Stuart Irving
Wareemba
Summary
Dynamic and results-driven Capital Works Programme Director with a proven track record of leading teams to deliver over $100 million annually in complex projects across airfields, civil infrastructure, and building construction while consistently adhering to budget constraints. Expertise in end-to-end project delivery is complemented by a strong aptitude for enhancing cost and program efficiencies through value engineering and proactive risk management. A commitment to aligning projects with strategic business objectives is demonstrated through purposeful stakeholder engagement and robust business case development. Recognized for strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities, along with extensive experience in leadership, negotiation, and procurement, ensuring continual business improvement and operational excellence.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
Work History
Sydney Surfacing Manager
DOWNER PTY LTD
- Sydney Surfacing Manager ($70m p.a.) - responsible for all of Downers road servicing contracts in Sydney
- Project Manager (projects $15m-$50m) - delivered significant road and airfield projects
Project Engineer
BAULDERSTONE HORNIBROOK PTY LTD
- Project Engineer – M5 East Project, Sydney ($750m) – Bridges, RE Walls, Earthworks
- Site Engineer – City Link Project, Melbourne ($550m) – Construction of a 4.5km elevated roadway through Melbourne inner suburbs
- Baulderstone Hornibrook, a Tier 1 contractor which provided construction and civil engineering services to the Australian market, prior to its purchase by Lend Lease in 2011. They worked on nationally significant infrastructure and building projects including the construction of bridges, roads, tunnels, commercial buildings, schools, hospitals, and hotels.
PROJECT DIRECTOR – CIVILS & AIRFIELDS
SYDNEY AIRPORT CORPORATION LIMITED
01.2013 - Current
- Budget: Managed a $100m-$150m p.a. portfolio of projects to achieve and surpass budget, program and quality expectations.
- Project Team: Managed a team of up to 12 project managers in the delivery of significant airfield, terminal building, road infrastructure and I&S projects in complex work environments.
- Developed strategic plans to enhance operational efficiency and stakeholder engagement.
- Managed project scopes, schedules, and resources to ensure alignment with corporate objectives.
- Mentored project managers in best practices for risk management and mitigation strategies.
- Collaborated closely with executive leadership to align organizational strategies with long-term business objectives through effective planning and execution of key projects.
- Spearheaded change management initiatives that prepared organizations for new processes or systems implementations without disruption to ongoing operations.
- Team Building: developed the culture and cultivated personnel development of team members that has underpinned strong team performance.
- $170m SE Sector Apron and Taxiway Development Project: directly responsible for the negotiation of both the project suspension agreement at the start of Covid and re-negotiation of the project recommencement contract 3 years later during a challenging period where construction market was both overheated and constrained. Performed the role of Project Director, for this significant airfield upgrade project, responsible for leading all phases of the project cycle from funding approval, design, procurement to construction.
- Design Team: Oversaw a civil design team and a varied group of design consultants through the feasibility, concept and detailed design phases of projects under previous organizational structures.
- Stakeholder: Succeeded in managing a wide range of projects through the project initiation, funding approval, design process and construction delivery, for positive stakeholder outcomes at all levels of the business.
- Safety: championed safety at SYD and fostered a strong safety culture in the delivery team.
- Risk & Opportunity: Adept at understanding and managing the risk profile associated with a project for the overall business benefit, while identifying and maximizing opportunities.
- Sustainability: shown leadership in the Australian aviation market for sustainable design solutions of heavily loaded airfield pavements, including flyash substitution for cement in apron concrete, the use of high RAP asphalt and foamed bitumen stabilization of existing excavated pavement material to strengthen pavements.
- Collaboration: able to collaborate, influence and resolve planning/design/project issues to stakeholder satisfaction
- Contractor Engagement: Specifically, managed several specialised services contractors’ core to the airport to lift project outcomes around quality, program delivery and safety.
- Procurement: Responsible for developing and delivering the procurement strategy for projects, as well as managing aspects of the contract development and tendering aspects.
- Australia’s largest airport, and one of the country’s most important pieces of infrastructure as the international gateway for over 43 million passengers per annum. The airport carries out over $400m in capital works projects each year.
- Oversaw budget development and financial tracking, ensuring cost-effective execution of complex projects.
- Identified opportunities for process improvement, implementing changes that led to increased efficiency within the organization.
- Recruited and oversaw personnel to achieve performance and quality targets.
- Analyzed project performance data to identify areas of improvement.
SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER
SYDNEY AIRPORT CORPORATION LIMITED
01.2013 - 01.2015
- Project delivery ($10-$60m): Delivery responsibility for a broad range of airfield projects, including runway and taxiway works, apron construction and terminal building upgrades.
- Procurement: Accountable for the contract documentation development, contractor procurement and engagement process.
- Project Delivery: managed a series of multifaceted projects under challenging work constraints for positive project outcomes.
- Financial: Directly responsible for the financial management of projects, including project budget build, reporting of project to budget costs, including forecasting.
