Sustainability: WA Is Leading The Way

Sustainability: WA Is Leading The Way

Last week the Western Australian infrastructure community came together at Forrestfield-Airport Link’s HQ to listen, learn and interact with industry leaders at ISCA’s largest WA Conference to date.

The attendance was a credit to the growing importance of sustainability in the region, with 80 attendees across 41 organisations, 57% of which were not previously on our database and 43% were potential ISCA members.

The day kicked off with an exclusive tour of the numerous construction sites associated with the Forrestfield-Airport Link (FAL) rail project. The $1.86 billion project, which was certified with an ‘Excellent’ design IS rating at the conference, presented their unique challenge of boring twin tunnels underneath the Swan River and Perth Airport infrastructure.

Delegates were given a guided tour of the Carolyn Way segment facility which is responsible for the production of more than 60,000 concrete segments; the Forrestfield Station and Airport Central Station sites; and the Bayswater site where the new Forrestfield line will merge with the existing rail network.

After the certification of the FAL project, Dr Steven Lennon of the United Nations Association of Australia explored how the infrastructure industry can help Australia deliver on all the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Four of Australasia’s largest transport delivery projects were represented on the day. Sydney Metro produced a pre-recorded video detailing the sustainability learnings from their ‘Leading’ IS rated project. Chris Meale followed fittingly, having been a project director on Sydney Metro before moving to Auckland to be head of City Rail Link. Chris, now retired, shared successes from City Rail Link, including the involvement of Mana Whenua in decision making processes.

The afternoon’s panel session saw WA’s two largest transport projects in action. Nicole Lockwood of Westport gave an overview of the project’s consultative and collaborative nature and announced their commitment to an ISv2.0 planning rating. METRONET Project Director, Anthony Kannis, outlined the rail project’s vision for a more connected Perth, from CBD to the suburbs. Joining them on the panel was Sarah McEvoy, of the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation; Lance Glare, who provided an update on the newly formed Infrastructure WA; and Main Roads WA’s Des Lock, who spoke about MRWA’s adoption of the IS economic theme and v2.0 Planning rating.  The panel facilitated rich questioning between the audience and speakers and was a highlight of the day.

The final session of the conference was an interactive workshop focused on innovation, inspiration and interaction, and included a variety of topics; such as recycled plastic road materials, transport futures, innovation in concrete, climate change resilience, and making Perth the most water sensitive city in the world. Attendees were able to choose which topics interested them the most and learn about them in a focused workshop with the subject matter experts.

In the evening, delegates enjoyed networking drinks to celebrate the official WA launch of the IS Version 2.0 rating tool. The latest innovation of the tool, ISv2.0, provides a quadruple bottom line reporting framework and alignment to delivering the UN SDGs, as well as new themes and categories that equip the industry for the Modern Slavery Act.

As a thank you to our speakers for contributing their time to speak, ISCA passed on that goodwill and made a donation to food distribution and charity service, WA Foodbank, providing 400 meals to children in WA.

ISCA is proud to promote gender equality as part of our sustainability charter we strive to have 50% male and 50% female speakers. With all speakers selected on their merit and field of expertise, we’re happy to report that 48% of the speakers were female.

“Our purpose at ISCA is to ‘accelerate positive change through collaboration’. We can only create industry wide solutions through collaboration to uplift industry and enable positive outcomes,” said CEO Ainsley Simpson.

The one-day conference in WA would not have been possible without the support of our partners;

• Our Gold Partners Forrestfield-Airport Link (FAL) a partnership between GHD, Salini Impregilo, PTA and NRW,
• Our Partners for the Innovation, Inspiration and Interaction workshop: Jacobs,
• Our partners for the ISv2.0 Launch: AECOM,
• Media partners – Infrastructure Magazine