As a project manager, are you being hit with unexpected contract variations? When you expect expert, are you getting graduates? Do you spend more time on contracts, terms and conditions rather than project solutions? Do you get the status quo instead of the innovation you pay for?
Sydney-based consultancies Edge Environment (Edge) and Element Environment (Element) have formed a strategic partnership to provide a full range of environment and sustainability services to major construction and infrastructure projects in Australia.
The two businesses are drawing on previous experience at large consultancies to push the boundaries of traditional project delivery. Using the flexibility and client focus of a small organisational structure, they are delivering a suite of agile, innovative and superior sustainability, environmental assessment and management services.
While previously holding senior positions in global consultancies, Element’s Managing Director, Nev Hattingh and Edge’s Infrastructure and Property Sector Lead, Ken Lunty, were continually frustrated by the limitations placed on them, preventing innovative delivery models that would truly service clients.
“One source of frustration was the focus on the profitability of consulting, rather than bringing innovation and excellence to clients, which builds relationships and generates further work,” Lunty says. “Staff were focused on ‘ticking the boxes’, rather than spending time thinking out of the box.”
“We both wanted to provide clients with something that was absent from the market,” he adds.
“Our clients see us as an extension of their internal capacity and a true partner, rather than an external consultant. There is no more focus on timesheets, so we spend their money thinking of ways to make their projects more environmentally sustainable and profitable,” Hattingh says.
Another exasperation of working at large consultancies came from seeing clients expect experts to do work that in the end was done by graduates to save costs. Edge and Element address this by handpicking senior people, who are intimately involved in clients’ projects from feasibility through to completion. Both companies also use the latest technology to simplify the various stages of clients’ projects, from engagement to delivery.
Lunty and Hattingh are acutely aware of the drive for contractors and developers to become market leaders by building their environmental and sustainability credentials and ratings. Recent experience working on some of NSW’s largest infrastructure projects including North West Rail Link, WestConnex and Newcastle Light Rail has shown that a cookie-cutter approach and providing reports that sit on shelves no longer meets expectations.
“Good environmental and sustainability management is a real differentiator in the marketplace,” Lunty says.
Lunty and Hattingh have collaborated on a number of major projects in the transport infrastructure sector with their current companies. Working in distinct, but complimentary service areas and being connected through previous careers meant that referrals came naturally. Taking the best of two worlds, the former big consultancy colleagues were ready to take the relationship to the next level to differentiate their respective businesses from the masses.
Jonas Bengtsson, CEO of Edge Environment, is excited about the new opportunities for collaboration. “Bringing together industry experts with aligned values to deliver cutting-edge outcomes is the core of what we offer our clients to stand out and succeed.”