AUSTRALIA of designers , consultants and construction contractors get together at a very early stage in a project . The advantage is , says Yeates , that government can harness innovation . “ What we find is industry does innovation really , really well . So we are trying to engage the industry in doing what they do best , which allows us to have solutions that are the right solutions for the local context – often at a far more competitive rate .” Innovation is no longer thought of purely in the context of engineering – the procurement process is innovative . “ We think about getting innovation in the planning stage . In the past we would run three or four possible planning scenarios and it would take us a couple of days to work through each of them .
“ The Games have absolutely been a catalyst for infrastructure projects ”
We now use technology such that we can sit in a workshop with all of our stakeholders and run multiple real-time analyses of a variety of options in the space of several minutes . Then we are engaging the industry very early to make sure we ’ re getting that innovation in the construction , so we ’ re completely revisiting at how we engage with industry on every level .”
The transport industry might ordinarily be traditional but this fresh style of working is proving its value for TMR . “ We have an approach where our relationships with our stakeholders are really key to our success ,” Yeates said . It is no longer enough to simply deliver a technical solution . “ We have to have the right technical solution and then we have to overlay the right social , environmental and economic outcomes .” And the Bruce Highway project is a great example of this , specifically the Caloundra Road to Sunshine Motorway upgrade . “ This is a very significant safety and
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