One Team Approach - Key for Complex Project Management

Close collaboration, good stakeholder communications, and involving clients and owners have been seen as critical factors in the successful completion of one of Victoria’s major freeway projects.

The first stage of the M80 ring road project involved a $650 million contract to upgrade 10.5 kilometres of road north-west of Melbourne – from Calder Freeway to Sydney Road – generally adding two lanes in each direction.

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The project was carried out by the Tulla Sydney Alliance consisting of VicRoads, Thiess, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Hyder.

How the “ONE TEAM APPROACH” approach to complex projects pays off


Engineers Australia Convention

With Warren Bradshaw


At the Transport and Infrastructure Forum of the Engineers Australia Convention 2014, several members of the alliance shared insights on how the project was carried out.

Warren Bradshaw, of VicRoads, said the freeway M80 carried 140,000 vehicles a day and is close to Melbourne and Essendon airports. So a key challenge was to minimise disruptions to road users.


Warren Bradshaw, of VicRoads, said the freeway M80 carried 140,000 vehicles a day and is close to Melbourne and Essendon airports. So a key challenge was to minimise disruptions to road users.

"Part of alliance selection process, we were looking for a team not only with design and construction ability, but also the ability to ensure stakeholder disruption was minimised throughout the build phase,” he said.


According to Bradshaw, a big factor responsible for the project’s success was the ‘one team’ approach adopted by the alliance that stressed, collaboration, open communication and support.

“There were many tough conversations, a lot of heavy role modelling of the required behaviours, which were needed to be performed before a critical mass of momentum started to pick up and this one team culture really started to make a difference,” he said. "From the VicRoads perspective it was a very successful job, we certainly got the outcomes we were expecting.” From the technical design perspective, getting people involved was paramount.


“Involvement of Client & Owners Make Big

Difference” - Phil Kajewski


Phil Kajewski, of Hyder Consulting, said involvement clients and owners made all the difference.

"The one thing key thing we need to deliver on complex projects is to have our client, the contractor

and the owner – being in this case VicRoads – involved in the design process,”


Dougie Wight, of Thiess, said the management team had a deep understanding of the project’s drivers and

involved people early. “It's very unusual for a contractor to be so involved

so early in the process,” he said.“That deep understanding really helped the team set off on a path where they all intimately understood it.”


Peter Kelly, of Parsons Brinkerhoff, said it was recognised early that solutions would be based on functionality, safety design, and value for money considerations.

So they tried something a bit out of the ordinary

“I’m a traffic engineer. It is unusual to have a traffic engineer on the management team of an alliance,” he said. That addition to the team helped improve communications among members. “I was able to talk (about) the detail and the reasons why we were doing the things we were doing, and why we made the decisions to do these things,” he said. “We found it useful to have someone who was immersed in the detail on the alliance management team.”



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One Team Approach - Key for Complex Project Management