Last week the Barangaroo Skills Exchange was awarded the Premier’s Partnership Award as a part of the 2014 Premier’s Awards for Public Service*. The Barangaroo Skills Exchange (BSX) was established to deliver skilling and training for the Barangaroo urban regeneration project, Sydney’s largest redevelopment project this century.

 

The partnership involving Lend Lease, WSBC Platinum Partner TAFE NSW and the Construction and Property Services Industry Skills Council aims to raise the bar for safety, trade skills and greenskilling in the construction industry and is on track to deliver 50,000 learning outcomes over the ten year construction period.  

 

TAFE NSW – Western Sydney is the lead training provider for the project which covers a wide variety of training including work, health and safety, construction trades, language, literacy and numeracy and much more.

 

BSX Project Manager Ron Wright said that while the project is directly giving skills to Barangaroo site workers, it is also fulfilling a much longer term role for the construction industry. 

“This project is raising safety and quality standards in the construction industry and is also meeting objectives for the western Sydney region. 

 

“The NSW Government saw this as an opportunity to reinforce the viability of the industry and to invest in employment outcomes for the Greater West. Workers from western Sydney play a huge part in the construction of Barangaroo. This training that is going on in the city will be taken back to regional projects in the future.

 

“TAFE Western Sydney is proud of the part it is playing in the project which is ensuring a lasting positive legacy for the culture and skill set of the construction industry into the future.”

 

Lend Lease Barangaroo South Managing Director Andrew Wilson said that the BSX was about creating a legacy. 

“Extraordinary outcomes really mean that a whole industry can move to another paradigm through the intervention of skilling. That’s what we are trying to create here, a legacy for the industry that’s not just about Lend Lease. It is about the whole workforce changing as a result of this project, and the BSX is allowing us to do that on the ground,” Mr Wilson said. 

 

* About the Premier’s Public Sector Awards

The Premier’s Public Sector Awards recognise outstanding performance and achievements in the NSW public sector, comprising six award categories which link to the strategies set out in NSW 2021, the Government’s agenda for change in NSW. The Premier’s Partnership Award recognises outstanding partnerships between public sector teams and business, nongovernment and/or academic/training organisations delivering results against at least one goal in NSW 2021.