14/08/2025

August 14, 2025

🏗 🚧 🌏 🛠 🚀 🦺 ♻ 🤖 🧱 🏛 🧰

THE MORNING PAPER FOR CONSTRUCTION PROFESSIONALS AND TRADIES

🚨 Safety Updates

A construction company has been fined $250,000 (and ordered to pay more than $6000 in costs) after the death of a 19-year-old worker in 2021.PAWS Construction and Maintenance Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and was fined in the Fremantle Magistrates Court on 30 July

Earthmoving machinery, such as excavators, can be fitted with lifting equipment and used to suspend a load, somewhat like a crane. From 10 August 2025, the work health and safety regulations will require a high risk work licence (HRWL) be held to operate earthmoving machinery as a crane (i.e. to suspend a load) where the machinery has a safe working load (SWL) exceeding 3 tonnes.

The Australian and New South Wales governments are strengthening their commitment to building a safer, more connected NSW by rolling out cutting-edge level crossing safety technology at a site near Quirindi.

✒ Headlines & Industry

Kennards Hire has released findings from its Construction Confidence Check, revealing that confidence remains high even as rising costs, productivity challenges and global pressures reshape day-to-day operations.

Fluor Corp. plans to appeal an Australia court’s ruling requiring it to pay about $450 million to oil and gas developer Santos Ltd. and partners, stemming from a long-running payment dispute related to construction of the Gladstone LNG project in Queensland, which began operating in 2015.

🏗️ Projects

NSW

The Tamworth community is now being invited to have their say on the next stage of the $58.4 million upgrade of Goonoo Goonoo Road, a vital road and freight link on the New England Highway.

Stage one of the Sydney Children’s Hospital and Minderoo Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre project in Randwick has reached construction completion. Completed works include a new 12-storey, $658 million structure known as the Randwick building.

Visitors to Australia’s highest peak will have better mobile coverage thanks to a new project servicing Kosciuszko Tourist Park, delivered through the Albanese Government’s Mobile Black Spot Program (MBSP). Up to 1400 new mobile base stations will be delivered under the MBSP, which has generated a combined investment of more than $1 billion.

A new 56-storey Sydney skyscraper proposed on the site of the 42-storey 1979 Pacific Power office building, designed by Kann, Finch and Partners – which was last refurbished 2006 – has secured development approval from the NSW government.

With tunnelling now complete on the Coffs Harbour Bypass, another major milestone has been reached on the $2.2 billion project delivered by the Albanese and Minns Labor Governments.

VIC

Works has begun on key water infrastructure projects in regional Victoria following a $23.8 million funding boost from the Federal and State governments to safeguard town water supplies and boost regional water security.  The three projects in regional Victoria have received a combined $10.1 million through the Federal Government’s National Water Grid Fund and $13.7 million from the Victorian Government via Gippsland Water, Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water and Central Highlands Water, who are delivering the projects.

WA

Sovereign wealth fund-backed CDC Data Centres has announced it will expand into Western Australia with a 200 megawatt datacentre, the largest in the state.

🧰 Construction Au Other

Global design firm HDR has announced the opening of its new Melbourne workplace in the city’s CBD. According to the practice’s communique, the office brings together architecture, engineering and transportation teams in a single space designed to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration.

AGL is rushing to get more big batteries built "as quickly as we can", because of their big market premiums and ability to offset falling coal and gas profits.

Consolidated Power Projects (CPP) has appointed Duncan Howie as Executive General Manager, Service Delivery, advancing him from within the company’s leadership ranks.

🚀 Innovation, Digital & Futuristic Technology

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to revolutionise project management across the Australian construction industry, offering unparalleled efficiencies and predictive capabilities. By integrating AI,  specifically Generative AI (GenAI), into project management, companies can leverage machine  learning algorithms to predict project timelines, costs, and potential risks with unprecedented  accuracy. 

US home builder Cosmic Buildings and technology company ABB Robotics have collaborated on a temporary robotic construction system housed in a tent to produce modular housing to aid in the recovery of the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year.

AI is transforming architecture through generative design, real-time BIM updates, and automation. It boosts efficiency, creativity, and sustainability while enhancing collaboration and project delivery. VR/AR tools improve client engagement and decision-making. From concept to construction, AI streamlines workflows, reduces errors, and redefines how buildings are designed and delivered.

🌱 Sustainability ​& Environment

A new review in npj Materials Sustainability argues that high-volume blended slag cements (HVBSCs)—mixes where more than 70 % of the clinker is replaced with ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS)—could play a key role in decarbonising the construction sector.

Queensland environmental solutions company Vital Chemical has launched a trial of a new compostable netting product designed to aid the revegetation process around major infrastructure and construction sites.

NRN has closed a substantial A$67.2m ($47.3m) series A funding round, one of the largest investments in Australian climate technology.

Danfoss House in Sønderborg has become the world’s first brick-and-concrete multi-residential building to achieve the DGNB Platinum certification.

🌏 Around the World

Amazon India invests over ₹37 crores ($6m AUD) in water replenishment projects across four major cities, targeting to restore over 3 billion liters of water annually. These efforts aim to address India's pressing water security challenges while enhancing community resilience and supporting local ecosystems.

The team landed a $166 million contract to design the long-awaited $5.5 billion Interborough Express that will link Brooklyn and Queens.

📖 Miscellaneous

Data centres have voracious and highly variable energy appetites. It is presenting a huge new opportunity for big batteries, which have the technology to keep up.

Research shows Roman concrete's advantages are not inherent; sustainability is linked to energy sources used in its production compared to modern methods.

Million Podcasts lists top Construction Technology podcasts you can listen to or contact for your outreach campaign.

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