The largest disaster recovery program in Australia’s history demanded expertise in managing a large number of people and stakeholders, all spread across a broad geographical area. The key to success? Cohesion.
When the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads engaged IDM Partners to reconstruct and reconnect the state’s transport services following one of the most damaging natural disasters in the state’s history, the stakes were high and the task at hand was immense, and about to get bigger.
Over the four years following the 2010 Queensland floods, IDM led 3570 projects worth more than $6.9 billion, at an average monthly spend of approximately $135 million. A total of 8774km of road were reconstructed, along with 1632 bridges and culverts, 4670 silt/debris locations, and 1418 earthworks locations.
“At the program’s peak we had more than 5000 bodies in motion,” says David Flannagan, a Director at IDM Partners who led the Transport Network Reconstruction Program (TNRP) from 2011.
“It was identified early that to coordinate such a vast quantity of work across an immense geographic area was going to require the entire program to work as one team with a clear and common goal,” he says. “This was the mantra that TNRP adopted right at the beginning.”
The TNRP team documented all of the program’s requirements in management plans and established a robust framework based on fundamental project management principles. This approach proved sturdy enough to endure subsequent weather events that hit after 2010, battering existing reconstruction efforts and adding significantly to the scope of the program.
The IDM framework included the formation of regional project offices (RPOs), with the engagement of consultants to integrate with the Department of Transport and Main Roads’ regional resources and jointly deliver the works. As the sheer number of RPOs and their geographical spread made it difficult to deliver key program messages face-to-face, clear and concise communication was critical to ensure all team members were working towards a common outcome.
“Through the use of integration managers and good controls and reporting, we were able to identify performance issues in some RPOs and take decisive action to rectify them,” says Flannagan. “In one example, performance issues were related to an RPO working outside the mandated framework and not in keeping with the ‘one team’ approach. Again, this was addressed quickly, with the region in question ultimately becoming a unified team that delivered its program on schedule, on budget and within the strict governance requirements.”
As testament to the effectiveness of the TNRP framework, the Department of Transport and Main Roads has since adopted its principles, with plans to deliver the framework across its business over the next three years.
“What this program proved is that sticking to the basics works, even when faced with a massive and dynamic program,” says Flannagan.
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