,’‘ said Kajewski.

The T3 Bankstown Line creates a significant bottleneck for the existing rail network – it effectively slows down the network because of the way it merges with other railway lines close to the Sydney CBD.  By moving Bankstown Line services to the new standalone metro system, we can remove this bottleneck and provide more reliable journeys for customers from all across Sydney.

Community feedback helps shape Sydney Metro Bankstown Line upgrade. Following community feedback, there will be reduced closures of the Bankstown Line while it is being upgraded to Sydney Metro railway standards.

The heritage character of stations along the 122-year-old T3 Bankstown Line will also be retained following community feedback for the Sydenham to Bankstown section of Sydney Metro. Customers in Sydney’s south west can expect a world-class Sydney Metro service with more trains, faster travel times and easier access to stations.

Providing Independent Economic Analysis and Advice

What does sustainability mean to Frontier Economics?

Sustainability is the concept of doing more with less which fundamentally aligns to good economic principles. At Frontier Economics we are increasingly seeing the assessment of sustainability initiatives featuring in the economic advice that we give our clients.

We want our clients to have the best and most relevant advice on how they can make better investment choices. When it comes to sustainability this means that we can provide our clients with advice that uses a triple bottom line (economic, environmental and social) framework. In particular, we seek to robustly value impacts that may be challenging to value such as externalities or liveability impacts.

Why did you become an ISCA member?

We became a member because we saw that ISCA were good at pushing the envelope of sustainability within the infrastructure sector. A lot of the clients that we work with are similar to the organisations that ISCA work with on their sustainability ratings, so it was quite a logical decision for us to become members. We see clear opportunities to better value both the costs and benefits of sustainability, so we wanted to make sure that we work closely with a peak body that looks to improve the practice around making better infrastructure investments. 

How have you benefited from being part of the IS Community?

Businesses who are undertaking the IS Rating Scheme don’t get rewarded for business as usual. We see this as a great incentive to push industry to go further and continue to improve. We have seen the obvious benefits that the IS V1.1 and V1.2 have had on the IS community with the rating scheme now being widely mandated on state level infrastructure projects. This has allowed ISCA to really push the IS community and we are excited the inclusion of both a planning phase and economic theme in V2.0.

What notable projects are you currently working on?

The Western Parkland City: As the third city of Sydney, over one million additional people are expected to move into the Western Parkland City (the South Creek Catchment) over the next forty years. This urbanisation will place major pressure on the health of the local environment and waterways. It will pose significant challenges in meeting a much higher community demand for water services in one of the hottest, driest and flattest parts of Greater Sydney. In the face of challenges such as climate change, increased community expectation around liveability and concerns around affordability, the challenge is to ensure the provision of key services in a way that generates the greatest benefit to the community.

Against this backdrop, Frontier Economics was engaged by Infrastructure NSW to develop a strategic options business case that considers the value of integrating land use and water cycle management in achieving the NSW Government’s economic, social and environmental objectives for the Western Parkland City. This landmark piece of work found that adopting integrated land use and water cycle management strategies would best deliver the Government’s vision and provided significant economic value to the community in the form of reduced future costs of water, wastewater and energy infrastructure, improved health outcomes from access to open space and reduced urban heat, and improved environmental outcomes.  The study involved innovative techniques to value reduced burden of heat and inactivity-related disease and mortality, increased access to active and passive recreation opportunities, reduced upstream bulk water and downstream wastewater costs and improved waterway health.

However, unlocking these benefits requires significant infrastructure investment. To ensure a set of efficient, equitable, dependable and transparent mechanisms are available to fund the investments integral to the vision for a cool, green and liveable Western Parkland City, Frontier Economics is undertaking an analysis of funding options and enablers for investment in water, open space, urban canopy and other related aspects of urban design. This review involved assessing which parties contribute to the need for and benefit from these investments in the Western Parkland City and the resulting distribution of the costs and benefits across the local, State and Australian communities.

Resilience Guidelines: We have been working on a project with Infrastructure NSW to embed resilience to natural hazards in the planning of infrastructure.  One lesson learnt from this project is the benefit we have seen from being clear early in the project as to whether certain resilience issues are a primary problem for the investment being considered, or, are they problems that need to be monitored over time with solutions potentially found at a later date. This relates to the idea of moving our perception of infrastructure investment as being a binary, one shot decision to invest or not invest. Instead, making a series of staged investment choices over time can be a much better strategy in the face of uncertainty. 

Through our work with Infrastructure NSW on this project, we have found that considerations of climate risks need to be made at appropriate points during the project development if you are going to adequately incorporate resilience into your solution. We worked alongside NSW Treasury to develop a scheme similar to the IS guidelines with a focus on being both practical and project specific.

Liveability and water: We have been working with Water Services Association of Australia to look at valuing the health benefits of creating more liveable communities through the process of water investments. Some questions we have been asking during this project have been:

• What are the benefits of creating water-centric communities?
• How can we value impacts such as increased access to green space, better air quality, increased active recreation, potentially improved productivity.
• Going beyond quantification to consider practical approaches to reducing the funding gap in integrated water catchment management.

This report can be accessed here.

What does the future hold for Frontier Economics?

In the last month we turned 20 years old. A key factor in reaching this milestone has been consistency over time. Every client we had in our first year who still exist are still our clients today. The foundational value that underpins this is that we want to continue to provide robust independent economic analysis for our clients. This increasingly means working on projects which we refer to as “urban economics” – where multiple sectors are considered holistically.

Going forward, we are keen to be involved in a range of infrastructure projects and hope to work closely with clients, and ISCA, to use economics to inform better investments.

At Frontier Economics we believe that good economics underpins good infrastructure investment. The fact ISCA have included an economic theme in the IS rating v2.0 illustrates that they too desire for infrastructure investment to be underpinned by a clear economic rationale.

If you think that Frontier Economics can assist you then please contact Ben Mason (ben.mason@frontier-economics.com.au) or Elly Davis (elly.davis@frontier-economics.com.au).