An Alliance between Barwon Water, GHD and John Holland was formed in July 2009. Over its five-year life, the alliance was responsible for more than 120 projects work AU$375 million. This was the most ambitious capital works program in Barwon Water’s history to ensure safe and reliable water to meet future development in one of the fastest growing areas of Victoria and needed to ensure they were managing engagement data effectively.

The alliance focused on pipeline and pump station installation, the development of water storage and treatment plants and water recycling infrastructure. The scope of works included recycled water, water reclamation, sewer collection, water treatment, water distribution and various headworks projects.

Stakeholder Management

As part of the program, BWA had been been liaising with stakeholders, including local residents during planning and construction to minimise disruption during the works and address any concerns in a timely manner.

Darzin was implemented as a stakeholder management system across all infrastructure projects. When the alliance officially concluded operations in 2014 Darzin license and all stakeholder engagement data was handed to Barwon Water so the Barwon Water team could instantly benefit from the historical data and continue to build on the existing knowledge. Barwon Water has been using Darzin as a single stakeholder engagment management system for the whole company since the handover.

 

Community Engagement consultation

The Barwon Water Alliance was awarded the 2012 Civil Contractors Federation Earth Award for the Colac pipeline project. The award recognises best practice and environmental excellence in the construction industry.

Managing Multiple Projects across Several Teams

BWA has used Darzin to manage the stakeholder interactions for 129 water, sewerage and recycled water projects in regional Victoria.  The community consultation encompassed many streams such as specialist committees, open days, public forums, news bulletins, letters, door knocks, distribution of construction notifications and project newsletters, phone calls, 1800 hotline, and more. Darzin’s ability to integrate information across multiple channels of consultation and engagement had provided clear and consistent reports and information on all interactions with stakeholders.

Darzin provided tools for consistent data management and reporting across all projects across the alliance. Darzin also made information sharing across the teams easy. As well the specialist teams from the alliance partners were able to work closely with the internal Barwon Water team to share learning and knowledge.

Darzin had been providing a central stakeholder engagement system for:

  • Up-to-date stakeholder contacts & affected property details
  • All stakeholder communications covering a range of topics from project design, construction, environmental issues, safety issues, property impacts, etc
  • Access and share by various teams including Barwon Water, alliance partners, and consultants – helps share information across the teams easily and all staff benefits from the instant information update
  • Reliable and accurate stakeholder engagement reports on specific projects, or across the entire program.

Managing Engagement Data with a Long-term View

Having all stakeholder engagement data stored in Darzin also enabled long term knowledge capture and management. BWA easily passed on all consultation data to Barwon Water at the end of the program and Barwon Water team could continue to build on the existing knowledge with minimum interruption.

 

Community consultation

More than 5,000 trout added to Stony Creek Reservoir No. 1