Page 22 - Australian Defence Magazine November 2019

DEFENCE BUSINESS
DEBSS
Stuart Fowler, CEO of Norman Disney & Young, a Tetra Tech Company.
broader Defence priorities and Government policies, and which reflect the value for money across their whole life,” he said. “And that’s the start point, not the end point.”
Birrer also spoke of the importance of thinking of projects in terms of ‘whole of life’. Trades have been traditionally thought of as a key part of local industry participa- tion, but thought needs to go beyond that, to include maximising opportunities for lo- cal companies such as environmental con- sultancies and project design consultants.
“We are finding that, through engaging with those consultants – particularly the project design consultants who can design our projects up-front – it maximises oppor- tunities for local industries to compete in the delivery phase, because it matches the ca- pability capacity of local industries,” he said.
Birrer also promised relationships with local communities surrounding Defence bases will continue to be important.
“We cannot operate our bases and train- ing areas in isolation of the community, and
Damon Howes, Client Relationship Manager – Defence, JLL.
we don’t want to, because Defence is part of the Australian community,” he said.
From and industry standpoint, Stu- art Fowler, CEO of Norman, Disney and Young (NDY), spoke about trends in build- ing design and focussed on examples which impact society broadly, as well as the build- ings themselves, such as climate change.
“Buildings play a significant role in carbon generation and the mitigation of CO2 generation therefore directly impacts building design. So, as practitioners in the building industry, we have a responsibility to mitigate our impact on climate change through CO2 reduction and to mitigate the effects of it,” Fowler said. “In dollar terms, it’s cheaper to do nothing than it is to act, but the decision is ultimately with our cli- ents to consider the standard to which they will be held through inaction.”
PFAS remediation
One of the major impacts to the environment has been through soil and water contamina-
Jodie Patron, Economist
& Director at KPMG Australia
tion caused by the use of fire-fighting foams made from per- and poly-fluoroalkyl sub- stances (PFAS). While several speakers made reference to the problem at DEBSS 2019, presentations from Mark O’Connell, direc- tor PFAS Investigations for Defence and Dr Sarah Richards, principal geo-environmental engineer with Coffey, provided delegates with a detailed overview of what is being done to remediate the issue and developments in the management of contamination.
Defence has now commenced 28 detailed environmental investigations to identify the nature and extent of PFAS contamina- tion on and around bases throughout Aus- tralia and is now looking to research impact and remediation.
“Seventeen of these sites have now moved from the investigation phase to the manage- ment phase and, of those 17 sites, 16 have had a published PFAS Management Area Plan (PMAP), which is our long-term road- map of how we intend to manage PFAS into the future,” O’Connell said.
ABOVE: The conference also provided a valuable networking opportunity...
LEFT: ...as well as a delicious lunch.
22 | November 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au