Lendlease has joined the alliance of infrastructure and construction leaders who are working to better understand the relationship between community engagement and major project delivery through the Australian National University’s ground-breaking Next Generation Engagement Program, hosted at the Institute for Infrastructure in Society (I2S).
The research program, believed to be the first of its kind in the world, seeks to understand the relationship between communities and infrastructure projects, to identify and promote best practice and to improve community outcomes from major project delivery.
Over the coming five years, Lendlease will play host to ANU researchers as well as working with other industry partners, to help shed light on how healthy community/ proponent relationships can impact major project delivery for the better.
They will also examine current hot topics such as how to best create and maintain a pipeline of appropriately skilled engagement practitioners and how to structure contracts and procurement to achieve the best community outcomes.
Institute Director, Professor Sara Bice, said:
“We’re delighted to be able to work with leading practitioners from Lendlease to capture what they are learning about the planning and delivery of major projects as they work to deliver some of Australia’s most iconic precincts and developments. They will help us to explore the benefits of best practice engagement, the true costs and drivers of social risk and the opportunities to create value in partnership with communities.”
Lendlease Strategic Stakeholder Engagement Manager, Australia, Clare Baker, said “Our purpose includes partnering with others to help solve the challenges of people and planet. Working with ANU, other leading industry organisations and state government representatives on the Next Generation Engagement research project is a timely opportunity for us to utilise our diverse property, construction, and infrastructure delivery experience, to contribute towards bettering how communities are engaged and promote good corporate governance.
“Lendlease is committed to evolving the practice of community engagement and pursuing ‘next practice’ as best practice, being more digital and engaging earlier and more often, particularly as projects get larger and more complex. This five year program ensures we can help affect meaningful and long-term change in our industry,” Ms Baker said.
Lendlease joins industry leaders in this work, including the Victorian Government, the Queensland Government, Transurban, Melbourne Water and the G20 Global Infrastructure Hub.