Latest News
Engineering skills shortage
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Brent Jackson from Engineers Australia said Australia needs to address the engineering skills shortage as a matter of urgency. He believes this has affected Australia’s ability to deliver on infrastructure and nation building needs, leading to millions of dollars in cost overruns and lost opportunities for engineering projects which have not gone ahead
“Australia produces less than half of its current annual engineering workforce needs,” Jackson says. “Even with Australian universities and TAFEs producing around 9,000 graduates annually, Australia is still unable to provide a reliable domestic solution to these key shortages.”
He says that further reform to strengthen the profession is necessary, with careful workforce planning and career initiatives needed to attract highly skilled individuals – especially women – to the profession along with a nationally consistent system of registration for engineers. This will help deploy engineers of consistently high standard to wherever they are needed most.
Ability Sydney office welcomes a new staff member
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Andrew Wild has recently joined the Ability Team after extensive work and travel experiences across Asia. His diverse career experiences have provided him with a wide range of skills including fluency in five languages. Andrew has a strong background in the tourism and hospitality industries; his corporate professionalism and good understanding of the balance between creativity and business has led to a new career in the recruitment industry. We look forward to working with him
$1 Billion Project To Clear Sydney To Newcastle Rail Gridlock
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Due to Passenger services and freight trains heading north through Sydney currently sharing the same line, freight trains are prevented from operating during peak travel times. The Northern Sydney Freight Line $1 billion upgrade plans to unclog the freight and passenger bottleneck between Sydney and Newcastle and free up a vital link in Australia's freight network.
"(It) is one of the most important transport projects in the nation," said Brendan Lyon, chief executive of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia.
The commonwealth is funding $840 million of the project while the NSW government will contribute $214 million to build a freight underpass in North Strathfield with a freight track being constructed between Epping and Pennant Hills, and two passing loops being put in at Gosford.
The upgrade is expected to take 200,000 trucks off NSW roads each year, reduce carbon emissions by more than 100,000 tonnes annually, and increase the corridor's capacity from 29 to 44 freight trains a day.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said the project, starting in February next year, would be completed in 2016. It should significantly improve freight access through northern Sydney and improve passenger reliability on the Main North Line.
Engineering Growth Slated for 2012
Monday, November 28, 2011
Statistics from the Australian Industry Group/Constructors Group Outlook show that 2012 is going to be the year of the engineers. The mining boom has finally come to a head, and next year the surge in resource and engineering driven initiatives will dominate the industry with a forecasted 10.3% growth in engineering construction by the end of this year, with a further increase of 12% by 2012/2013.
This increase has been driven by the extensive work taking place in mining, in terms of long term investment projects as well as significant pipeline works, in addition to an increased move into infrastructure construction.
With the expansion into natural resources the difficulty in acquiring skilled workers is set to rise by 75%.
Engineer skills shortage
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
According to Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA) Chris Walton, the Skills Shortages Australia report released recently found 59 per cent of engineering vacancies were unfilled - the highest of any profession.
The report demonstrates engineers need better training to fill the rapid demand for engineers with a level of experience s specialist skills.
"Australia is not giving engineers the skills they need to get to the next level," Walton said.
"The Federal Government has the opportunity to fix this. They should ensure that training plans are in place before they hand out billions of dollars of infrastructure money to the states.
"This would ensure that the engineering graduates have a chance to develop the skills they need to become the kind of engineers that are in desperately short supply."
Walton said while the Federal Government's recent $558 million skills boost would go a small way to fixing the problem in engineering state governments could go much further in helping to skill up young engineering graduates.
The report states: “Graduate positions were relatively easy to fill but there was difficulty filling positions that required applicants to have significant years of experience.”
The report also found that overall employers continue to experience difficulty recruiting in most professional engineering specialisations, with the proportion of engineering vacancies filled in 2010-11 the lowest of any occupation assessed by the government.
The tightest labour markets were for civil engineers, structural engineers, electrical engineers and mechanical engineers with less than 40 per cent of surveyed vacancies being filled for these occupations.
Changing our perception of Train travel in Australia
Monday, October 10, 2011
A high-speed rail option of Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane, is being seriously investigated by the present Federal Government. It would be supplemented by the upgrading of other long-distance passenger rail gauges to increase safety, efficiency and customer comfort for both Australians and tourists. This may go a long way to changing the way Australians perceive rail travel , from using it purely for urban short stop usage to the European model, where rail travel is used for intercity travel ie Eurostar is extremely successful, offering an efficient, rapid and comfortable transport option between London and Paris (2h 15m) and Brussels (1hr 59 m), with connections onto other major European cities.
The advantages offered by rail, over air, is a lower vulnerability to delays, significantly lower carbon emissions, reduced check in times, more convenient locations, and unbroken, comfortable travel times.
