What a day as we kicked off our first Victorian all-female Big Build Bridge program in partnership with Major Transport Infrastructure Authority, Major Road Projects Victoria, Level Crossing Removal Project, Rail Projects Victoria, Seymour Whyte, Aurecon, SMEC Johnson & Young Cranes and BASE Industries.
Over the next 8 days, our cohort of emerging industry talent will work collaboratively to deliver a major piece of infrastructure, the Victorian Big Build Bridge. As part of the program, they will undertake every step of a major project from tender (undertaken as two competitive teams) through to client handover. They will develop their schedule, pricing, SWMS, traffic plans, environment plans etc. and be responsible for cost control, budget management and the construction of their bridge which will include crane lifts, power tool use and everything in between.
And make no mistake, the Victorian Big Build Bridge isn’t something you would expect at a training course. It isn’t made of Lego or lolly sticks and held together with sticky tape; it is a real structure - a 12.5 tonne, 25m long and 4m wide bridge specially designed by Arcadis to recreate the practicalities and challenges associated with the delivery of a major project.
And our cohort will be held to the standards that the industry expects. Their tender presentations will be interrogated. Their pricing will be scrutinised. Their costs will be challenged. Their schedule is immovable, and their budget must be met. If they meet it, they are rewarded, if they don’t…
So, as day one dawned (thanks, Melbourne, for turning on the sunshine) bright and early at Kallibr in Maidstone, the Constructionarium Australia team and our VIPS from across the industry welcomed our cohort for their first day.
Following introductions, the program was officially opened by Danny Benjamin of MRPV, Michelle Griffin of LXRP, Zoe Toogood of Rail Projects Victoria and Rob Hewson of Seymour Whyte, whom we cannot thank enough for their support of this program and for giving their time and sharing their experiences, support and encouragement to our cohort.
And then it was down to business. Robert D’Angelo and Hayley Brown of lead contractor Seymour Whyte took our cohort through the expectations we have of them from a safety perspective, inducting the cohort and outlining the importance that safety must play as they deliver their build. From toolboxes to SWMS to safe lift plans, just because this is a training program, it doesn’t mean that embedding a safety-first mentality and approach should not be paramount.
Constructionarium Australia’s James Flaherty took the cohort through a short session on communication and storytelling, reinforcing the importance that a good story will play in their tender presentations.
It was then the moment of division as our cohort was split into two, Team Merle and Team Else, who will, between now and Friday, compete to win the contract to build the Victoria Big Build Bridge. Armed with an RFT, Seymour Whyte’s Matt Owen and Constructionarium Australia’s Harry Hartman took the cohort out to the site for their first exposure to the location, materials and structure that will be the central point of their next 8-days.
For our first lunch and learn, we welcomed back a great friend of Constructionarium Australia, Arcadis’ Zubair Syed, who, along with Ash Pender, were the designers of the Big Build Bridge. Zubair delivered a fantastic session on the design and intent behind the structure, critical information for our teams as they look to develop their construction methodologies.
For our afternoon sessions, the focus turned to construction methodology and control. Alex Ibarra and Matt Owen discussed the practicalities of developing a construction methodology and the utilisation of the collaboration platform which the teams will utilise.
Our good friends from Bentley joined us for our final session on project controls. Utilising Synchro Perform will be key to the success of the winning tender as through the system, they will track every aspect of their build from time and materials to claims and verification. In fact, the reward we mentioned earlier relies on the data from Synchro Perform…and the reward is a party of the cohort’s choice…How will they get on? You’ll find out by checking back for our daily updates.
