Sydney Metro Upgrades

Package 4 scope for Haslin Stephen Edwards JV (HSEJV) was the upgrade of three stations on the T3 Bankstown Line to Sydney Metro standards. This involved major works at each of Marrickville, Canterbury and Lakemba stations during normal construction hours, scheduled out-of-hours periods, and during rail shutdown periods.

Ineco was engaged by HSEJV to oversee interactions with the impacted communities, with each station situated in predominantly residential areas. The Ineco team collaborated with the HSEJV team, offering insight into shared community expectations and issues, as well as community engagement approaches and frameworks across various complex infrastructure projects.

Ineco’s Community & Stakeholder Engagement team communicated and engaged with stakeholders efficiently and effectively, fulfilling the project’s social obligations and striving for the best outcomes for both the project and the community.

Each of the three communities had different demographics, physical layouts and community expectations. As the three stations worked largely independently of the others, the community engagement similarly was managed by the Ineco team as three separate – but strongly related – projects.

Our main tasks involved keeping the community informed about planned activities, handling inquiries and complaints politely and efficiently, as well as providing support and respite to residents significantly impacted by out-of-hours work and rail shutdowns.

Ineco personnel integrated quickly and easily into the respective teams across the three station projects as well as the JV management team at the project’s head office. This allow efficient lines of communication to be managed throughout the project.

Respite offers for alternative accommodation and respite vouchers for out-of-hours noise disturbance was a critical area of attention. High volumes of offers, acceptances and fulfilments were managed by the team with individual attention to stakeholders with specific requirements (for example the elderly, stakeholders for whom English is a second language and stakeholders with special needs).

Ineco built and managed trust levels between the community and the project team around community expectations of noise, work practices, and social distancing.

The project was exemplified by a low complaint rate which was a direct result of committed and sustained engagement with the community by the Ineco team