Major Projects Leadership Forum

On Thursday 15 February 2024, the John Grill Institute for Project Leadership held our Major Projects Leadership Forum, which was organised in collaboration with the Australian Constructors Association and Consult Australia. Expectations for the mega projects sector are increasing and the performance and failures of the field have drawn widespread scrutiny from the media. To address these issues and to plan the next steps for this sector, this Forum was developed in order to bring together a group of over 50 senior industry and governmental figures from the field to discuss and workshop solutions to the recurring problems related to mega projects.

Professor Mark Scott, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sydney, opened the session and was followed by introductory addresses from our Director, Professor Jennifer Whyte, as well as Mr Jon Davies (CEO of the Australian Constructors Association) and Mr Jonathan Cartledge (CEO of Consult Australia).

The workshop was hosted by Peter Colacino, the Principal of Modifica Advisory, who provided the context of the Forum and spoke about the current state of the sector. Then each of the tables were led by industry and academic leads in the discussion of the three topics of: Productivity, Collaboration, and Outcomes. After talking through each of these themes in relation to major projects, the group then reconvened to share what they had uncovered in their conversations.

We are currently in the process of collating all of the findings from this Forum with the goal of developing a roadmap for the sector’s next steps.