logo
AECOM to accelerate Australia's energy transition as technical advisor to VicGrid

AECOM to accelerate Australia's energy transition as technical advisor to VicGrid

National Post5 days ago

Article content
DALLAS — AECOM (NYSE: ACM), the trusted global infrastructure leader, today announced that it has been appointed as technical advisor and lead consultant, partnering with GHD as a key subconsultant and a team of specialist contractors for VicGrid in Victoria, Australia. A newly established Victorian government agency, VicGrid expects to plan and develop energy infrastructure to ensure a reliable and efficient electricity grid.
Article content
In its role as technical advisor, AECOM will provide technical advice and support for the development and delivery of VicGrid's energy infrastructure program. The core work will include services across the asset lifecycle, such as engineering, and land, planning and environmental approvals, and will include partnering with First Nations subcontractors.
Article content
'Our energy specialists have established themselves as trusted advisors for some of the world's largest power utilities as they drive progress on the energy transition,' said Frank Sweet, chief executive of AECOM's global Environment business. 'We continue to grow our leadership in the energy and power sectors, and we look forward to collaborating with VicGrid to realize more sustainable, reliable energy infrastructure that benefits millions of customers across Victoria.'
Article content
Victoria is undergoing a significant transformation to build a next-generation power grid and enable the transition to renewable energy. VicGrid expects to take on coordinating the planning, development and delivery of the state's Renewable Energy Zones and transmission infrastructure and will lead investment in projects to strengthen and modernize Victoria's energy grid, including the delivery of transmission required to connect new offshore wind resources to the grid.
Article content
'We are excited to work with our partners to support VicGrid in delivering the energy transition and providing safe and affordable power for Victorians,' said Mark McManamny, chief executive of AECOM's Australia and New Zealand region. 'Our team brings deep technical knowledge and capability, leading environment and energy credentials, and valuable local and global experience to deliver across the entire project lifecycle.'
Article content
About AECOM
Article content
AECOM (NYSE: ACM) is the global infrastructure leader, committed to delivering a better world. As a trusted professional services firm powered by deep technical abilities, we solve our clients' complex challenges in water, environment, energy, transportation and buildings. Our teams partner with public- and private-sector clients to create innovative, sustainable and resilient solutions throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm that had revenue of $16.1 billion in fiscal year 2024. Learn more at aecom.com.
Article content
Forward-Looking Statements
Article content
All statements in this communication other than statements of historical fact are 'forward-looking statements' for purposes of federal and state securities laws, including any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives for future operations, profitability, strategic value creation, capital allocation strategy including stock repurchases, risk profile and investment strategies, and any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance, and the expected financial and operational results of AECOM. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from those projected or assumed in any of our forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results, performance and achievements, or industry results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following: our business is cyclical and vulnerable to economic downturns and client spending reductions; potential government shutdowns, changes in administration or other funding directives and circumstances that may cause governmental agencies to modify, curtail or terminate our contracts; losses under fixed-price contracts; limited control over operations that run through our joint venture entities; liability for misconduct by our employees or consultants; changes in government laws, regulations and policies, including failure to comply with laws or regulations applicable to our business; maintaining adequate surety and financial capacity; potential high leverage and inability to service our debt and guarantees; ability to continue payment of dividends; exposure to political and economic risks in different countries, including tariffs and trade policies, geopolitical events, and conflicts; inflation, currency exchange rates and interest rate fluctuations; changes in capital markets and stock market volatility; retaining and recruiting key technical and management personnel; legal claims and litigation; inadequate insurance coverage; environmental law compliance and adequate nuclear indemnification; unexpected adjustments and cancellations related to our backlog; partners and third parties who may fail to satisfy their legal obligations; managing pension costs; AECOM Capital real estate development projects; cybersecurity issues, IT outages and data privacy; risks associated with the benefits and costs of the sale of our Management Services and self-perform at-risk civil infrastructure, power construction and oil and gas businesses, including the risk that any purchase adjustments from those transactions could be unfavorable and result in any future proceeds owed to us as part of the transactions could be lower than we expect; as well as other additional risks and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements set forth in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update any forward-looking statement.
Article content
Article content
Article content
Article content
Media Contact:
Article content
213-996-2367
Article content
Article content
Brendan.Ranson-Walsh@aecom.com
Article content

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

How Michael Sabia can make Ottawa move fast and build things
How Michael Sabia can make Ottawa move fast and build things

