With $35 billion worth of infrastructure in the pipeline, Western Sydney is finding its momentum.

However, there is still a long way to go.

Infrastructure projects recently given the green light, such as the Parramatta Light Rail and Western Sydney airport, will generate jobs. But how do we ensure long-term employment opportunities? And how do we connect people to these opportunities?

By 2021, 52% of Sydney’s population is forecast to be in Western Sydney, but only 38% of jobs will be in the region. Currently, some 300,000 workers commute east every day for work. Official projections indicate that by 2041, 140,000 more commuters will be using the region’s already congested transport links to the city.

The jobs deficit is one source of inequity between east and west, but the lack of connectivity between jobs and homes, in particular north/south transport links, also plays a role. Infrastructure projects and transport upgrades such as Sydney Metro Northwest and WestConnex aim to address the worsening congestion on the routes spanning radially out of the CBD. But according to Deloitte Access Economics research, to meet increasing transport demand, it is predicted that 19 new freeways, six new train lines or 1,700 more buses would be required to transport workers to jobs in the east.

Perhaps a more realistic solution would be to create more jobs in the west.

Deloitte’s Shaping Future Cities: Designing Western Sydney, launched by NSW Premier Baird in December last year, is a blueprint to do just that. Putting forward 133 recommendations, grouped into 25 strategies, the blueprint sets out a three-stage process to build platforms for jobs growth, create jobs in specific industries and connect local people to those jobs.

Shaping Future Cities not only highlights Western Sydney’s new found momentum, but also its potential. Spanning over 9,000 square kilometres, Western Sydney is Australia’s third largest economy.

“There is so much multiculturalism in Western Sydney and its young, entrepreneurial population makes it a vibrant and exciting place to be. We’ve recently seen NSW take the lead as the economic powerhouse of the nation and there are a number of industries calling Western Sydney home that will be the country’s key economic drivers for the next one to two decades,” said Deloitte Western Sydney Managing Partner, Danny Rezek.

“We’re also seeing significant investment in infrastructure by the NSW government as well as a commitment to tangible job creation outcomes - the development of the Parramatta Light Rail and the decision to locate the Greater Sydney Commission in Parramatta to name but two. You can already see these initiatives having a positive impact and contributing to Western Sydney’s momentum.

“It’s important that we maximise these opportunities. To this end Deloitte is collaborating with the 25 Shaping Future Cities Champions – business and community leaders from across Greater Sydney – emphasising Western Sydney’s competitive advantages and implementing the recommendations in the blueprint,” said Rezek.

One of the 25 strategy champions is WSBC’s CEO, Michael Sugg, who is responsible for the Plus One strategy, which asks, ‘what if every business in Western Sydney was empowered to hire one more employee? How can we challenge businesses to grow, and in doing so, create more jobs in Western Sydney?’

“The Plus One strategy is essential to the overall success of the Shaping Future Cities blueprint,” said Sugg. “Major infrastructure projects around road, rail, light-rail and the new airport are a fantastic boost for the region. But these projects on their own will not maximise long-term employment opportunities. We need to build an enduring jobs legacy, and to achieve this, every single business in Western Sydney – some 150,000 across the region – needs to be engaged and made aware of the growth opportunities Western Sydney can offer, in turn creating long-term employment opportunities. Local business chambers and associations, like WSBC, can assist those businesses looking to grow by connecting them with the plethora of resources available that will help them identify and act on growth opportunities,” Sugg concluded.

As part of Deloitte’s continued commitment to delivering against the Shaping Future Cities blueprint, Danny Rezek will be chairing the second day of the upcoming Developing Greater Western Sydney conference, taking place in early June. “I am delighted to be actively involved in this conference. The more we recognise and leverage Western Sydney’s strengths – as well as address its challenges – the more we can plan and manage longer term growth.

“Sydney needs to embrace its future as a polycentric city, with Parramatta the dual CBD and growth centres including Liverpool, Penrith, Campbelltown and Bankstown. The conference is an opportunity to think about how the significant infrastructure pipeline will be delivered, how it will integrate with the regional planning to be undertaken by the Greater Sydney Commission and how it will shape the future of the west,” Rezek concluded.

