Citywide’s Civil Infrastructure Division is much more than just roads and asphalt as Operations Leader Leigh Goullet and National Project Development Manager Craig Willebrand explain.
In 2022 Melbourne was named as Australia’s most liveable city and 10th in the world in the Global Liveability Index 2022, which evaluates the quality of life in 173 cities.
Released by the Economic Intelligence Unit, the recognition is based off a scoring system to assess the stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure of each city.
Melbourne was awarded a perfect score for infrastructure (100/100).
But what does it take to deliver and maintain Australia’s most liveable city?
Leigh Goullet is an Operations Leader at Citywide, which provides the full scope of civil infrastructure and environmental services to both government and the private sector.
Every day more than 13 million Australian’s benefit from Citywide’s services, with the company now based across four states (Vic, NSW, QLD, TAS) and the ACT.
“We’re a very customer centric business,” Goullet says. “We can offer services for the entire project life cycle from inception, design, construction, maintenance to reconstruction and/or inception again.”
Citywide’s Civil Infrastructure Division and its Utilities and Energy Division operate across regional and metropolitan areas on the nation’s eastern seaboard, providing design, engineering, feasibility and project management services.
Both divisions’ service capabilities and expertise are also supported by other resources across the entire Citywide Group. As Goullet explains, this helps to create a “one-stop-shop” when it comes to projects that require a multi-disciplinary approach.
“If we have works on an intersection for example, we have providers in-house who can do the drainage, asphalt, concrete, whatever it may be. The client avoids having to pay a margin on margin,” he says.
“Our strong focus on project management ensures that each project is delivered to the highest level of safety and quality.”
Citywide’s solutions across Greater Melbourne also extend to traffic and event management. Goullet says the company’s price point and quality service has helped to cement its place as one of Melbourne’s primary infrastructure service providers.
“It’s a very competitive environment when there’s an open tender for events like the Australian Open or the Melbourne Cup. Our Traffic and Events team offer 24/7 operations,” he says.
Goullet is helping to manage Citywide’s City of Melbourne contract. According to Goullet, the package of works represents the largest local government infrastructure maintenance contract in Victoria.
Overcoming challenges
With its engineers and project managers, Citywide’s Civil Infrastructure Division is resourced with a range of plant and equipment, along with expertise to take on challenging works.
Following the lengthy COVID-19 lockdowns across Greater Melbourne, Citywide was tasked with delivering a large section of works focused on active transport.
Goullet says the Victorian Government pre and post COVID-19 placed a large emphasis on active transport infrastructure, to complement the city’s sustainable public transport system.
He says these works aligned with Citywide’s bluestone, concrete and asphalt capabilities, proficient in developing footpaths, laneways, crossovers, kerbs and roads.
“There’s been a big push and focus on improving pedestrian movement and increasing the accessibility of areas such as the CBD,” Goullet says.
“This focus is now around looking at networks and how they function, especially when it comes to environmentally friendly forms of transport, like pushbikes, electric vehicles, walking and EV charging solutions.”
Citywide is also known for constructing works at Spencer Street and Flinders Street stations amongst other iconic sites, installing protective security barriers.
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Goullet says the team has encountered and overcome “significant challenges” while working on the city’s historic infrastructure, some of which was constructed more than 150 years ago.
“For works on Flinders Street we had to work around monolithic structures of the old station overpass. We had to figure out how some elements were constructed before we could design and implement the protective barriers,” Goullet says. “You can never be too careful when working in and around our great city.”
Goullet says this project was emblematic of the intuitive thinking and approach of the entire Civil Infrastructure Division, which in Victoria also delivers works across LGAs including Bayside, Hobsons Bay, Hume and Whittlesea.
“Because we know the region well, major contractors or developers will also come to us for works that present unique challenges,” he says. “We work in a lot of areas where there’s high pedestrian movement, so we’re doing traffic management, while also widening a footpath, finishing structural soil, drainage improvements and more.”
When it comes to utilities and infrastructure assets, Citywide’s Ultegra team – a subsidiary of the Group’s Utilities and Energy Division – conducts civil works such as trenching alongside live services, pipelaying, pit installations, the excavation of footings and more.
“Our Ultegra team undertakes the civil works associated with the construction of energy projects to supply critical infrastructure for our clients and the general public,” explains Craig Willebrand, Ultegra’s National Project Development Manager.
“We can save our clients time and money; they don’t need to split hairs between margins as these services are in-house. That gives us an advantage.”
Commitment to clean
Citywide’s vision as an enterprise is to foster clean, healthy, safe and sustainable cities.
To assist in delivering sustainable cities, Citywide has developed its own sustainability strategy.
As part of this strategy, the Civil Infrastructure and Utilities & Energy Divisions have embraced sustainable and environmentally friendly technologies and processes as part of its project delivery.
“Our motto is to ‘Shape Liveable Cities’. Part of our core services is to do this in a sustainable way,” Goullet says. “Sustainability matters to the community and so it matters to us.
“We have a beautiful position where we take waste from the city, process it, and turn it into valuable commodities that are then used in asphalt and street furniture items. Glass for example is used in our Citywide asphalt plant in Arden Street, North Melbourne.”
This ethos also extends to supporting the development of low emissions technology, such as electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.
“We’re currently delivering public kerb-side EV charging infrastructure projects in Victoria and NSW along major roads ensuring that more people have access to charging facilities,” Willebrand says.
“We’ve also recently completed the design and construction of the civil and electrical works for Zero Emission Bus projects in NSW and QLD, where an entire bus depot is re-designed and constructed for EV charging infrastructure for the most efficient operation of the fleet.
“We’re committed to being at the forefront of renewable energy projects in addition to delivering large scale civil/electrical projects.”
Embracing the future
Goullet says he’s excited about future prospects for both Divisions, which he describes as “speciality teams with an excellent culture.”
“I’m most proud of the culture and the relationships we have with commercial clients and the local government. We couldn’t do what we do without the support of key people at all levels,” he says.
“There are some challenging projects, don’t get me wrong. But it’s exciting, it’s agile and it keeps you on your toes.”
This article was originally published in the May edition of our magazine. To read the magazine, click here.