The newsroom
Contract awards, major projects, regulation and the guides Australian builders, trades and the people who hire them actually use.
UGL will design, build and commission a 72 MW solar farm and 52 MW / 104 MWh battery near Mount Isa, underpinned by an energy supply deal with Evolution Mining's Ernest Henry operation to 2046.
By Construction Australia · · 6 min read
Projects · VIC
Eight machines, 26 kilometres of twin tunnels, and a crew of 25 living inside what is essentially a moving factory. The first one is away — here is what is happening under Melbourne's east.
· 7 min read · Construction Australia
Projects · VIC
TBM Zelda has completed the northbound bore at Bulleen after just under two years. Gillian follows on the southbound, on a $26 billion project carrying the largest PPP in Australian history.
· 4 min read · Construction Australia
Guides · NATIONAL
Transgrid asked for more than $1 billion of overspend on Project EnergyConnect. The regulator said no. There is a defined process by which such a request becomes a line on your power bill — and a point where it stops.
· 5 min read · Construction Australia
Guides · NATIONAL
A high risk work licence is issued by a regulator. A verification of competency is issued by your employer. Both get called “tickets” — and treating them as the same is how people do work they are not authorised for.
· 4 min read · Construction Australia
Guides · NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, TAS, ACT, NT
The card is recognised nationwide. The training is not. That single distinction explains most of the confusion — and it is why you have to train in the state where you live.
· 6 min read · Construction Australia
Innovation · VIC
Since January 2024, new Victorian public buildings and hospitals must be all-electric in design. For contractors that is a change to the trade mix, the plant room and the grid connection.
· 4 min read · Construction Australia
Analysis · NATIONAL
The regulator has just refused Transgrid a billion-dollar recovery. Alkimos is funded entirely by water charges. Marinus Link is split 27.6 / 72.4 between two states' customers. None of this appears in a budget paper.
· 5 min read · Construction Australia
Projects · NSW
Four teams are bidding the transmission line and three the substations on the 110-kilometre northern section of the Sydney Ring — a healthier field than most Australian megaprojects manage.
· 4 min read · Construction Australia
Analysis · QLD
CopperString lost 170 kilovolts and $2.1 billion of scope. Borumba’s business case was reopened and its reported cost is $18.4 billion. Both were taken from Powerlink and handed to QIC.
· 5 min read · Construction Australia
Projects · NSW, VIC, NATIONAL
New South Wales alone has 11.4 gigawatts of data centres in development. None of it shows up in the public infrastructure numbers, and all of it competes for the same trades.
· 5 min read · Construction Australia
Projects · QLD
The 6.7-kilometre Broadbeach to Burleigh Heads extension opened to passengers in August 2026, four years after construction started. The cost went from about $670 million to $1.5 billion.
· 3 min read · Construction Australia
ProjectsMajor project coverage — scope, cost, contractors and where each one stands.
AnalysisData releases, market outlook, forecasts and state-by-state breakdowns.
GuidesEvergreen reference and how-to for people doing the work — payment, licensing, tendering.
InnovationTechnology, methods, materials and sustainability in Australian construction.
