It has been a fabulous start to the Symal Wamarra Big Build Bridge Program as our latest cohort of Victorian engineering, infrastructure, and construction professionals commenced their eight-day Constructionarium Australia training program.
The program will see the cohort undertake delivery of a bridge structure from tender to client handover, supported by classroom and practical training sessions, including a full construction program of works, cost management, schedule management, safety process development and client and community stakeholder management.
The focus of the first three days is the development of the tender to win the contract to construct the bridge. Split into two teams (Merle and Else), the cohort is provided with tender documentation, specifications and a client briefing from which they have to price, schedule, and procure their big before a tender submission and evaluation panel on Friday. Evaluated by professionals from across the industry, the tender mimics the real-world tender process, with marks being awarded across a range of key criteria before the contract is awarded to the winning team.
While undertaking their tender, the cohort is visited by leaders from across construction and infrastructure who will advise, mentor and support the teams as they, in many cases for the first time, enjoy the pressures and competition of tendering for work.
The program started on Wednesday morning with an opening ceremony. Welcoming the cohort to the build were Nabeel Sadaka (Symal, CEO), Hayden Heta (Wamarra, Managing Director) and Mark Davies (Symal, Senior Project Manager), who focussed on the opportunity that our cohort has before them and to remember that even when pushed out of comfort zones and challenged, we’re people, people and want to create the best experience for the participants to learn and enjoy themselves.
We were privileged to welcome Wurundjeri Elder Uncle Ringo Terrick to conduct a traditional Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony to bring the group together to share the importance of Indigenous cultural heritage and as a gesture of goodwill for the wellbeing of guests on Country. Greeted by Wamarra’s Hayden Heta, a proud Aboriginal man of the Wiradjuri Nation, the ceremony was a fitting and memorable way to start a program focusing on connection, collaboration and strong relationships.
We were also joined by professionals from across the sector. Arcadis’ Ash and Zubair, the Big Build Bridge designers, ran a lunch and learn session of their design philosophy and how they created the bespoke structure used for our program. Bentley’s Luke Read joined us for the all-important training session on Bentley Synchro, which will act as the cost and schedule tool for the build.
Day two was centred on tender preparation as the first submissions were due. Constructionarium Australia’s Gary Parkinson
Safety in Construction was the theme of the lunch and learn, with George Markelis, Group HSEQ Manager and Nadia Punselie, Senior HSEQ Advisor from Symal sharing their unique experiences, context for the bridge build and Symal’s Safety 7 – setting the scene for a high standard of safety expectations and critical risk control standards as is Symal’s commitment to our team members, and communities. It is important to remember that the structure we use isn’t made from lolly sticks and Lego, it is a significant structure requiring crane lifts and more, so it was fantastic to see the participant taking an active role in asking questions and ensuring their planned processed would meet the client’s expectations.
As the day progressed, it was good to see the cohort’s initial nerves start to diminish, their confidence increase and each member settle into the roles they have agreed as part of their tender.
With the submission due at noon on Friday, we caught up with the Project Managers from teams Else and Team Merle Constructions to get a progress update.
Team Else - Taryn Bitzas, Project Manager
Constructionarium has been great, I’m enjoying it a lot, connecting with people from industry and different roles. A challenging but rewarding process. We are on track to meet our deadlines and are happy with where we are at just tidying things up to present to the client.
We have worked well together, broke down key duties and responsibilities, so we were very clear on how we would bring the tender together, which has been effective, so we all know what we are doing.
We have a deep understanding of the client needs and know that they want a cost effective proposal to give them confidence we will deliver on time and on budget. And we will win.
Team Merle Construction - Abdullah Demir, Project Manager
Constructionarium has been a little nerve-racking but we’re all in the same boat and will bring it together.
Our tender is coming along well. We’ve allocated tasks and I’ve been overseeing the roles and responsibilities. Proud of what the team has done and looking forward to the presentation. We are an easy going team and we are all looking forward to the bridge build where we can use our different knowledge in the team to succeed.
Our tender is built on what we know of the stakeholders and we have a strong team with a safety first approach. We’re making that the priority and will support it with technology and what we have learned so far.
I have confidence in the team and think we will be the winners.
Who will win? We will find out a little later today.