Don’t get your tinsel in a tangle this Christmas. Book early!

Novotel Sydney Norwest is the perfect place to host your festive celebration with beautiful menu selections and festive favourites to please everyone. Unwind and enjoy our outstanding dining, impeccable service and traditional Christmas trimmings.  

Enjoy a delicious buffet or set menu along with an all inclusive beverage package.

All packages inclusive of table centre pieces, bon bons, dance floor and private room hire. 

Christmas Party Packages

from $67 per person

Christmas Day Celebrations

$150 per adult

$100 per teenager (13-17yrs)

$50 per child (4-12yrs)

Children aged 3 & under are free

For more information, please contact the Events team on:

P: 02 9634 9661 

E: meetings@novotelnorwest.com.au

WSBC Platinum Partner, Parramatta City Council has welcomed the State Government’s selection of the Parramatta River foreshore as the site for the new Powerhouse Museum and hailed the move as a major win for arts and culture in Global Sydney.

Premier Mike Baird and Deputy Premier and Minister for the Arts Troy Grant today announced the Riverbank site as the chosen location for the new Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) promising a state-of-the-art institution that will be a major drawcard for local and international visitors.

“We are thrilled with this decision and we look forward to partnering with the State Government during the design process to deliver the people of Parramatta and Western Sydney the world-class cultural institution they have long deserved,” Lord Mayor of Parramatta Cr Paul Garrard said.

“This is a once in a generation opportunity to build the world’s next great museum here in Parramatta.  We will work closely with the Government, in consultation with the community, to ensure that design excellence is achieved and that Parramatta’s Powerhouse is a landmark building for all of Sydney.”

“Importantly the Museum will be integrated as part of the wider Riverbank precinct and will form part of Council’s vision to deliver a world-class cultural, entertainment, retail and residential hub that the community will enjoy for decades to come.”

“The new Powerhouse Museum will significantly boost tourism to Parramatta, helping to invigorate our local economy. Once established the Museum has the potential to draw up to a million visitors a year to Parramatta and will be a source of inspiration for tens-of-thousands of school students who will be able to more easily access one of the best museum collections in the world.”

“The Museum’s focus on design, technology and innovation aligns with Parramatta’s ambition to be Australia’s leading Smart City.”

The Museum site on the Parramatta River sits on the doorstep of Parramatta’s thriving CBD offering easy access for pedestrians and close proximity to a variety of public transport options.

A cutting-edge glass construction featuring a wave-shaped façade of crystalline blocks has been selected as the winning design for Parramatta Square’s landmark civic and community building. 

The design has been endorsed by Parramatta City Council after a jury voted unanimously to award the international design competition to a consortium of French firm Manuelle Gautrand Architecture and Australian firms DesignInc and Lacoste + Stevenson.

The eye-catching design encapsulates and extends above the historic Town Hall with a cantilevered structure providing a platform for the Council Chambers.   

Core to the building design is a stack of transparent glass that gradually rises to the north-east with a large LED screen for public art projections.

The $50 million project will cover six-storeys with a Gross Floor Area (GFA) of approximately 8000sq m.

Lord Mayor of Parramatta Cr Paul Garrard congratulated Manuelle Gautrand Architecture, DesignInc and Lacoste + Stevenson on producing a spectacular winning design.

“The jury was tasked with selecting an iconic design and they have certainly fulfilled that brief. The architects have produced a contemporary and thought-provoking design that is sure to become a must-see destination for visitors to Parramatta,” Cr Garrard said.

“This design truly cements 5 Parramatta Square as the civic heart of our City. The transparency of the glass façade makes the building inviting and open for the community to explore the library of the future, public roof garden, customer contact centre, visitor experience centre, community meeting rooms and technology hub.”

“All this is within a building that is designed to achieve at least a 5- Star Green Star rating.”

Built into the entire lower levels of the southern façade will be a LED screen for multimedia projections, which will be able to display images such as public art and event programs.

The upper levels of the southern façade will also be able to be used for projections of public art.