MAJOR PROJECTS BUSINESS UNIT MANAGER
DOWNER GROUP PTY LTD
01.2011 - 01.2013
- Financial: $60m p.a. new construction business unit start-up directly reporting to the General Manager.
- Business Strategy: Led the business strategy to successfully develop a civil construction business from a 1-man team to a $60mil p.a. business, employing 18 direct staff employees over 2 years.
- Business system: Responsible for the implementation and at times development of PMO systems and processes for the operations of the business through its initial growth phase.
- Client: Fostered client relationships and project winning initiatives to capture workload.
- Winning Projects: Development of tendering & estimating capability within the business unit and the implementation of governance processes to manage bids.
- Team building: Recruitment and development of project delivery teams including the coaching and development of staff.
- Governance: Governance of project delivery systems and processes to ensure successful delivery of projects to both the client’s expectations and the business targets of the project.
- Governance: Governance and compliance management ensuring highest levels of systems utilisation to minimise business risk including commercial, Safety, Environmental and Quality.
- An ASX100 company, delivering major infrastructure and maintenance projects in the civil infrastructure, rail, mechanical and electrical sectors. Downer is one of the largest private road infrastructure services business in Australia and New Zealand, while also delivering multi-disciplined infrastructure solutions to the transport sector.
PSMC CONTRACT MANAGER
PSMC CONTRACT MANAGER
01.2009 - 01.2011
- $350m RMS Road Network “Performance Specified Maintenance Contract”
- Overall responsibility for the delivery of the $350m contract ($65m delivered in the first year) and a team of 90 personnel, reporting directly to the General Manager.
- Recruitment of project team during the ramp up phase of the maintenance project.
- Development and implementation of new EBA for workforce of over 70 personnel on the project.
- Development of an ancillary services business, for the delivery of civil works on the networks that are outside the contract requirements.
- Oversaw the creation and implementation of contract systems to support both client requirements and the successful delivery of the maintenance contract.
- Client negotiations to reach mutual agreement on ambiguous items within the performance-based contract documents and implementation in practice.
- Responsible for an annual budget of $65m p.a. in an unbalanced bid contract.
- Oversight of the development and implementation of both the routine maintenance and the road pavement projects on the network.
- Establishment of subcontract agreements with key contractors and teaming agreements with Downer internal businesses.
Education
Bachelor of Civil Engineering -
University of Technology (UTS)
SydneyMaster of Business Administration (MBA) - undefined
Macquarie University
SydneySkills
- Leadership skills
- Financial budget oversight
- Team building
- Safety-oriented mindset
- Complex Problem-solving
- Project Management Expertise
- Opportunity identification and evaluation
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Construction methodology proficiency
- Contract management
- Strategic planning
- Negotiation
Accomplishments
- Leadership: Successfully overseen the funding approvals, planning, design, procurement and construction phases of capital works programs valued at $100-$150 million p.a.
- Leadership: Responsible for multiple project teams in the effective and safe delivery of a portfolio of projects ranging in value from $10m to $170m to achieve or better program and budget expectations in the complex and constrained delivery environment.
- Team Development: Developed a high performing project management team which is trusted by project stakeholders to undertake complex projects in challenging operational space.
- Process Development: Implemented governance and PMO processes to improve efficiency and consistency of project delivery.
- Stakeholder Management: Experienced with managing the expectations and delivering positive outcomes for many invested stakeholders (airlines, commercial tenants, airfield operations, governing authorities, service authorities) on multifaceted projects.
- Problem Solving: Ability to identify issues, analyse information, generate creative solutions, evaluate options, make informed decisions and implement decisions effectively.
- Procurement Strategy: Overseen procurement strategy development, planning and implementation for projects.
- Overcome impediments to stalled projects through stakeholder engagement and creative problem solving, advancing them into construction phase and through to completion.
- Efficiency and Consistency: Led project teams to deliver improvements in accuracy of both project budgeting and financial reporting.
- Managed project risk and opportunity to protect project budgets and deliver both cost and time savings.
- Reduced business cost base and improved margins by driving efficiencies and productivity levels.
- New Business Development: Charged with leading the establishment of civil construction delivery capability at Downer Pty Ltd, as part of a growth strategy to expand business opportunities past the existing road maintenance activities. Ultimately grew this business to $60m p.a. turnover over 2 years.
Interests:
Family, sporting activities incl. rugby union, surfing and fishing.
Timeline
PROJECT DIRECTOR – CIVILS & AIRFIELDS
SYDNEY AIRPORT CORPORATION LIMITED
01.2013 - Current
SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER
SYDNEY AIRPORT CORPORATION LIMITED
01.2013 - 01.2015
MAJOR PROJECTS BUSINESS UNIT MANAGER
DOWNER GROUP PTY LTD
01.2011 - 01.2013
PSMC CONTRACT MANAGER
PSMC CONTRACT MANAGER
01.2009 - 01.2011
Sydney Surfacing Manager
DOWNER PTY LTD
Project Engineer
BAULDERSTONE HORNIBROOK PTY LTD
Master of Business Administration (MBA) - undefined
Macquarie University
Bachelor of Civil Engineering -
University of Technology (UTS)