More than 100 GHD global technical leaders connect with government and business leaders in Cairns

Opportunities to amplify investment and regional growth in Northern Australia will be on the agenda when more than 100 leaders from global professional services company GHD come together in Cairns on 27-29 June to share their collective technical knowledge and experiences.

The decision to meet in Cairns reflects the company’s strong commitment to Northern Australia.

“Celebrating and fostering technical excellence and bringing that global expertise to benefit our local clients is a core part of GHD’s DNA,” says Jill Hannaford, GHD’s Technical Services Leader.

“We have the unique opportunity to hear about the technically excellent work that our North Queensland professionals undertake for our clients and to tap into global expertise and capability to think about how we can solve the most complex local infrastructure challenges.

“While we regularly hold conferences like this across the globe, this is the first time we are hosting it in a regional centre outside a capital city, and we’re looking forward to sharing much of this thinking with our local clients.”

A further unique aspect of the conference is that government and business leaders will join proceedings to discuss how to achieve stronger collaboration and investment to enhance economic growth of this strategically important region.

Laurie Walker, Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) CEO; David Edwards, Projects Chief Executive, Queensland Department of Innovation, Tourism Industry Development and the Commonwealth Games; Cairns business leader, Dr Ken Chapman, Chairman Skyrail Rainforest Cableway and Company Director of the Chapman Group; and Sheriden Morris, Chair and Managing Director of the CRC - Developing Northern Australia and Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, will share their perspectives during a panel discussion centred on the challenges and opportunities associated with investing in Northern Australia.

Laurie Walker, NAIF’s CEO, will speak to the GHD delegates to share her insights on regional investment.

“The NAIF through its investments is working to transform Northern Australia by accelerating the financing of infrastructure development that amongst other things generates public benefit and longer-term growth in the economies and populations of northern Australia. Together government, industry, debt and equity financiers and academia have a unique opportunity to collaborate in order to realise the vast potential of the region,” says Laurie Walker, NAIF’s CEO.

“I am delighted that GHD invited me along – it is forums like this that allow us to shine a light on the opportunities to collaborate as well as the challenges we have in front of us.”

During the Conference, technical specialists from locations across the broad GHD network, including US, UK, Canada, Philippines, Chile and New Zealand will share the latest innovations and project experiences in the areas of Food & Agribusiness, Investment, Policy & Economics, Natural Resources and Water Transmission & Distribution.

“We work hard to continuously share insights with each other and leverage this knowledge to solve the most complex problems for our clients no matter where they are located,” says Jim Greatorex, Cairns Manager.

“GHD has been operating in the Cairns region since 1948 and we take great pride in understanding the local context.

“We are fortunate to enjoy the support of some of our most loyal clients here in North Queensland but we also know that our clients appreciate the fact that we can get advice and expertise from around the globe through our network of nearly 10,000 technical professionals.”

On 1 July 2019, GHD will further strengthen its presence in Northern Australia, with civil and structural engineering company Flanagan Consulting Group joining GHD teams in Cairns, Townsville and Darwin.