“This will be a building that defines Parramatta as a Smart City. The interactive nature of the building and library of the future will be something that locals and visitors will be able to enjoy for decades to come. It has also been cleverly designed to pay respect to heritage and merge together the past, present and future,” Cr Garrard said.

David Stevenson from Lacoste + Stevenson said the design team worked hard to ensure that public art was an essential component of the design.

“The design team’s vision for public art at 5 Parramatta Square was to make Council’s civic facilities a canvas for artistic expression in a way we haven’t seen before in a public building in Australia,” Mr Stevenson said.

“The building creates the opportunity to be transformed into an interactive public art display through shading devices that also serve as projection screens. This is truly a building for the 21st century.”

The design jury was made up of NSW Government Architect Office Director of Design Excellence Olivia Hyde, National Architects Principal Bob Nation, Parramatta City Architect Kim Crestani and Council’s Director of Property and Significant Assets Barry Mann.

In announcing its decision the jury said: “The winning scheme is an exemplary architectural masterpiece that delivers a 21^st century solution within Parramatta City Council’s modern smart-city metropolis.”

The concept designs will undergo detailed analysis before a Development Application (DA) is lodged, which is expected to be by the end of 2016. The designs will be placed on public exhibition as part of the DA process. 

For artist’s impressions and a fly-through of the concept design click here.

Contingent workforce specialist, Entity Solutions has released the seventh annual research project conducted by Monash University, the IPro Index 2015.

The world of work is a changing global phenomenon with an ongoing fundamental shift in the global market towards assignment and project based work. There are many factors that are contributing to this shift. These factors are not challenges but opportunities for organisations to improve upon productivity and profitability.

Each year we hear from many global experts that have provided us with extensive research focusing on workforce trends. These reports capture insights from top level industry leaders of large global organisations.

Recently Deloitte released their annual Human Capital Trends report, which highlights the role of the contingent workforce saying, 70% of Executives and HR leaders ranked the contingent workforce as important to very important. 

The 2015 Manpower Contingent Workforce Index reports that Australia has one of the largest most educated local contingent workforces around the world. It is this growing contingent workforce that we need to understand, integrate and leverage a competitive advantage.

The IPro Index is a landmark research study conducted by Monash University in partnership with Entity Solutions, the index measures key areas around attitudes, drivers and challenges facing white collar contractors (Independent Professionals/IPros). The IPro Index for 2015 was sent out to over 10,000 IPros across Australia. The data was gathered at the end of 2015 via an online questionnaire.

Since its launch in 2009, the research was aimed at helping corporate Australia to gain a better understanding of contracting experiences, issues and wellbeing from an IPro’s perspective. More recently, we’ve started to receive global attention as organisations in the UK and Europe are replicating our study and research methodologies – demonstrating that there is a widespread and global desire to better understand this powerful and burgeoning sector of the workforce.

Making the most of the contingent workforce starts with insight. Download here.

"Had you invested in every private equity-backed float from the start of 2013, including some of the poorer performers, you would today be sitting on a portfolio return of 48%."

Deloitte recently released their 2016 IPO Report, produced in collaboration with mergers & acquisitions (M&A) intelligence provider, Mergermarket. The report surveys that the 2015 IPO market saw:

· 97 ASX IPO listings (up 33% over 2014), with a market capitalisation of $17.6 billion and capital raised in excess of $8.6 billion

· Market capitalisation down by 32% (2014 included Medibank Private, the third largest listing globally)

· Average gains of 18%, weighted by market capitalisation

· Extended gains for 2014 listings, which closed the year 37% above their 2014 listing price.

Deloitte Corporate Finance partner David Hagger, who leads the firms’ Transaction Services team in Parramatta, notes that “Volatility in China and falling commodity prices have created an unsettling environment for equity investors. However, IPOs remained stock market darlings in 2015, dominated by the technology and financial services sectors”.

Funding growth objectives was the theme common to the majority of listings, and the numbers tell the story. From the list of the top performing IPOs for the year, the majority are small and mid-cap growth stocks; largely in the technology and related sectors, which raised less than $50 million of capital.

