Gamuda committed to Australia

After five years in Australia, Gamuda is ready to expand its operations locally to incorporate full turnkey capabilities.

Gamuda project director Simon Hussey has been on the ground for Gamuda in Australia effectively since day one. The opportunity for a clean slate and the chance to grow Gamuda in Australia drew Hussey to the role and the organisation is now primed to continue growing after establishing itself locally.

“We came to Australia as part of Gamuda’s regional expansion plans to diversify its construction business with an open approach,” Hussey said.

“Gamuda does not have a big hierarchy to hinder us. We can be dynamic and when we want to get something done, our Chief Executive Officer in Australia will work directly with the Global Executive Leadership to make a decision that benefits our local team.”

A global engineering, property and infrastructure company delivering world-class major projects, Gamuda was established in Malaysia in 1976 and listed on the Bursa Malaysia in 1992. Since then, the business has grown to be a leading infrastructure company in Malaysia and has expanded its footprint to nine countries.

The focus for Australia

Hussey explained that Gamuda originally saw a space to bring its global innovation and technology, including its autonomous tunnel boring machines, to the Australian market as part of the country’s infrastructure boom.

The company has since identified ways it can further support a range of other infrastructure classes, including the rail industry.

“Now that we have come to Australia and delivered a number of tunnelling and road projects, we are looking to expand our local offering to match what we do overseas,” he said.

“We are taking that step into rail construction. Whether it is line wide, stations or other parts of track construction, we are building the business in Australia around that vertical integration.

“We want to provide those full turnkey capabilities and value engineering work as we have in Malaysia and elsewhere in Asia. In Kuala Lumpur, the government awarded us the contract for delivery of the MRT Kajang and Putrajaya lines and we took care of everything from design and financing, stakeholder management, land acquisitions, tunnels, viaducts, interfacing works, depots, fitouts, authorities liaison and approvals and then getting operations up and running and handing over to the operators.”

Since arriving in Australia, Gamuda has been awarded, and is delivering, three separate projects alongside partners John Holland, Ferrovial and Laing O’Rourke. This includes the M1 Motorway Extension to Raymond Terrace, Coffs Harbour Bypass and Sydney Metro West – Western Tunnelling Package.

The Western Tunnelling Package scope includes:

• twin nine-kilometre tunnels from Sydney Olympic Park to Westmead;
• a Tunnel Boring Machine launch site at Rosehill, tunnelling first toward Sydney Olympic Park and relaunched from Rosehill toward Westmead;
• excavation for a services facility and crossover structure at Rosehill to allow provision for fresh air ventilation and emergency egress;
• tunnel portal and dive excavation at Clyde Services and Maintenance Facility;
• earthworks, retaining structures, drainage and utilities corridor for the Clyde Maintenance Facility;
• excavation and civil works for Parramatta and Westmead stations; and
• a segment manufacturing facility at Eastern Creek constructing more than 60,000 segments.

Hussey explained that Gamuda is going beyond tunnelling to do all the complex groundworks associated with the Sydney Metro West – Western Tunnelling Package component, including the stabling yards.

“This section is actually built on a floodplain, so we have raised up the level by close to three metres,” he said.

“This site has a number of unique challenges including relocating utilities, building retaining walls, a road diversion and a new bridge, and all of which are being constructed next to a creek.

“It is quite complex, but we have learned much and leaned on our international experience.”

Hussey said that the three current projects in delivery all have posed different challenges, and have set the company up well for future work.

“It is the experience that we are getting from these projects that is setting us up well in Australia,” he said.

“We have a long list of projects we want to work on, and now people are seeing the good work we are doing in Australia they are inviting us to tender for projects. That recognition is good to see.”

International experience in the local market

For Gamuda the next steps are clear – offer the full turnkey capabilities and value engineering it is known for internationally in the local market. Hussey said that while the company wants to utilise its international experience, it is important to find a balance between overseas knowledge and local expertise.

“We want our key people to leverage experience from overseas, but we want to supplement that with the local team which has its own great experience,” Hussey said.

“As a company, it was clear from the start that we need to understand how to build things in Australia and not impose our expectations from overseas on the local market.

“We need to have that right mix, bring the best of what we can from overseas to offer those turnkey capabilities and supplement that with strong local experience and understanding of what achieves the right local outcomes.”

