McConnell Dowell publish ‘Construction for a resilient city’.
McConnell Dowell’s Group Environmental Managers, Nicole Rogers has written an article that has featured in the Planning Institute of Australia's publication, New Planner.
‘Construction is traditionally seen as the ‘end of the pipeline’ in delivering the physical infrastructure that makes and supports our cities. Construction is the start of bringing planning to fruition and, as a result, constructors have a great responsibility in bringing those plans to life.’
Click here to view the full article.
McConnell Dowell is one of six businesses in the North Otago region of New Zealand to receive a financial grant to help improve employees’ literacy, numeracy and communication skills.
The collaboration with the Tertiary Education Commission, which was announced last week, aims to help participating businesses improve their health and safety status, as well as productivity, by upskilling employees. The initiative coincides with the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, which comes into effect in April this year, and which places greater responsibility for occupational health and safety on everyone in the workplace.
“As a responsible employer, we need to be confident that all our workers understand all the content of their health and safety training, and can comply with the requirements,” says McConnell Dowell Managing Director Roger McRae.
“McConnell Dowell already runs a fully accredited private training school and supports a literacy and numeracy strategy to ensure our people go Home Without Harm every day. This new programme will increase our confidence that our people are able to read and interpret the Health & Safety rules and procedures used by the company."
One initiative McConnell Dowell has had in place for several years is the pocket-sized See-Say-Do notebook, which every employee is expected to carry with them every day. The mini-reporting forms are designed to make it easy to record hazards, incidents and other risks and report them in a timely way to a supervisor or Health & Safety advisor.
“The See-Say-Do notebooks have been really helpful in getting our people to notice and report hazards and incidents, so that we can avoid them in the future,” says Health and Safety Manager Chris Haefele. “This training will help improve that behaviour among those people who are not so confident with reading and writing.”
Learning and Development Manager Anand Naidu says that McConnell Dowell is delighted to participate in the Employer-Led Literacy programme.
“We know that literacy and numeracy skills are an area where we have the opportunity to provide more support,” he says. “We employ people from a very wide range of educational backgrounds, and we require them to complete some fairly complex training around Health and Safety.
“In areas like North Otago, where we employ a relatively small number of people, a programme like this enables us to do that.”
For more information please contact:
Natalie Dyer - National Communications Manager
Ph 09 573 6723 Mob: 021 530 043
www.mcconnelldowell.com
McConnell Dowell – New Zealand and the Pacific
McConnell Dowell was founded in New Zealand in 1961 by entrepreneurial kiwis Malcolm McConnell and Jim Dowell. Since its inception, the company has earned a reputation for engineering excellence in delivering complex projects in remote and challenging Pacific island locations, while at the same time becoming well known as a leading, multi-disciplined construction contractor throughout New Zealand.
The company works with a wide and diverse group of clients in sectors including transport, energy, resources, water and wastewater. The breadth of capability built up over more than 50 years in the construction industry means the company can offer end-to-end service to all markets in any physical environment.
The annual Australian based Graduate Training Programme for 2016 was held in the Melbourne Corporate office during the month of February over 2 separate weeks.
The first week saw a combination of 1st and 2nd year MCD Graduates participate in several formal training modules that included;
- Contract Law & Administration
- Essential Negotiation Skills
- Manage Project Scope
- Effective Stakeholder Engagement
The 2nd week of training saw 3rd year Graduates participate in;
- Contract Law & Administration
- Presenting for Results
- High Performance Teams
- Quality Management Essentials
- Future Leaders
Upon completing these modules and their assessments MCD Australian Graduates are working their way towards obtaining a qualification of Certificate IV in Project Management Principles.
The two weeks of training was planned and received well by everyone and it was pleasing to see a cohort of Graduates coming together each year and getting to know each other better and share some work experiences.
Both groups were fortunate enough to have some time over a working lunch to network with various MCD Executives and Managers in including Scott Cummins who was actively involved in networking and taking Q&A’s with each group. Some tough questions were asked! Fair to say that the Trivia Night at the local hotel each week was also a hit.
A Graduation event will be held later in 2016 for those MCD Australian Graduates who have completed their training and assessments. The next formal training will occur again in February 2017.
McConnell Dowell has been engaged by Jemena to construct this pipeline which will connect the gas fields in the Northern Territory with customers in the Eastern Gas Market, and run between Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and Mt Isa in Queensland. The construction scope for this contract includes the 623km high pressure gas pipeline, two compressor stations and mid-line facilities. Construction of the NGP is expected to commence in early 2017 and be completed by 2018.
McConnell Dowell will be utilising the Northern Territory ICN Gateway to identify suppliers and subcontractors, with proven competence, who are commercially competitive, to participate in the construction of the NGP pipeline.
McConnell Dowell encourages suppliers and subcontractors to register with ICN via the link below and to regularly check back to the ICN Gateway page for updated project information. It is expected that the procurement packages associated with the construction works will begin to be listed on the ICN Gateway in the second half of 2016.
https://gateway.icn.org.au/project/3767/northern-gas-pipeline-construction
McConnell Dowell was the proud sponsor of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia's (CEDA) Gas Market - Policy and Investment Outlook forum held in Melbourne today.
The event brought together gas market stakeholders, industry representatives and policy-makers to discuss commercial and policy developments in Australia's east coast gas markets.
McConnell Dowell’s Executive General Manager of Pipelines, Jim Frith, opened proceedings and highlighted the importance of collaboration across the industry as it undergoes some significant transitions.
Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) Chairman John Pierce then delivered the key note address outlining the development of current reviews into the East Coast Wholesale Gas Market and Pipeline Frameworks, and the Victorian Declared Wholesale Market.
The forum concluded with a high-level panel discussion on the current outlook for gas. In addition to John Pierce, panel members included industry leaders such as Rosemary Sinclair, Chief Executive Officer, Energy Consumers Australia; Shaun Reardon, Executive General Manager, Strategy and Markets, Jemena; and Stuart Jeffries, Director - Australia Gas Marketing, ExxonMobil Australia.
The forum was well attended with approximately 200 guests. They gained an understanding of the challenges facing the gas industry, as well as the complexities facing our policy makers as they seek to establish the mechanisms and frameworks that will underpin Australia’s clean energy future.