“We saw a significant number of private vendors selling into the deals but still retaining substantial holdings, demonstrating their commitment to the post-listing growth of their businesses. The majority of non-private equity vendors are floating their businesses to raise capital for future growth and to achieve liquidity; rather than electing to realise their investment at IPO”, Hagger said.

Paul Childers is the partner who runs Deloitte’s M&A Advisory practice in Western Sydney. “I believe that the results of private equity-backed listings are far more positive than popular media suggests. Had you invested in every private equity-backed float from the start of 2013, including some of the poorer performers, you would today be sitting on a portfolio return of 48%. The results really speak for themselves.”

As for 2016, the outlook remains positive, although there is a heightened focus on the quality of the companies coming to the Exchange; in particular, on their growth strategies and the strength of the management team in place for the IPO.

From a Western Sydney perspective, there continues to be strong interest from the investor market in gaining exposure to the engine room of the NSW economy; with a focus on businesses generating sustainable operating cash flows and re-investing in research and development and enhancing their local capability.

Deloitte’s recently launched economic blueprint, Shaping Future Cities: Designing Western Sydney, identified some of the key strategies that local business should be employing to position their business for growth and these same factors would play well to fund managers looking at IPO: For example, leveraging links with offshore regions like China and India, focusing on innovation in health, education and more advanced manufacturing.

WSBC Platinum Partner TAFE NSW Western Sydney Institute's Director of Commercial Business, Duncan Ellis, recently sat down with events company, Marcus Evans Summits, for an insightful interview ahead of the Marcus Evans 2016 Health Summit. Here’s what Duncan had to say…

“TAFE Western Sydney is leading the way in Vocational Training to help organisations deliver step change with skills development across a whole range of organisational approaches. We assist clients to map succession planning and leadership development to help achieve both short and long term growth goals. We like to think we are helping HR teams achieve greater productivity through training and improving workforce skill sets from the cleaner to the CEO,” says Duncan Ellis, Director, Commercial Business, TAFE NSW Western Sydney Institute.

Why do organisations need a customised training programme?

We perform a skills gap analysis for our clients and build a dedicated programme around filling the specific requirements they need to improve. Our client’s workforce skill development is then aligned to the goals and targets set by the company, while the employee acquires the skills for the job, a recognised qualification and increased job satisfaction. A win-win for everyone.

What if the organisation is unaware of a skills gap?

A lot of our work at the moment is around organic growth within a business to help them achieve targets. Our research shows skill gaps often occur for organisations where organic growth has been a driver of management appointments. A person promoted for their skill and in-depth technical knowledge may not necessarily have the breadth of skills to be the best leader. For example, the best salesperson is promoted to manager, but their management skills need to improve so the team can benefit. We focus on what the role requires and the skills needed to do their job effectively, while acknowledging the great skills they already have. We build a bespoke programme for the company, utilise government funds where possible and map back to a qualification using recognised prior learning and on-the-job training. We want to help organisations achieve their year-on-year growth goals.

Our research also found that many companies felt that younger people were lacking in “soft skills”: teamwork, time management and communication skills. We are working to bridge the gap between the company’s expectations and the worker’s skills. Another key area of focus for us is to ensure a future-ready organisation.

Tell us about your relationship with Barangaroo.

Barangaroo is an AUD 6 billion construction project managed by Lendlease in Sydney, the largest in Australia. We manage all of the training on site and we developed the Skills Exchange, an onsite college to deliver the training. We have trained more than 10,000 employees in under three years with close to 700 apprenticeships and 30,000 training outcomes. These are unprecedented numbers for work-based training anywhere in the world. We have since rolled out the Skills Exchange model on Darling Harbour, with plans for more. We have backing from Local, State and Federal Government to continue the model. In essence we are an aggregator for best-of-breed training solutions, incorporating private providers and TAFE to deliver the best outcomes.

The Barangaroo Skills Exchange is a partnership between TAFE NSW and Lendlease. We worked with government funds, employer and employee contributions to look at how we could change the industry and create a sustainable skills legacy.

