Case Study: Office of Major Transport Infrastructure Delivery: Outcomes Led Market Transformation
The Office of Major Transport Infrastructure Delivery (OMTID) brings together the best minds from both Main Roads WA and the Public Transport Authority (PTA). It was established in May 2020 as a centre of excellence for major transport project delivery in Western Australia (WA).
OMTID has championed sustainability excellence in our projects. Not only have multiple projects sought Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) and Green Star ratings, we have excelled in our certification achievements. Both the Tonkin Gap Project (road) and METRONET Morley-Ellenbrook Line (rail) projects were some of the first in the country to use a hybrid approach, targeting credits from both v2.0 and v2.1 of the IS Design and As-Built (D&AB) Rating. Both projects have achieved Gold Design IS Ratings, surpassing contractual requirements. We are also the earliest adopters in Australia of v2.1 of the IS D&AB rating on the METRONET Armadale Level Crossing Removal, Mandurah Estuary Bridge Duplication and METRONET Byford Extension Line projects.
We were recently awarded a 6 Star (World Leadership) Green Star rating on the Ellenbrook Station (as part of the Morley-Ellenbrook Line) with 89 points - the highest score to date for an Australian railway station. These outstanding achievements are only possible through OMTID’s dedication and leadership. Our IS and Green Star results are testament to the exemplary collaboration that OMTID has fostered.
OMTID is also a leading contributor to industry sustainability. We facilitated two pilot trials of IS Essentials, with our feedback directly leading to key changes to the IS Essential Technical Manual released in 2024. This includes the reintroduction of the ‘Pla-2’ credit, which hadn’t been considered material before our feedback.
While our projects have been successful, a gap remained. We had identified plenty of initiatives that would increase sustainable outcomes but found ourselves unable to drive them all. OMTID also frequently inherits IS Planning ratings which bring lofty plans that quickly become unstuck in the realities of delivery. Our sustainability ambitions were tempered with limited people resources and ever-present program budgetary and time constraints. We identified the need for a significant cultural shift to truly embed sustainability and democratise its implementation. OMTID needed to evolve to become more targeted in our efforts.
This realisation led OMTID to shift gears in the past year. We have moved from collaboration to transformation. As a result, OMTID also became a catalyst for external transformation.
Our internal transformation has seen OMTID develop an Outcomes-Led Prioritisation (OLP) approach. OLP was inspired by the IS approach to have a materiality assessment as a compulsory first step to identify the most important sustainability issues for projects. To create cultural change, we have adapted the IS philosophy at an organisational level. Practically, this means we make decisions based on where our inputs will have the most impactful outcomes.
The transformation of our internal approach evoked an unforeseen level of external interest. Our approach is now leveraged by the broader Transport Portfolio, and consequently provides industry direction on where their efforts should be focused.
Outcomes:
OLP has transformed our approach to achieving project and organisational outcomes.
Cyclone Ellie caused extensive flooding in remote WA Kimberley Region in December 2022. The Fitzroy River bridge was damaged beyond repair, cutting off access to entire communities. OMTID was tasked with expediting the bridge replacement. Due to the time constraints, an IS rating was not possible. However, employing OLP identified social and resilience outcomes were key, concentrating our sustainability efforts. Not only was the project completed 6 months ahead of schedule, it also achieved an exceptional Aboriginal Participation Rate of 23%. Also developing a Climate Risk Roadmap for use by future projects in the region.
The success of the Outcomes-Led Prioritisation approach on an individual project resulted in its adoption across the organisation. Here, it was identified that Resource Efficiency and Materials Replacement (reused/recycled materials) is the highest priority for OMTID and the WA Transport Portfolio. We also identified that LifeCycle Assessments are key to whole-of-life outcomes.
Our first subsequent step was ensuring we had personnel dedicated to Resource Efficiency. As a result, OMTID create a new role – not an easy feat within government. The role of ‘Project Manager – Innovation’ focusses on innovation to drive resource efficiency. Importantly, OMTID positioned the role across the Transport Portfolio. Within four months of commencement, our new recruit has become the key subject matter interface across the Portfolio. OMTID’s OLP resulted in a resource that the Portfolio didn’t know it needed, but on which it is now reliant.
Our second step was optimising our people’s efforts to maximise resource efficiency outcomes. As the delivery agency, OMTID is under pressure from various stakeholders to achieve exceptional uptakes of a long list of replacement materials. We knew we couldn’t do it all – we needed to prioritise.
We used OLP to develop an innovative matrix to communicate the multi-dimensional facets of resource efficiency. It uses a traffic light system to rate sustainable materials (e.g. recycled plastic pipes) against 17 enablers categorised into Technical, Regulatory, Market and Cultural. For example, Regulatory Enablers include Policies, Specifications and Legislation.
The result is a matrix with a series of 17 traffic lights for each material, illustrating its implementation readiness. A series of mostly green means substantial outcomes are possible with limited effort. Many reds mean a lot of effort is required, with no guarantee of outcomes. The matrix clearly shows where efforts will be rewarded most. This resulted in a focus on the use of Crushed Recycled Concrete in carparks. Our focus has resulted in 17,000t laid to date and 10,000t planned for use on active projects.
Overall, our OLP had led to three outcomes – success on a project, resource efficiency identified as our organisational priority, and a matrix to prioritise OMTID efforts. And then, we had a remarkable idea. We combined all three.
During this time, the procurement for the $1billion Tonkin Highway Extension Project was under development. Due to its size, its impact will significantly influence OMTID’s overall resource efficiency performance, with the potential to spark a paradigm shift in the WA market.