Any citizen with an environmental ethic will choose rail over air or road each time .
European rail industry and governments have also invested significantly in sophisticated signalling and communications technologies, under the European Train Control System (ETCS) levels, which have addressed cross-border differences in operations – and also have ensured, with only a few exceptions, vastly superior safety, efficiency and capacity outcomes.
As put recently by Prof Andrew McNaughton, chair of the European Railway Research Advisory Council (ERRAC), at May’s World Congress on Railway Research, “We are building for the 21st century, not just amending the 19th". (IRJ).
His message is consonant with the pressures on Australian rail – simply increasing capacity to its maximum within current and inherited infrastructure cannot, and will not, accommodate the growth in rail patronage of the next century.
As the IRJ reported on his presentation, “We have to build new…We have to double, we have to quadruple our capacity by 2050".
He also cited innovative approaches such as Perth running railways in the middle of highways, or dramatically altering construction systems to reduce environmental harm during new works, as leading initiatives.
It is timely for Australian rail leaders to follow European developments closely.
High-speed rail in Australia
Friday, September 23, 2011
A recently published Australian Government feasibility report has shown a high-speed rail network would slash travel times between major eastern states cities.
In Spain high-speed rail performed best over distances up to 1000km but people were sceptical about its viability because of set-up costs before it’s introduction
Many people chose high-speed rail over airlines because when they take high-speed rail of they are saved from delays and y know they are going to be on time whilst experiencing a more comfortable, relaxing journey.
In Spain high-speed rail has proven to be more sustainable, using renewable energy from wind and hydro-electricity mixed with non-renewable fuels, while airlines and cars used 100 per cent fossil fuels. In addition rail was more energy efficient because it used less energy per passenger kilometre.
In Australia Greens leader Bob Brown said cash from the resources boom should be used to build the rail link between Brisbane and Melbourne, with private enterprise playing a role. However, in the planning stages consideration must be given for heritage sites, wetlands, protected regions and endangered species when building the rail line.
Poor Infrastructure- an obstacle to doing business in Australia
Monday, September 12, 2011
If Australia is to compete with the fast-growing, diverse economies of Asia and not serve merely as a supplier of raw materials, the government needs to fund new highways, high-speed rail networks, ports and utilities that will serve its growing population and help it to diversify away from a worrying dependence on mining. Australia is in the enviable position of having little debt, a triple-A credit rating—and a glaring need to build new infrastructure.
Poor infrastructure figures highly as one of the biggest obstacles to doing business in Australia, but building new infrastructure will require vast investment and the political will in Canberra to divert funds to capital projects instead of meeting an election pledge to return the nation's finances to surplus over the next two years. Australian government debt, at about 7% of gross domestic product, is modest and could be expanded to fund projects instead of paid down. Restoring a cash surplus is increasingly viewed by many economists, as a short-term political luxury that ignores the country's infrastructure needs.
Three years ago, the government established Infrastructure Australia to prioritize key projects and areas for investment. New South Wales, which arguably has the greatest need for investment in its major cities, has restructured its own approach by setting up a new body headed by Nick Greiner, the chairman of advisers at Rothschild in Australia, to secure funding for infrastructure.
Some projects are already under way, like the recently approved US$36 billion plan to build a nationwide high-speed Internet system known as the National Broadband Network. The government is studying a US$116 billion proposal to build a 1,000-mile high-speed railway along the east coast, but hasn't made a decision.
Ability People
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Ability People Sydney team have settled in to their new office and are now welcoming three new starters to the Australian business.
Kane King joins our Melbourne team and Paul Gudgeon and Ann Nicholas our Sydney team.
Kane is a Principal Consultant and is responsible for the recruitment of specialist roads/highways, land development and planning professionals across Australia. Kane has over six years recruitment and executive search experience and has worked closely with many of the leading international engineering consultancies in Australia and the UK successfully delivering senior level staff to major civil infrastructure projects worldwide
Paul is responsible for the recruitment of specialist property professionals within the Australasian Industry being involved in the property industry throughout most of his career. Having operated in Property Sales in the UK, Paul has a total of 9 years experience within Recruitment with the last four years sourcing talent for a Global Real Estate company. Paul recruited across a number of property disciplines on a national scale.
Ann has more than 10 years experience in Business Management and will be responsible for managing the offices in Sydney and Melbourne . Ann has successfully worked across such diverse industries as Publishing, IT and Medical Risk management and looks forward to entering the recruitment industry.
Singaporean billionaire buys Suncorp Plaza
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Property Observer has reported, that the purchaser of the $395 million Suncorp Plaza in Sydney is Memo Corp, backed by Tay Tee Peng- a Singaporean billionaire.
