News Articles

Dates announced for next ACIF Briefings

29 December 2011

Dates for ACIF Briefings in April 2012 have been released. Save the date for the ACIF Briefing nearest you - in changeable times, these industry Briefings are invaluable and unmissable. Includes release of updated ACIF Forecasts.

ACIF Briefings will be held in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra. Registration opens in February 2012 but save the date for your local ACIF Briefing from now - two Briefings were sold out in September 2011. Click here for copies of presentations made at the September 2011 Briefings.

Watch out for ACIF enews in January advising when registration is open. Know someone who needs to be there? Please direct them here to subscribe TODAY!

Updated ACIF Forecasts online now

5 October 2011

Updated ACIF Forecasts have been released on the ACIF website.

ACIF Forecasts give you the most accurate and cost effective market information on where new work is coming from, and how much. In fact, whether you're interested in residential or non-residential building or infrastructure, we provide the industry with its very own compass to the future. ACIF Forecasts have a well deserved reputation for success over the past ten years.

Summaries across all areas of construction are available. In addition, ACIF Website Subscribers can use the Customised Forecast tools to query ACIF's database to generate their own forecast, even down to poscode level.

The information and analysis comes from KPMG Econtech's expert analysts, and ACIF’s own panel of distinguished industry economists, analysts and researchers, the Construction Forecasting Council. ACIF Forecasts answer the key questions:

What will happen to interest rates, GDP, the A$, and employment?
What is happening to demand for residential and non-residential building, and engineering construction?
Where is the new work coming from? What types of work?
What’s the impact of housing shortages and pent up demand for housing?
Where are new dwellings needed most?
The mining industry continues to put huge pressure on skills. Where will the people come from?

Two speed Forecasts

30 November 2011

Whilst non-residential building activity remains sluggish, and there is anecdotal evidence of growing numbers of insolvencies amongst smaller contractors and trade contractors, there are looming skills shortages in other parts of the economy.

The private sector is yet to fill the gap left by the finalisation of the BER stimulus spending. Non-residential building approvals have been flat for most of 2011 compared to one year ago, indicating that the decline may have halted and a recovery is now about to begin. Uncertainty caused by Euro zone debt issues is not helping investment confidence.

At the same time engineering construction is forecast to peak at close to $120 billion in 2013/14, reflecting the expected commencement of a number of large resource sector projects. In Queensland, major LNG and coal seam gas developments are expected to boost mining construction, along with significant investments in associated infrastructure (port and rail).

Likewise, engineering construction in West Australia is expected to rise to a record level on the back of heavy investment in iron ore projects and the potential development of a Greenfield LNG facility at James Price Point. Road construction is expected to expand in line with heavy government investment in transport infrastructure, whilst ongoing work on the National Broadband Network (NBN) will also boost activity levels.

ACIF will release its first 2012 Forecasts in April 2012 at the ACIF Briefings around the country. Save the date and come along to get the most reliable information to plan over the short to medium term.
• 2 April 2012 - Brisbane
• 3 April 2012 - Sydney
• 4 April 2012 - Canberra
• 5 April 2012 - Melbourne

Registration will open approximately 6 weeks before the event, and advised via ACIF enews and on the ACIF website. Dates for September 2012 ACIF Briefings will be released before the end of 2011.

Senate inquiry into engineering skills shortages

30 November 2011

The Senate has set up an inquiry into the nexus between the demand for infrastructure delivery and the shortage of appropriate engineering and related employment skills in Australia. The inquiry will be carried out by the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Committees.

The committee has been asked to consider the implications of the shortage for infrastructure delivery and the impact on economic development, cost, efficiency, safety and disputation, and the long term outsourcing of engineering activities by government on skills development and retention in both the private and public sectors.

The committee will consider options to address the skill shortage for engineers and related trades, for infrastructure delivery using alternative procurement models, and to consider effective strategies to develop and retain engineering talent in the private and public sectors through industry training and development, at enterprise, project and whole-of-sector levels. Incentives to the private sector through the procurement process to undertake skills development, and the consequences of skills shortage in the construction sector to the public sectors’ capacity to effectively procure and manage infrastructure projects will also be explored.

Submissions should be received by 3 February 2012. The reporting date is 30 June 2012.

Scope for Improvement report

26 November 2011

Blake Dawson recently presented to ACIF the third in a series of reports, 'Scope for Improvement'. Research into the construction industry over 6 years, the report outlines the key reasons for the project problems such as late dellivery and over budget.

While the report finds that the industry has improved since the first report in 2006, still only 48% of the $55 billion in projects surveyed were delivered on time, on budget or to the required quality - so that means that 52% were not.

A key strategy for improvement is through increased co-operation and communication, achievable with integrated project teams - from the client through to construction to property mangement - working together throughout the project.

The Blake Dawson report Scope for Improvement 2011 is available by clicking here.