Amy Hogan says after 20 years in the built environment sustainability crowd she’s moving across to the “other side”.
Meaning the big, huge and immensely impactful infrastructure sector where sustainability wins, someone once explained (most patiently to us), makes the carbon savings possible in buildings pale into insignificance.
Hogan was speaking to The Fifth Estate on Wednesday just three days after starting her new gig at Transurban as head of sustainability.
And the gig is starting with much excitement and prospects for great work, though of course there’s not a lot of detail yet out for public consumption.
Hogan comes with a background of more than 20 with Stockland for more than eight years, and before that Colonial and JLL.
She’s also packed in roles as an advisory board member of Supply Chain Sustainability School Australia and deputy chair of the Property Council’s National Sustainability Roundtable.
“It’s early days,” she said, “but there is such a great culture and such a good track record of delivering tangible outcomes in this space. It’s a solid track record to build on. There is so much going on in the infrastructure space and so many similarities, trends and thematics across ESG – I feel very familiar; very quickly at home but obviously there are unique opportunities,
particularly in terms of scale.”
No doubt there’s a lot to take in but one thing is clear, Hogan said, the business is keen to take the strategy and integration program forward.
The role was previously filled by Matthew Brennan who left in November last year after seven years job and previous roles with Tenix and Nakheel in Dubai.
It’s not a big team, with some members in the head office in Melbourne and one in Brisbane – all “doing so well under the leadership of chief executive Scott Charlton.
Funds manager Salter Brothers which lays claim to about US$2 billion of funds under management Australia and USA has appointed Mei McNamara as ESG (environment, social and governance) manager. She has a background in building services and mechanical engineering with former roles held at the International Convention Centre in Sydney, Spotless Group, JLL, Johnson Controls and NDY.
UN Global Compact Network Australia has added ESG leaders to its board: Susan Mizrahi, chief sustainability officer, Australia Post, and chair Australian Retailers Association sustainability advisory group; Sunita Gloster, non-executive director, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers and ABC TV Gruen panellist; Robin Mellon, sustainable supply chain expert.
UNGCNA chair Fiona Reynolds said this was the right time to accelerate for corporate Australia.
Sunita Gloster said, “Marketing communications and strategy must sit at the core of ESG-related regulatory, ethical and reputation discussions not just to ensure credibility for both consumers and regulators but also to be mindful of the social impact and community trust that lies at the heart of any viable business.”
And Susan Mizrahi pointed to the appetite for Australian businesses “seeking guidance on how to rebuild more sustainably from the pandemic and economic shocks.”
Robin Mellon pointed to collaboration as key to progress.
Specialist consulting firm in the global electricity industry market PSC has appointed a new Asia Pacific managing director Ashley Grohn who was previously with Aurecon, Jacobs, and Mott MacDonald, where he led teams working across the energy transition.
His new company offers particular skills in the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, automation, data insights, and decision-making to help shape the energy transition, he said. “Post-COVID, clients are generally more accepting of utilising digital solutions and resources from outside of jurisdiction.”
Wind, solar, hydropower, as well as storage, distributed energy, and decarbonisation of the transport and industrial sectors will be key concerns, Grohn said. He also mentioned HVDC (high voltage direct current), the green hydrogen transition, and the enabling policy and market reforms necessary to accelerate these developments and “emerging opportunities exist with repurposing and/or retiring coal-fired or other thermal capacity and the development of microgrids.”
Sounds good.
Peter Poulet, a former NSW Government Architect and Central City District Commissioner for the Greater Cities Commission, has taken a new role as director of the UNSW Cities Institute.
Poulet, who doubles as a practising and exhibiting visual artist, says his vision for the institute is that it will become “the go-to place for independent bodies to seek advice and opinion around how our cities should work better and what we as a collective community should do to facilitate that.”
Interestingly the institute, launched last year, is based in Parramatta, west of Sydney and considered its geographical heart.
And it will be a collaborative project, working with government, industry, education, community, local and international partners, with an ambition to “lead the reinvention of our cities, advancing highly productive, sustainable, prosperous, healthy, and socially just urban futures for Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and globally”.
Big ask, big need.
The regions they are a-calling
Regional Cities New South Wales is urging both sides of politics to back a tailored response to regional skill shortages.
Data from the National Skills Commission confirms that 67 per cent of regional employers had difficulty in finding skilled workers, especially as regional job vacancies across Australia are rising at an unprecedented rate, reaching over 81,000 by December 2022, almost double pre-pandemic levels.
RCNSW believes skilled migrants and their families are a welcome solution to improving labour force participation and productivity, as well as helping businesses obtain skills that are difficult to develop on short notice.
The RCNSW wants the NSW government to establish a Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) to facilitate localised labour agreements, specifically in regional NSW.
And speaking of the regions.
Regional Capitals Australia is making some noise ahead of the federal budget to end funding shortfalls in infrastructure grants.
Kylie King, chair of the association said: “Due to the extraordinary rise in the cost of infrastructure delivery, our member councils who have received federal grants for important social and economic infrastructure, are having to make the tough calls on the future of projects,” Cr King said.
“If the Federal Government does not play its part in assisting with these cost blowouts, our members have only two options – shelve the project and return the grant money or shave funding from other important local initiatives to meet the shortfall.”
She pointed to Broken Hill City Council has been forced to seek alternative funding for its new library and archives facility, thanks to cost blowouts.
And at Wagga Wagga, a proposed five kilometre Dunns Road upgrade has been affected by increases in materials and metal prices resulting in a budget shortfall of over $2 million.
[Speaking of roads, we understand that roads can take up to half council budgets. Extraordinary. At our Tomorrowland event last year someone in the audience asked when the manufacturers of cars and trucks would pay for the implementation of the infrastructure they rely on for their business. But that’s a crazy question, right?
Because the cost would be passed to consumers, right?
At least we would then be able to quantify some of the externalities and make them internalities. A case for more shared infrastructure and Elon Musk’s vision for autonomous vehicles that would come on demand and park themselves – at least. For the cities which would take pressure of federal government costs for rural road networks.]
“According to Infrastructure Australia, public infrastructure projects including small capital projects, face a shortage of 214,000 skilled workers and in 2023 labour demand is projected to peak at 442,000 or more than double the projected available supply,” the association pointed out.
The pressure from regions isn’t set to disappear anytime soon according to property analyst Terry Ryder of Hotspotting.
“Aussies began an exodus to affordable lifestyle locations years before the pandemic occurred and the trend will continue for the foreseeable future,” Ryder said in a recent statement, in contradiction to other sources saying there was a move back to the cities.
“There’s no statistical evidence that this is happening, and we certainly don’t expect it to happen,” Ryder said.
“Apart from anything else, the notion that families who have decided to sell their homes, uproot their lives and relocate themselves and their kids to another part of Australia, will casually decide to do so again so soon is unrealistic.
“This core population trend has been happening for many years,” Ryder said. “The official population data shows that Sydney has been losing population to other parts of Australia for the past 10 years and Melbourne has been losing to internal migration for five to six years.
“The most popular destinations have been Queensland and Western Australia, with the Sunshine State number one by a significant margin.”