Tay Tee Peng’s portfolio now includes the Suncorp Plaza at 259 George Street, the Wynyard Green Tower at 11 York Street (purchased in 2000 from the State Rail Authority) and an office block at 1 Oxford Street. The Telecom building in Melbourne he purchased in 1994 for $12 million was sold earlier this year for $45 million following a $10 million renovation.
Property Observer reports “The combined wealth of Singapore's top 40 richest rose 19% or US$8.7 billion year-on-year to US$54.4 billion, according to the latest rich list published by Forbes Asia. This year, a minimum net worth of US$210 million was needed to qualify for the list, up from $190 million previously. This ranking, unlike the Forbes billionaires list, includes numerous family fortunes shared with children, grandchildren or siblings.”
Memo Corp was established in 1991, and now has a diverse portfolio of 16 properties. It is suggested that they had previously been valued with about $600 million in property holdings.
LEGION HOUSE TO ACHIEVE FIRST SIX STAR ENVIRONMENTAL RATING
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Legion House, built in the Sydney CBD in 1902, is to achieve a new six star environmental rating when it is refurbished in 2013. This will make it the first heritage building in Australia to be carbon neutral upon its completion .
Grocon , a construction and development company , will have its head office there.
“Green” construction methods including sustainable bamboo, and renewable power through “biomass gasification technology” will help it to achieve a NABERS (National Australian Built Environment Rating System) six star rating . The NABERS rating was launched in August and now the highest environmentally friendly rating an existing building can achieve.
The Property Council of Australia however, is slamming both the new rating and the way NABERS is managed.
The PCA claims the existing office tool methodology has been replaced by a completely different approach which is designed for hotel and shopping centres. They are also asking the question as to why it easier for a Sydney office to move from five stars to six stars than a Brisbane building.
NABERS star ratings as applied to a typical office in Melbourne using only electricity and operating 50 hours a week:
In regards to the response from the PCA ,Matthew Clark, director of water and energy programs in the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage says “We worked with our stakeholder advisory committee, which includes the PCA up until May this year. Based on advice from our national steering committee, we moved immediately to six stars.”
Clark says NABERS wishes to work closely with the PCA and is open to ongoing discussions with the industry body to make sure they feel involved.
The six-star rating is backed by the Green Building Council of Australia.
“From now, six-star NABERS ratings will be possible, reflecting the fact that many buildings are moving above and beyond established benchmarks,” says GBCA executive director Andrew Aitken.
|
Rating |
Carbon emissions |
|
5 stars |
≤ 67 kgCO2/m2 |
|
5.5 stars |
≤50 kgCO2/m2 |
|
6 stars |
≤ 33 kgCO2/m2 |
Source: NABERS
Ability People UK
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Despite being a relatively new team, Ability People is making its mark in the UK. They recently hit the top spot of RecruitRank, a market research feedback system run by one of the UK’s leading job boards. RecruitRank enables candidates to score and comment on their experiences dealing with agencies. Their current feedback score is a very impressive 4.43 out of 5. This result demonstrates that the team is true to Ability’s core values and that they really do go the extra mile.
The UK recruitment sector usually experiences a quieter period over Christmas, but the team in the UK is bucking the trend and December represents their busiest month to date. Stephen Laurie, GM of Ability People UK says,
“I am encouraged by the quality of the roles that we seem to be acquiring simply by word of mouth at the moment. Just this week our engineering team secured a number of retained and exclusive assignment, for example 3 management roles at a gases company in the Middle East, and a Principal Engineer for an instrument manufacturer in South East England. Both are really interesting assignments and we’ve won them through our reputation to deliver.
In the same week, the same team successfully filled a Principal Engineer role at a global chemical process company, they had been looking for over 6 months and had interviewed 20 candidates before meeting the first candidate we submitted – he got the job and started last month, they love him!”
Labour Market Update
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Australia
The Australian job market has continued to recover strongly from the GFC-induced decline in 2008/9 according to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Monetary Policy Statement released in November. Employment increased by 50,000 jobs in September and by around 31/4 per cent over the year. In the same statement, the RBA reports that the unemployment rate in Australia is now down to 5.2%, this is not too far away from what is considered full employment (4-4.5%). Forward-looking indicators point to continued growth in labour demand though perhaps at a more moderate pace.
UK
UK labour market trends have improved in recent months, with unemployment falling to 7.7 per cent as at September 2010; this is down 0.1 on the quarter (Office of National Statistics). The total number unemployed fell by 9,000 in the 3 months to September and many recruitment professionals are reporting increased hiring activity in a number of sectors such as financial services and IT.
However, the Office for Budget Responsibility predicts further increases in UK unemployment in the next 20-24 months, but at a slower pace than at the height of the recession before mid 2009.
