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Q: Why is social licence to operate key for Brisbane 2032 infrastructure delivery?
Social licence to operate is essential to the success of the Games, not just during the 2032 Brisbane Games, but in building a legacy that the community can be proud. It reflects the community’s trust and acceptance and once damaged, it’s difficult to rebuild.
At Aurecon, we help clients understand the baseline of social licence before projects begin, identifying pain points early and working with communities to build trust over time. By monitoring sentiment from the outset, we can anticipate and address issues before they escalate. It’s about delivering infrastructure the public embraces, ensuring Brisbane and South East Queensland shine on the global stage.
Q: What is ‘construction fatigue’ and how can it be avoided?
In terms of the 2032 Games, there are a lot of things that need to be done and a lot of projects across a vast range of disciplines. There will be water infrastructure, road infrastructure, rail works, building works, and stadiums concentrated in very small areas and pockets within the community. So, one of the biggest things to think about is construction fatigue for those communities. They will see it as ‘Olympics’ work, they won't see it as a road project or a water project or a rail project. So, it’s about working with communities to help them understand what the impacts are going to be and help mitigate that. It will also be important to work with each of the different stakeholders to streamline communications and engagement across those communities and ensure minimum confusion.
Brisbane 2032 will be a big event, but just a one-off event. What we need to be looking for is building a sustainable legacy of infrastructure across the city. Brisbane and South East Queensland are some of the fastest growing regions in Australia. The Games will give it an extra boost to get the infrastructure that is needed to service the population moving forward, and it's also a good opportunity to provide services and facilities for the community to use past the Games for generations to come.
Q: Why is inclusive and accessible design critical for Brisbane 2032?
Accessible and inclusive design across infrastructure projects is crucial, particularly relating to integrated transport networks because our communities are vast and diverse.
I've just completed my thesis for the Aurecon Design Academy on the topic of ‘The importance of accessible and inclusive design on integrated transport networks’. The importance of including inclusive and accessible design principles and thought processes when we're looking at designing any sort of infrastructure, including transport networks and buildings, is important when we’re looking at the end user experience. You can no longer assume how people are going to use and interact with a piece of infrastructure. You need to engage with those with lived experience and incorporate that thinking into your design process upfront. And what it means is we're making more sustainable infrastructure for future generations.
Often, we will design for the bulk of the community, but we will skip out minorities, but that minority is growing. We have a diverse population and when we talk about accessibility these days, we're no longer talking about impairment accessibility needs. We're talking about a wider range which includes the elderly, young children, parents with prams, people using wheelchairs, people with sight or hearing impairments, and people on crutches.
You can have a permanent accessible impairment, or you can have a temporary, situational one as well. And at any point in our life, every single person will experience something on this scale, which will impact their ability to get around. So, if we're looking at designing infrastructure, the benefit of taking accessibility and inclusivity into consideration when we're designing it and including it within the design is much more cost effective than having to retrofit something once it's already been built.
Q: How will inclusive design benefit the community beyond the 2032 Games?
When we're designing, if we design with inclusive and accessible design as a mindset, we're not only designing for the benefit of the Games, but we're also designing for future generations to ensure these assets are accessible to everyone and fully inclusive.
A good example of this is the Department of Transport and Main Roads’ Queensland Train Manufacturing Program (QTMP). They are designing a fleet of 65 new trains and they've incorporated an accessibility user group to help work with the construction delivery partner to design those trains so that they will be the most accessible fleet in Australia. What that means is you have a group of people in a room who have all types of different lived experiences from physical accessibility, sight, hearing impairment, Alzheimer's, and elderly representative groups. By discussing certain elements of the train design, you can see you're not always going to get a full 100 per cent inclusive design because of the different requirements of users for the infrastructure. However, what you can achieve is a collaborative effort and a solution that works for users who might need completely opposite requirements.
Q: How can inclusive communication improve stakeholder engagement for 2032 Games projects?
When we're looking at communicating with a large, diverse group of community members or stakeholders it comes down to knowing your audience and understanding whether there are language barriers or hearing or sight impairments, and if you have that knowledge, you can adjust your style of presentation or communication to suit so that everyone gets the same message.
For instance, currently I'm working with one of Queensland's major water utility providers. They're facing a challenge with high population growth across the next 10 years, which means lots of new infrastructure and a lot of maintenance on their existing assets to service new and existing communities.
Water is a precious asset and for our First Nations populations, it is a sacred asset as well. One of the things that we're looking at is how we can establish an approach and work with the three groups of traditional custodians that are across the lands that the utility provider covers and ensure that we are respecting the culture and the cultural significance of those waterways.
Q: What does Aurecon offer clients when it comes to inclusive infrastructure design?
At Aurecon, we bring the power of multidisciplinary collaboration. Our engineers are not only passionate about accessibility and inclusivity, they’re also supported by a culture that embeds these principles through education on universal design and inclusive engagement practices. As a fully integrated service provider, our engineering, environmental, and stakeholder engagement teams work together from day one. That means we start with established trust and shared understanding, allowing us to streamline communication and make informed design decisions faster. It’s not about forming a new team, it’s about being one team from the outset, which leads to better outcomes for both clients and the communities we serve.
Aurecon is not a sponsor of the Australian Olympic Committee Incorporated, the International Olympic Committee, any Summer or Winter Olympic Games, the organising committee for any Summer or Winter Olympic Games, an Australian Olympic team, a section of an Australian Olympic team, or an individual member of an Australian Olympic team. This material is not intended to suggest that Aurecon has any formal association with, or has provided any sponsorship or sponsorship-like support for, any of these parties.
Associate, Engagement & Change Advisory – QLD, Australia
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