Globe and Mail

time10 hours ago

  • Globe and Mail

How Michael Sabia can make Ottawa move fast and build things

Michael Sabia is being asked to reverse, in a matter of months, an inertia that has taken hold in the nation's capital over decades. Since Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that the erstwhile chief executive officer of Hydro-Québec will serve as Clerk of the Privy Council – the country's top bureaucrat – Ottawa has been rife with speculation about how Mr. Sabia will try to light a fire under a federal public service accustomed to moving more slowly and cautiously than is demanded by the current moment. But while much of the chatter following Mr. Sabia's June 11 appointment has been about personnel changes to the bureaucracy's highest ranks – through an expansive shuffle of deputy ministers, the most senior civil servants in each ministry, expected this summer – that only scratches the surface of what's needed to get things rolling. Hanging in the balance is an agenda, put forward by Mr. Carney to assert Canada's economic sovereignty, that's at odds with the government's implementation capacity to date. It includes fast-tracking energy and infrastructure projects, scaling homegrown technologies, diversifying exports, building housing, reorienting immigration, developing self-reliant supply chains and leveraging industrial gains from increased defence spending. Opinion: Michael Sabia faces an uphill climb in reforming Canada's civil service The scale of the challenge – and what sorts of structural, cultural and personnel changes could be required – were conveyed to The Globe and Mail in recent interviews with two dozen people closely familiar with the bureaucracy's workings, including current and former deputy ministers and senior political officials. Although there was recognition that some departments have functioned better than others (and some have stepped up in other times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic and 2008 global financial meltdown), they highlighted an array of overarching barriers that have taken root since the 1990s, if not earlier. Among them are a depletion of talent despite the bureaucracy's total ranks growing; particular lack of implementation expertise in some economic areas and policy mechanisms Mr. Carney is prioritizing; disconnect between the public and private sectors; a lack of clear lines of accountability; failure to make use of modern technologies; and severe aversion to taking risks. Mr. Sabia's suitability to tackling all of that, if anyone can, is a subject of considerable debate. Over a late-career run that has included heading pension giant Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, serving as deputy finance minister and then leading Hydro-Québec, he's earned a reputation as a creative policy maker and architect of big, ambitious projects. Among them are the Canada Infrastructure Bank, the Canada Growth Fund and a new hydroelectricity relationship between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. He is also, like Mr. Carney, a rare Canadian executive who has moved fluidly between government and the private sector, giving him an unusual combination of institutional knowledge and outside perspective. At the same time, with his federal experience limited mostly to the Finance department, he may have less knowledge of government-wide dynamics than previous clerks who were career bureaucrats. Sharing some of Mr. Carney's suffer-no-fools reputation, it's an open question how he'll fare at bringing others along. And with a recent pattern of staying in jobs long enough to set big plans in motion and then moving on, it's not clear how much emphasis he'll place on long-term systemic reforms. But If ever there were a time for impatience to be a virtue, this might be it. While there are widespread calls around Ottawa for a formal, government-wide program review to comprehensively reallocate resources and modernize rules and processes – the sort of effort last seriously undertaken by Jean Chrétien's government in the '90s – that push could take most of Mr. Carney's mandate to complete. By then, the opportunity to seize on Canada's elbows-up moment with a transformative economic agenda, in response to U.S. President Donald Trump, might have passed. The hope among some reform-minded government veterans is that Mr. Carney and Mr. Sabia land on a two-track approach – in which they set in motion long-term structural overhaul, to leave the government in better shape than they found it, but more immediately send whatever signals and create whatever workarounds are needed to get stuff done now. That may not be a viable pathway to overcoming every obstacle. There may, for instance, be few quick fixes for Ottawa's reliance on outdated technologies and information systems. But three of the biggest potential obstacles to implementing