We focused on the basic skills of language, literacy and numeracy (LLN), and created training around specific job requirements and skills needed on-site. The impact to the project and the workers has been immense. To give you an idea, a 55-year old construction worker learned to read and write for the first time. Now, 12 months later, he is retraining to become a work cover assessor. We looked at how he could improve his technical job skills, we embedded communication and LLN skills whilst monitoring his succession planning.

How can the HR department better retain staff? What do employees value?

Our success on Barangaroo shows that investment in knowledge across the whole organisation leads to sustainable step change. To further embed retention, reward and recognition is critical. Giving staff the opportunity to train, develop their skills and the confidence to flourish gives a feeling of achievement. We try to map all of our training to a qualification, so at the end the business can measure success and the employee walks away with a tangible result.

Our experience shows leading by example is critical to success. Invest in your frontline management with the skills they need to deliver and they will be able to execute the vision of the senior management team. Through effective mentoring, coaching and leading by example the whole organisation benefits not just the entry level, leading to measurable step change.

Further information on the skills gap analysis and the WSBC/TAFE skills barometer can be obtained by emailing us at WSBC. 

To learn more about TAFE NSW go to: https://www.tafensw.edu.au/

Data released from the National Disability Insurance Agency’s (NDIA) NSW Market Position Statement indicates the NDIS will:

• deliver support across NSW to around 64,000 more people with disability
• generate up to 28,930 extra jobs
• double the size of the disability services market to $6.8 billion

Western Sydney will see the highest growth in NSW, with an estimated 8,000 more people with disability getting support, an additional $400 million in funding for disability services and up to 3,300 more jobs being created.

NSW Minister for Disability Services, John Ajaka said the statement reflected the benefits everyone in NSW, particularly people with disability, will share from the NDIS.

“We are on the verge of a disability services boom in NSW, with the biggest winners being people and business in Western Sydney. Put simply, the NDIS means more money, more people getting support, more jobs and more growth,” Mr Ajaka said.

It is the first time there has been confirmation around how many jobs and business opportunities would be created in any region across Australia due to the NDIS.

It is expected that by 2019, the NSW disabilities market will support almost double the number of people currently supported, to 142,000. This will bring an increased demand for new products and technologies, increased jobs and strong economic growth right across the state.

For more information about the statement, visit the National Disability Insurance Agency website.

We’ve all experienced it. The collective grumbling of staff when the day-long team meeting is announced. Instead of embracing the opportunity to get together to collaborate and share ideas, it’s often greeted with dread -closely followed by reasons why they cannot dedicate an entire day to attend.  

So how do you overcome the team meeting grumbles?

Eliminate distractions

Holding half or full-day team meetings on-site is never successful because there are too many distractions to disrupt the meeting. Participants will be called away to deal with issues that can usually wait. As a result, they miss important components of the meeting or return late after each break.

By holding team meetings off-site, you are emphasising the importance of the meeting and stressing you require everyone’s full participation.

Set a tight agenda

One of the most common complaints for attending any meeting is that it is a waste of time. By setting an agenda and circulating it before the meeting, you are establishing the meeting will be beneficial and important to the organisation’s future success. An agenda will also provide participants with the opportunity to prepare for each topic so they can actively participate.

Add some fun

If your aim is to boost energy levels and maintain the focus of participants throughout the meeting, you need to provide plenty of breaks and activities to get them moving.

Playing games or participating in facilitated team building activities is popular because they have the additional benefits of generating conversation and building new relationships between participants. They also add novelty and create memories which are guaranteed to change future perceptions of the value of this type of event.

Easy options for your next business event

Your next business event is only a phone call away with WatervieW’s all-inclusive business event packages. For example, our Team Building Package includes a delicious working lunch, morning and afternoon tea and a choice of 3 fun-filled team building activities facilitated by professionals.

For more information, enquire online or call (02) 9764 9900 to speak to one of our business event managers.

The third report in the Making Western Sydney Greater research is now available. In this edition, we asked Western Sydney business owners and managers the greatest benefits and impediments of being a business in Western Sydney.   The results are sure to spark debate.

Business sentiment, employment intentions, financial performance and growth plans are some of the other topics we explore. 

To download your copy of the research, and find out what’s Making Western Sydney Greater for businesses, click here.