OMTID prioritised the project for its ability to address its resource efficiency organisational priority, the project itself prioritised resource efficiency, and we used the matrix to further focus efforts to specific materials. OMTID reallocated resources to develop a bespoke procurement methodology, centred on a novel Replacement Materials Strategy with our materials matrix at its core. This will result in significant quantities of replacement materials, including 700,000t of spoil and 56,000t of ballast being reused instead of being sent to landfill. Our efforts will ensure that this one project delivers magnified outcomes and market transformation, which would not have been possible without OLP. This outcome was the overall winner at the 2024 WasteSorted Awards, recognising outstanding circular economy achievements.
We didn’t anticipate what happened next. Because our matrix shows enablers are amber or red, it highlights where further work is needed. Importantly, it also shows that the responsibility for maximising resource efficiency sits with many varied parties. It has therefore been adopted by the WA Transport Portfolio as a vital tool for collaboration. No longer is resource efficiency left up to delivery agencies – the matrix provides a clear visual so everyone pulls in the same direction.
Primary Beneficiaries:
OMTID’s Outcomes-Led Prioritisation approach benefits multiple parties in three similar ways: Priority, Clarity and Reward. It determines Priority to prevent teams/individuals being overwhelmed, provides Clarity on expectations, and Rewards effort with outcomes.
On projects, it Prioritises the overarching objectives of a project (e.g. resource efficiency) as well as setting clear actions for projects to support the objectives (e.g. which materials to target). This clarity and prioritisation set the client, contractor, designers and suppliers up for success because they can plan, budget and deliver appropriately. Importantly, a client-led focus on future priorities drives cultural change across industry.
Aligning focuses and resources results in greater Rewards for all stakeholders. For example, marine impacts were prioritised on the Mandurah Estuary Bridge which led to the engagement of marine observers and a collaborative research project with Murdoch University, focussing on the protection of dolphins. In this case, dolphins are also benefitting from our OLP!
Our approach has led to transformation at an OMTID organisational level. Amongst competing demands, we are now able to prioritise efforts and provide clear expectations to internal teams. We have already seen the rewards with the creation of a new innovation role. This role provides OMTID projects with dedicated support and drives cultural change – employees, project teams and industry see that OMTID takes resource efficiency seriously enough to create a dedicated role.
Our approach has benefitted the WA Transport Portfolio and WA market. Our materials matrix prioritises materials and actions across industry and gives clarity on expectations. It makes it clear that collaboration is a fundamental requirement. In time, this collaborative focussed effort will see more amber and red traffic lights change to green. This will have cumulative effects in driving true market transformation to improve resource efficiency across the WA and Australian markets. We have already seen the uptake of crumb rubber increase from 0t in 2022/23, to 6000t in 2023/2024.
Importantly, our approach has also benefited the individual employees in our projects and organisations. Sustainability’s broad nature and rapidly emerging requirements often leave organisations and individuals grappling with unclear goals, overwhelmed with competing demands. By prioritising based on outcomes, we ensure that individual efforts achieve outcomes, and that they also see the rewards for their efforts.
Leaving a Legacy:
The Outcomes-Led Prioritisation approach has driven internal transformation and has been the catalyst for rapid external industry transformation.
Our legacy is the OLP approach we have established, which we will adopt on all future projects and in our industry engagement. As a major client leading the delivery of a large suite of complex transport infrastructure projects, this approach will leave a legacy in the market.
In terms of the UN SDG’s, OMTID’s Outcomes-Led Prioritisation approach aligns with several goals and targets.
“UN SDG-12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Target 12.2 by 2030 achieve sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources”.
The prioritisation and clarity that OLP provides ensures that OMTID, our projects and industry are able to efficiently focus efforts to where to most efficiently use natural resources. In line with IS rating schemes, all our projects now require life cycle assessments and multi-criteria analyses for significant decisions to ensure we achieve desired outcomes.
“Target 12.7 promote public procurement practices that are sustainable in accordance with national policies and priorities”
The OLP impacts our procurement philosophy. Tonkin Highway Extension has employed ambitious public procurement practices aligned with federal and state priorities. OMTID will build on the lessons learned for this procurement to benefit our increasingly ambitious program of projects.
“UN SDG-13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Target 13.2 integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning”
The OLP focuses on outcomes, and embeds this priority early in the project planning phase to ensure that objectives are met. OLP directly led to the Fitzroy Project focussing on social and resilience outcomes. As a result, the new bridge is six times stronger than the old bridge. A climate risk assessment and climate risk road map were undertaken on the project with the aim of benefiting the wider Kimberley region. Future projects and teams can utilise this road map to implement mitigation strategy methodologies.
This has left a legacy of a physically resilient asset for generations to come, a foundational roadmap for other projects and has supported local First-nations communities and business.
“UN SDG-17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
Target 17.17 encourage and promote effective public, public- private, and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships
The OLP has facilitated effective partnerships by prioritising and providing clarity on goals and objectives. It has resulted in the materials matrix, which ensures that different entities collaborate for resource efficiency. As a result, OMTID collaborated with the designers, contractors, suppliers, as well as specification and asset owners to change specifications and contractual requirements to maximise uptake of replacement materials.
Previously, noise walls made from recycled plastic were not allowed in the rail network. After focussing our efforts and working with stakeholders, these noise walls are now type approved for installation in our projects. The relevant specifications and maintenance documentation are being updated to ensure their use becomes business-as-usual. OMTID will replicate this process with other materials and innovative products, leaving a lasting legacy in how we enable industry innovation and transformation.
UN SDG 17 aligns with the primary legacy of OLP, which has shown that Outcomes-Led prioritisation can align the entire industry and partners towards the same goals. The OLP has been the catalyst for all agencies in the Transport Portfolio to work together. This ethos has shown to increase how we can now allocate resources and efforts, as well as fostering a genuinely collaborative approach that benefits all.