Mr. Carney's agenda are instructive, in terms of how it could work. A common perception in Ottawa is that high-level bureaucratic talent has diminished over the past couple of decades. More specifically, there are widely acknowledged expertise gaps. In a government that has traditionally done most spending through grants and transfer payments, that includes lack of comfort with more complex financial tools that Mr. Carney may be looking to deploy in industrial strategies. And lack of employment mobility, between the public and private sectors, has contributed to a perceived disconnect between career bureaucrats in Ottawa and policies' real-world impacts. There are many fundamental ways to address those shortcoming – new strategies around recruitment and career advancement, changing pay structures, using technology to expedite glacial hiring processes. Most contentiously, but increasingly whispered about, Ottawa could loosen bilingualism requirements to broaden its pool. Canada has 'ambition deficit' and regulations that are scaring away investment, Sabia says In the near term, the most obvious lever is the anticipated deputy-minister shuffle, following a small shuffle that took place this month. It could see Mr. Sabia bringing in some new faces, and perhaps more so trying to elevate younger talent already in the bureaucracy, even if they have not worked their way up as gradually as has been customary. But many people interviewed for this story also suggested Ottawa may have to get more creative about bringing in people from industry – and possibly provincial governments – to work on policy priorities of Mr. Carney's for which they have specific expertise. That could potentially be done under Interchange Canada, an underutilized federal program enabling exchanges between the public and private sectors. It could also see people seconded from outside government, forming hybrid teams with bureaucrats to advance key files. Navigating conflict-of-interest considerations would be a challenge – but not, by most accounts, an insurmountable one. And Mr. Sabia's unusual history straddling the public and private sectors could help convince others to do so. A near-universal lament is that civil servants feel incentivized to keep their heads down and avoid risks – in putting forward new ideas, or taking ownership of moving policies forward. That's partly because of additional rules and guidelines layered on after any sort of spending or ethics controversy. Paring those down, to maintain but simplify accountability, is seen as a long-term play. But it's also because of a common perception that politicians are prepared to throw bureaucrats under the bus – or shove them in front of parliamentary committees – at the first sign of trouble, rather than taking heat themselves. And that's where there may be an opportunity to quickly pursue culture change. Mr. Sabia could help by sending a signal across the bureaucracy that people who take initiative and move quickly will be valued. Much will come down to Mr. Carney. His tone, early on, has suggested that expedience and ambition are the priority. But bureaucrats tend to say that the real message about risk tolerance will come from how tolerant he and his ministers prove when moving fast causes something to go wrong. Another oft-cited reason for slowness and lack of individual initiative is that there are too many cooks in the kitchen. While recent growth of the total federal workforce (well above 300,000 people) is likely to be targeted by Mr. Carney for cost savings, ballooning upper ranks – assistant deputy ministers, associate deputy ministers, directors-general, etc. – have particularly bogged down decision-making by creating hierarchical confusion. So too, bureaucrats counter, has an excess of political staff – numbering around 800, by the end of former prime minister Justin Trudeau's tenure, far more than in other Westminster democracies – dipping in and out of files. Not to mention decisions notoriously getting log-jammed in the Prime Minister's Office. That crowdedness is crying out for a review aimed at paring back and simplifying lines of authority. But some of that could be done informally, for now. While a small number of top priorities will inevitably have heavy involvement from the PMO – and the Privy Council Office, the (also enlarged) bureaucratic department that supports it – the rest could be delegated to ministries with minimal central interference. And deputies there could be pushed to identify a small number of their top performers to push things through, bruised egos be damned. As with other possible quick fixes, it could be inelegant. But Mr. Carney has been elected, and Mr. Sabia appointed, with promised focus on results. Those results may include a dramatically restructured federal government. But they may not have time to wait for it, if they want to get everything else done.

