- Gooday Construction Newsletter
- Posts
- 18/08/2025
18/08/2025
🏗 🚧 🌏 🛠🚀 🦺 ♻ 🤖 🧱 🏛 🧰
THE MORNING PAPER FOR CONSTRUCTION PROFESSIONALS AND TRADIES
🚨 Safety Updates
Australia’s peak workplace safety body is urging tradespeople nationwide to prioritise their health and wellbeing during Tradies National Health Month, running from 1 to 30 August. This August, as part of National Tradie Health Month, SafeWork is urging tradies and their employers across the state to prioritise workplace wellbeing by speaking up about any work health and safety (WHS) concerns.
Grant Hastie will take the helm as NT WorkSafe’s new executive director on August 25, following a national search. Bringing more than 15 years of experience in work health and safety regulation, Mr Hastie joins from Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, where he has worked since 2008. His most recent position has been chief safety advisor and director of the Hazardous Chemicals Unit, a post he has held since 2019.
âś’ Headlines & Industry
From early colonial settlers to the post-war construction boom, prefabricated and modular housing has a long history in Australia. Can factory-built homes fix our housing woes and help the climate?
Individuals contemplating career paths are advised to reconsider traditional fields such as bookkeeping, marketing, or programming. Instead, they might explore opportunities in nursing, construction, or hospitality.
The economic reform roundtable prepares to meet next week and look likely to freeze the National Construction Code. One of Australia’s most respected voices in the field of energy efficiency Alan Pears lays out the logic of why this would be a mistake, with significant costs to national productivity.
THE Australian government has agreed to make ETCS mandatory for all future digital signalling and control systems on the National Network for Interoperability (NNI). The country’s federal minister for infrastructure, transport, regional development and local government, Catherine King, together with state infrastructure and transport ministers, have also agreed that a new Rail Industry Safety and Standards Board (RISSB) will become the body for setting technical standards.
The Australian Government has announced $80.8 million in new funding to support First Nations water planning and the delivery of critical infrastructure in remote communities.
🏗️ Projects
ACT
Construction has begun on 57 social housing apartments in Gungahlin, part of a joint ACT and federal government investment to boost housing for vulnerable Canberrans. Hindmarsh Construction Australia will build the apartments, due in early 2027.
Preliminary planning and design for the Belconnen Basketball Stadium expansion is expected to be completed within a year, with a Canberra-based architectural firm signing on to the project.
NSW
Malaysian clean energy solutions company Gentari Renewables has broken ground on its 243MWp Maryvale solar-plus-storage site in New South Wales, Australia. The hybrid facility will integrate 243MWp of solar generation capacity with a 172MW/409MWh battery energy storage system (BESS), establishing it as one of Australia’s first large-scale DC-coupled solar and storage projects.
A joint venture has been awarded a contract for flood recovery works in Lismore, which forms part of the region’s largest road restoration package, in New South Wales.Floods in early 2022 caused significant damage – including more than 60 landslips – causing major disruptions to connections between local towns. The joint venture between CMC Group and JF Hull Holdings will deliver critical works to restore roads and improve reliability across affected connections.
Kemp Street bridge has been designed following extensive consultation and complies with all safety standards.
OX2 has received government approval to build a 135MW solar-plus-storage site at a decommissioned coal mine site in NSW, Australia.
QLD
The three-tower mixed-use project will transform the heart of Toowong, if plans lodged with Brisbane council get the nod.
A development application has been lodged for a residential building, located at 104 Swann Road & 68 Adsett Street, Taringa. Designed by Nettletontribe, the proposal includes twenty four (24) medium-density residential units within a residential building, each with a maximum building height of 8 storeys.
SA
Progression on a Glenelg North high-rise are up in the air - unlike the crane that was working on the project - after a burst water main caused the crane to sink and swing at the incomplete structure.Canning St, Glenelg North was shut down as emergency services and SA Water crews repaired pipes.
VIC
One of Australia’s largest renewable energy transmission projects has expanded zones for solar, battery and wind developments with the cost of connection to almost double.
