Having a shared vision between John Holland, HI and TSNSW to achieve the outcomes of the ISLP has achieved outstanding results against the Infrastructure Skills Legacy Program Targets.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
John Holland, Health Infrastructure (HI) and Training Services NSW (TSNSW) have worked in a collaborative partnership to improve skill outcomes and to increase diversity on the work site at the Lismore Base Hospital Redevelopment.
The project was the first project in NSW to embed the Infrastructure Skills Legacy Program (ISLP) targets and the project exceeded all targets. Additionally, John Holland has been recognised as an industry leader by driving employment diversity through increased employment of women in non-traditional roles and exceeding Aboriginal participation requirements.
The Lismore Base Hospital is one of the two main public referral hospitals in Northern NSW Local Health District. The new 12-storey and 8-storey towers of the hospital will feature new and improved services and facilities for patients. The redevelopment will deliver an increase in health services and enable new models of care to meet the changing needs of the local community.
INITIATIVES
During its construction, the project was committed to working with the Infrastructure Skills Legacy Program (ISLP) to help improve worker skills and training and meet the following measures and targets:
APPROACH
Stakeholder engagement
The NSW Government and the construction industry worked together to co-design policy that benefits the individual, local communities support underrepresented groups and addresses skills demands by setting minimum skills, training and employment diversity targets to upskill NSW workers and strengthen the NSW workforce. The project established a shared vision between Health Infrastructure, Training Services NSW and John Holland to achieve the outcomes of the ISLP. Early engagement with the agency, in this case HI, to embed the ISLP targets into procurement.
Delivery process
John Holland, the major contractor, identified the following minimum criteria for success in delivering the project:
To meet the requirements for Aboriginal participation in NSW Government Construction contracts set out in the Aboriginal Participation in Construction guidelines, the project made a commitment of 2.5 percent of the total contract spend to be invested in the direct employment of Aboriginal People. This was expressed as an employment participation target of 4% of the project workforce.
Current status
The Lismore Base Hospital Project is now complete.
OUTCOMES
Improved skills and training
In addition to the 101 apprentices inducted on site, during the project 180 existing construction workers participated in accredited training ranging from skill sets and high-risk licence training through to Diploma level qualifications. Much of the training was funded through the Smart and Skilled Part Qualifications Program.
Employed local people
Despite the regional location and proximity to Queensland, well over 50 percent of positions on site were filled by local regional people.
Increased industry diversity
Of the inducted workers employed on the project:
Work collaboratively and in partnership
Once the contractor was announced, there were meetings with HI, John Holland and TSNSW to discuss implementing a strategy to achieve the ISLP targets. TSNSW agreed to fund a dedicated Project Officer to assist John Holland to develop and implement strategies, engage with subcontractors, work with local stakeholders and report back to TSNSW on a monthly basis.
Achievements against all targets
John Holland exceeded all the skills and diversity targets on the Lismore Base Hospital Redevelopment Project:
*The Long-term Unemployed target is not an ISLP Target
Total project hours worked: Phase One = 182,264 hours Phase Two = 305,050 hours
For more information, visit the Training Services NSW webpage or contact the team at Training Services NSW.
Phone: 13 28 11