IBN Technologies Modernizes Civil Works Engineering Support to Meet Global Demand
IBN Technologies Modernizes Civil Works Engineering Support to Meet Global Demand

Globe and Mail

timea day ago

  • Globe and Mail

IBN Technologies Modernizes Civil Works Engineering Support to Meet Global Demand

"Civil Works Engineering [USA]" IBN Technologies announces the expansion of its civil engineering services across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. With over 25 years of delivery experience, ISO certifications, and digital-first workflows, the company offers cost-effective, scalable support for infrastructure projects. Services include design coordination, documentation, budgeting, and project tracking. Miami, Florida - 27 June, 2025 - As the global infrastructure sector continues to expand, the role of outsourced engineering support has become central to how construction projects are executed efficiently. IBN Technologies, a trusted name in civil works engineering outsourcing, is offering an innovative and cost-effective solution to help engineering firms and developers meet growing demands without overextending their internal resources. By integrating domain-specific expertise with cloud-based collaboration systems, IBN Technologies empowers clients to navigate tight deadlines, escalating design complexity, and strict compliance mandates. Their solutions are particularly relevant in today's environment where infrastructure funding is rising, yet the availability of skilled civil engineers remains limited. 'Our model is built to bridge capability gaps and streamline execution without compromising technical quality,' says Ajay Mehta, CEO of IBN Technologies. 'From planning to transportation networks, engineering support allows firms to scale effectively.' Discover Smarter Ways to Execute your Civil Engineering Goals Get a Free Consultation: Industry Challenges in Civil Works Engineering Many firms are under pressure due to the following persistent challenges: Shortage of skilled civil engineers and CAD technicians Delays caused by inefficient manual workflows Difficulty managing multi-phase projects with real-time visibility Compliance gaps in documentation for regional agencies Rising costs of full-time technical staff and in-house design tools These constraints continue to affect project timelines and budgeting, prompting companies to explore high-value outsourcing partnerships. IBN Technologies' Civil Works Engineering Solutions IBN Technologies offers a structured outsourcing model designed to support every stage of engineering, from early-stage concept development to construction-ready documentation. Their capabilities span across: • Subdivision planning and zoning-aligned site layouts • Roadway design, grading plans, and drainage systems • Utility infrastructure layout and stormwater management • Reinforcement detailing and material estimation (MBQTOs) • Cut-and-fill volume analysis and structural drawings • Digital markups with real-time feedback and version control • Formatting and compliance-ready documentation for local/state agencies The company is ISO 9001:2015, ISO 20000:2018, and ISO 27001:2022 certified, ensuring adherence to global quality standards and robust data security. With over 25 years of experience across the U.S., U.K., Middle East, and India, IBN Technologies is equipped to support residential, commercial, and public-sector infrastructure projects of all sizes. 'Our focus is not just delivery—it's about building engineering resilience for our clients,' said Ajay Mehta CEO of IBN Technologies. Key Benefits of Outsourcing Civil Works Engineering For construction and infrastructure firms seeking efficiency, outsourcing to IBN Technologies offers: • Access to skilled professionals without increasing permanent headcount • Reduced design turnaround time through proven digital processes • Significant cost savings and operational flexibility • Improved document compliance across jurisdictions • Scalability to support complex, multi-site, or phased projects This outsourcing model allows companies to concentrate on strategic decisions while delegating execution-heavy tasks to specialized partners. Demonstrated Success in Outsourced Civil Engineering Services With the increasing demand for specialized engineering expertise, IBN Technologies consistently delivers tangible results through its organized outsourcing framework: • Achieves up to 70% in cost savings without compromising service quality • Holds ISO 9001:2015, 20000:2018, and 27001:2022 certifications for quality assurance and data protection • Brings over two decades of experience delivering civil engineering projects worldwide • Utilizes cloud-based workflows that enable seamless collaboration and remote project tracking As engineering projects become more intricate, many organizations are turning to outsourced civil engineering to expand capabilities, hit critical deadlines, and minimize internal strain. Supported by reliable processes and skilled professionals, IBN Technologies helps businesses address technical challenges with greater accuracy, minimized risk, and dependable execution at every project phase. Expand Your Engineering Capabilities On Demand Contact us: Looking Forward: A New Era in Civil Works Engineering Delivery With governments and private developers ramping up infrastructure investments globally, engineering is entering a new phase of innovation and complexity. Firms that adapt to smarter delivery models will have a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving sector. IBN Technologies is at the forefront of this transformation. Their solutions extend far beyond back-office drafting—they enable seamless technical collaboration, predictive planning, and regulatory assurance, even across borders. 'Success in today's civil engineering landscape requires more than just skilled labor—it demands adaptive systems and a proactive partnership mindset,' says Mehta. 'That's where we bring value.' As pressure mounts to build faster, greener, and smarter, firms that rethink how they source civil engineering will be best positioned for long-term success. By leveraging IBN Technologies' outsourcing framework, stakeholders can achieve higher design accuracy, greater transparency, and on-time project execution. About IBN Technologies IBN Technologies LLC, an outsourcing specialist with 25 years of experience, serves clients across the United States, United Kingdom, Middle East, and India. Renowned for its expertise in the use- Real estate and construction (civil engineering) Industry, RPA, Intelligent Process Automation includes AP Automation services like P2P, Q2C, and Record-to-Report. IBN Technologies provides solutions compliant with ISO 9001:2015, 27001:2022, CMMI-5, and GDPR standards. The company has established itself as a leading provider of IT, KPO, and BPO, Outsourcing services in finance and accounting, including CPAs, Hedge funds, alternative investments, banking, travel, and human resources. It offers customized solutions that drive AR efficiency and growth.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store