Queensland Major Contractors Association (QMCA) and Consult Australia have recently collaborated to review and improve the critical relationship between design consultants and contractors. The ultimate aim of the project is to improve this relationship and increase collaboration for the benefit of all, resulting in a more sustainable construction and infrastructure sector.
The collaboration has today released its first and most important initiative, The Charter for the Queensland Civil Infrastructure Industry. Its purpose is to articulate a framework for industry participants to define the values, behaviours and working relationships desired to promote a sustainable industry focussed on building better communities.
Kent Kieseker, member of the QMCA Design Working Group, was instrumental in driving the development of the Charter and outlined the vision behind the project. “We are delighted to launch the Charter; it is a result of significant work and collaboration from across our sector and will play a vital role in promoting engineering as the foundation of our industry.”
“Our vision is for a prosperous, thriving and sustainable industry that is attractive to future generations of skilled talent.”
“This Charter will improve and close the divide between construction and design that has over recent times resulted in sub-optimal and adversarial processes being adopted to resolve outcomes,” said Kent.
John Kirkwood, Chair of the QMCA supports the initiative saying, “As a sector, we have been under pressure in recent years to attract and retain talent, to improve the perception of our culture and to succeed commercially. While we have made improvements in diversity, health, safety and wellbeing, the Charter is the industry’s roadmap for building on what is great in construction to create across the board improvements,” said John.
Consult Australia’s David Shillington outlined the role the Charter will play in improving the sector from the top-down. “A real strength of the Charter is the collaboration and commitment of all stakeholders to out the Charter’s core elements into all that we do. QMCA and Consult Australia represent the state’s leading contractors and designers, all of whom are committed to enshrining the Charter into our operations, with commitment and buy-in from the boardroom to site level.”
“The Charter will also act as a way in which we can hold ourselves to account as we look to ensure that our industry is better suited to attracting and retaining talent, celebrating shared successes, and strengthening commercial and operational performance. Ultimately the Charter will support the delivery of better outcomes for our sector, our clients and the communities who benefit from the design and delivery of major infrastructure projects,” said David.
QMCA and Consult Australia would like to thank the efforts of the working group who authored and established the Charter, particularly Kent Kieseker of Seymour Whyte, Gerard Ryan of WSP, Richard Green of Mondalephous, Christina Levinson of iConnect Consulting and Mark Fairweather of HDR.
Following on from the preliminary work, a series of working groups will focus on a series of initiatives to support the Charter’s aims, and we will provide updates as key milestones are achieved.