Hussey explained the great relationship the Australian team has with its global parent company and the collaborative culture this achieves.

“They are open to suggestions, and they want to learn,” he said. “Our team in Malaysia will ask ‘how would you do it?’ They listen, but they also ask questions to ensure we are operating at the highest level possible.”

Hussey said the two-hour time difference between Malaysia and Australia is a benefit. A query can be sent off at the very end of the day and when the team arrives the next morning, it can have an answer sitting in the inbox.

He said so much of what these projects require is strong client and stakeholder management, which is critical to Gamuda’s success.

“We still want to be viewed as an engineering company, so our job is to solve problems,” he said. “This is what we do. We meet with clients and stakeholders, understand their problems and we go about creating solutions. It is not about understanding how we achieve our margin but how we can best solve challenges.”

Hussey adds that the company’s global research and development and breakthrough advancements is another example of offering solutions above and beyond client expectations.

“Gamuda is incredibly self-driven when it comes to innovation and is leading the way in digitisation and new technology.

“We’ve developed breakthrough solutions like our autonomous tunnel boring machines that use artificial intelligence to improve safety, efficiency and productivity and the world’s first SMART tunnel in Kuala Lumpur that operates as a dual road and stormwater tunnel.

“That’s what we’re trying to do here, think outside the square of what we can do. The team in KL constantly challenge themselves and we challenge them too about what we can do differently in Australia,” he said.

Gamuda also brings its strong history of high-quality safety practices to Australia to support its projects.

“It was quickly apparent to me when I came to Gamuda five years ago that they are incredibly proud of their safety record and this strong safety culture is infused upon us from the top down,” Hussey said.

Gamuda’s exceptional health, safety and environmental management record has been recognised and rewarded multiple times by the British Safety Council, including the Sword of Honour in 2019, 2020 and 2022. The Sword of Honour celebrates organisations that have reached the pinnacle of health, safety, wellbeing and environmental management.

“It is a great honour for us to receive that award and a great measurement against our international peers,” Hussey said.

Partnership with DT Infrastructure

In February 2023 Gamuda Berhad acquired Downer’s Australian Transport Projects division. Operating as DT Infrastructure, the acquisition creates a unique offering in Australia and allows Gamuda to lean on the expertise of the DT Infrastructure team when completing major projects, offering a solution for projects of all scales.

“Both companies will do track laying, both companies will do signalling installs, the difference is the size of the work we complete,” he said. “Gamuda is focused on major rail projects that require complex engineering and construction, while DT Infrastructure has the national presence and workforce to handle specialised rail infrastructure and network maintenance packages of work.

“It is a lot of the same trades and the benefit of that is that we can often share team members depending on the amount of work each team has. Major project work often has ups and downs, so it allows us to meet the needs of each organisation’s projects.”

Hussey explained that DT Infrastructure’s in-house signalling capabilities is very rare in the industry. Having that knowledge and experience to call upon is a benefit for Gamuda as it expands its full turnkey capabilities in Australia.

Delivering on time and to budget

Hussey said that delivering major projects on time and to budget is a complex challenge, but it is something Gamuda is committed to managing.

“As a publicly owned company we have a responsibility to ensure we return a profit, but it is critically important we finish on time and on budget while maintaining a good working relationship,” he said.

“It’s a track record we’re very proud of in Malaysia and came to the fore during the Covid pandemic where we were versatile and flexible enough to still deliver mega projects like the 56.2 kilometre MRT Putrajaya Line on time and within budget.”

Hussey explained that at the end of the day, teams need to walk away with projects completed safely, on time, within budget and to the quality clients want.

“We must make sure the right quality is delivered, and delivered safely because that is paramount,” he said. “We work with so many of the same clients, it is important we have a harmonious relationship.”

Hussey said clear and open communication is critical on major projects. It goes back to the robust working relationships the company maintains and always being honest with clients.

“Let’s face it, every project has its challenges,” he said. “We are always about solutions, so we have the honest conversations required but then we go about finding a solution.

“It always comes back to the fact that we need to perform. When we arrived in Australia, these organisations put their faith in us, so it was in our best interest to hand projects over as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“Five years on, we’ve proven ourselves locally and shown how our global experience and collaborative contracting approach achieves the best outcomes for the project. The future looks positive, and we’re excited to now grow and become recognised as a tier one for Australian rail projects.”