WA
Reduced rainfall and a growing population are stretching Perth’s water supply to its limits. The Alkimos desalination plant is set to provide a long-term solution, and every aspect of this project needs to be delivered with the future in mind. Water Corporation is powering ahead with a new major water source for Western Australia.
🧰 Construction Au Other
Boral Ltd, part of the SGH Group, generated revenue of AUD1.8bn (US$1.17bn) in the first half of FY25, a slight decline from the prior year as lower sales volumes in residential construction and roading were partly offset by strong pricing momentum.
🚀 Innovation, Digital & Futuristic Technology
The BO-GBRT model accurately predicts compressive strength in self-compacting concrete with recycled aggregates, improving upon traditional testing methods.
Over the past decade, IoT and smart sensors have transformed water utilities, enabling greater efficiency and automation despite workforce challenges. Once cost-prohibitive, these technologies now offer scalable, AI-enhanced solutions for monitoring and managing water quality. As systems evolve into hybrid platforms, utilities gain real-time insights, boosting compliance and operational sustainability.
A new membrane pilot facility at Monash University, Victoria is anticipated to lay foundations for breakthroughs in sustainable energy and help propel membrane science and technology research into real-world industrial solutions. A joint venture with Australia’s national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the membrane pilot facility will play a role in future-focused industries, enabling clean hydrogen production, energy storage and low-waste chemical processing.
The construction industry is entering a new era where AI‑empowered insights are shifting the balance from reactionary processes to predictive precision. Leading this charge is Converge, whose suite of AI‑driven solutions digitise concrete management in real time.
🌱 Sustainability ​& Environment
From Melbourne’s proposed Outer Metropolitan Ring Road to Sydney’s recently completed Westconnex, Australia’s addiction to mega roads continues despite the spectre of climate change.
The Clean Energy Report 2025 paints a picture of investment progress in onshore wind in 2024. Sadly, this has not been carried forward into 2025, but we must celebrate the wins when we can. It also illuminates the reasons for the lack of progress in Australia’s offshore wind development.
Environment groups and researchers say that a troubling trend of weakening environmental protections in Western Australia is now being mirrored in the Northern Territory, following the release of a new emissions policy this week.
The circular economy offers many opportunities for the water sector. Adopting these approaches can boost the climate resilience of water supplies by reducing reliance on freshwater sources and minimise environmental impact by promoting resource efficiency and regeneration.
The Albanese government has announced that it intends to release the number for Australia’s 2035 emissions reduction target “in the coming weeks.” The statement is part of a communique issued following the latest meeting of the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council, held on Friday in Sydney.
🌏 Around the World
U.S. residential construction is sharply declining, echoing past pre-recession patterns, but the sector remains buoyed by a boom in data center and multi-unit apartment construction—though it’s uncertain how long this commercial strength can offset the broader slowdown.
The construction sector in South Korea has been identified as the most dangerous among OECD countries: the fatality rate from accidents in the industry is 1.6 cases per 10,000 workers, which is twice the average.
In just five months, one of Ukraine’s biggest construction firms, Autostrada, has built a 68km pipeline to restore the supply of potable water to the 400,000 residents of the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv.
👷‍♀️ Tradies and Resource
The Allan Labor Government is backing the state's construction workforce - to help deliver thousands of new homes through a new partnership with Master Builders Victoria (MBV).
Thanks for reading,
If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email!
Alex
We monitor Australian construction 24/7—analysing thousands of articles from over 600 sources—to deliver the latest industry news straight to you.
⏳ Stay up to date in minutes
Read the most important construction related news stories of the day – Industry headlines, safety alerts, technology and innovations.
🏗 Get latest project updates
Get the latest project updates near you, contract awards, and global trends.
❌ No Noise news
Get the latest news in a simple format, with NO marketing emails, EVER.
🧠Get ahead
Stay a head with the latest information that will improve your knowledge, performance and increase your opportunities.
💰 Love Gooday Construction? Tell your friends and get a chance to win $20 amazon voucher ! We’re growing and the more we grow the more quality news we can get to you!
Want to advertise in Gooday Construction? đź“°
If your company is interested in reaching an audience of Construction professionals and decision makers, you may want to advertise with us. Please reply to this email.