New industry partnership aims to deliver projects on time and budget

Western Australia’s Curtin University and UGL Pty Ltd are working together to establish national standards for leaner maintenance practices, aiming to improve project delivery and turnaround times.

UGL, a diversified services company and part of the CIMIC Group, will work in collaboration with Curtin’s Advanced Technologies Research and Innovation Alliance (CATRINA).

CATRINA is an industry-led alliance, with the aim of enhancing collaboration between major clients, technology providers, contractors and academics to solve productivity issues in Australia.

Curtin University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Professor Chris Moran said he was delighted to welcome UGL to the alliance, noting it was particularly important for researchers to engage with industry during the development process.

“Curtin prides itself on engaging with industry to define and deliver research with impact,” Professor Moran said.

“We are very pleased to further strengthen the extensive industry foundations of CATRINA with the inclusion of UGL.”

CATRINA Leader Professor Xiangyu Wang, from Curtin’s School of Built Environment, said it was a great link to support contractors through the alliance and hoped other service providers would follow suit.

“The alliance strives to improve productivity in engineering, fabrication, construction and project maintenance; working closely with academics, technology providers, contractors and operators on a regular basis,” Professor Wang said.

“We are welcoming other industry operators to partner with CATRINA to help drive research in lean practices, innovative technologies, and building information modelling that could benefit business and get projects delivered on time and on budget.”

The three-year co-operation program between UGL and Curtin University under CATRINA runs until June 2020.