Barangaroo Station - Opportunities for Indigenous Businesses

Multi-disciplinary construction contractor BESIX Watpac will deliver the new station and initiated the forum for Indigenous owned businesses under its policy to maximise Indigenous participation in its projects.

Held in close cooperation with the New South Wales Indigenous Business and Employment Hub, YARPA, the forum was attended by senior BESIX Watpac staff including Project Managers John Mattock and Luke Hunter. Sydney Metro was represented by Workforce Capability and Development Advisor Geoffrey Dove and Manager Diversity and Inclusion, Kristy Walsh.

Seventeen representatives from ten Indigenous owned businesses attended and were given the opportunity to explain their capability and capacity and discuss how they can contribute to the Barangaroo Station project.

BESIX Watpac’s John Mattock reinforced the need to engage with Indigenous business very early in the planning of project delivery.

“The forum and the discussions we held afterwards have given us a good understanding of the capability on offer and now we can think about the structure of our work packages to best meet the available capability and scale,” John said.

BESIX Watpac’s National Indigenous Affairs Manager James Alley believes the information gathered across the company’s Indigenous engagement forums will also benefit larger subcontractors.

“The opportunities are not limited to direct engagement with BESIX Watpac but also with our larger subcontractors who value to industry connections we can give them as a result of these forums,” James said.

YARPA Industry Relationships Manager Westley Trist says the forum is just the beginning of the journey on the Barangaroo Station project.

“Now it’s time to start getting into the detail of exactly what the work packages look like and how our Indigenous businesses should frame their tender submissions and hopefully secure some work on this project,” Westley said.