Clients & Markets

Our clients are increasingly looking for long-term partnerships that help them meet the challenges of operating water authorities. This means a greater expectation to support them in strategic thinking and preparing for the future, and in taking the perspective of their own customers when we design and develop solutions.

A key challenge for the industry supply chain is the sustainability; reliability and price of providing essential services that underpin quality of life in both urban and regional environments. This is driving a focus on building the resilience of accepted infrastructure solutions.

While the water sector has been slow to adopt digitalisation, the industry is now accelerating its adoption of digital approaches to redefine how it operates. Clients are increasingly experimenting with digital technologies and data analytics to better manage energy efficiency, transmission losses, water quality changes and actual water demand.

We are currently developing a wide range of partnerships in this space and at the same time strategically mapping the evolving market to identify where we can contribute quantifiable improvements to operational performance and support our clients’ digital transformation journey.

In 2019 we launched AquaLAB, an innovative approach to developing leading-edge digital solutions to help solve problems that impact the water industry. AquaLAB provides a new way for clients and partners to engage with GHD, access the depth of skills and experience within the business, and experiment with new ideas that can become market-ready services and products.

In Australia, severe drought dominates the water sector, with significant political debate on new dams, potable water reuse, and water storage and transmission infrastructure. Despite programs of work developing new dam business cases, there remains a critical challenge in achieving economic and social sustainability for such projects, and a debate continues about the responsibility for funding water infrastructure to support regional towns and economies.

At the same time, there is increasing support in both government policy and practice for water resilience for urban environments, non-climate dependant water sources (recycling for various uses including as drinking water and desalination of sea water) and water sustainable urban design.

Chile and Peru are also experiencing the most severe drought in many years, affecting both communities and mining operations. To offset this, several desalination projects are being developed along the west coast of South America. This added to the need for services to cope with urbanisation make the forecast for the water sector in South America very promising.

Access to safe and reliable water supply remains to be a challenge in the Philippines, especially during the summer months. The realities of climate change and increasing demand from the population are driving the government to adopt innovative and long-term solutions to advance sustainable growth. In parallel, GHD supports local private bulk water companies' development of intake and treatment plants, ensuring communities remain liveable and competitive.

In many regions across the world we are seeing the impact of changing regulations around aquifer management, groundwater recharge and contamination, town supply and river quality.

In New Zealand regulatory reforms are underway to implement national standards for water systems performance and for drinking water quality that will drive innovation and investment.

We are increasingly assisting communities to understand the integrated nature of water resources – not just the pumps and pipes, but the relationship between catchment use, point and diffuse source pollutants, and the impacts that climate change can have on the future supplies that communities rely upon for their health and wellbeing.

Global energy demand continues to rise and the momentum to decarbonise energy networks is accelerating, although international economic and trade tensions are reducing demand for mineral commodities.

The electrical power industry is undergoing the biggest change in its history. There has been a fundamental shift in the way power networks and markets are designed and regulated, with the move away from large-scale, centralised power generation (typically fossil or nuclear fuelled) to a high penetration of distributed energy resources, including large scale and small scale (e.g. roof-top solar). Clients face the challenges of providing system security, power reliability and affordability.

In the UK and Australia, the power sector is at the forefront of renewable generation integration. The technical characteristics of Australian power systems coupled with the speed of renewable generation development are creating technical challenges. Declining system strength and inertia coupled with increased levels of renewable generation are creating particular challenges. It is an exciting time to be working with our clients to understand these challenges and develop solutions that allow de-carbonisation ambitions to be achieved while meeting stakeholder requirements for reliable and affordable electricity supply.

Our pioneering work with clients on ‘New Energy’ fosters thinking in novel ways that cross traditional boundaries. This includes solar, wind, and waste-to-energy generation as well as energy storage, such as batteries and pumped hydro. GHD has now worked on more than 2.6GW of solar projects, 3.4GW of wind projects and 400MW of hybrid energy systems. Hydrogen is receiving a high level of attention as an energy storage and transport medium and GHD is at the leading edge of some of the boldest and largest hydrogen projects in Australia, Canada and the UK. In the Philippines, GHD is the owner’s engineer for a run-of-river hydro project, which will generate reliable, low-cost electricity and boost socioeconomic growth. Chile is also leading the way with several renewable energy projects including wind, photovoltaic and geothermal power plants. GHD is an active participant in many of these projects.

Digital innovation, legacy technology and convergence of IT/OT have also resulted in an increase in critical assets being vulnerable to cyberattacks. Our GHD Digital team has developed a methodology for tackling digital risk and implement a framework to increase resilience and protect the grid.

In the resources sector, project owners are being cautious with capital expenditure, particularly growth investments. They are seeking superior levels of performance in delivery of services, particularly in regard to quality and timeliness. In this value-driven market, GHD’s client focus has enabled us to grow our market share across the full lifecycle of projects – from origination, through project delivery, operational support and closure. Indeed, one of our key areas of growth in this sector is providing services for demolition, remediation and rehabilitation of assets at the end of asset life. We also recognise great potential to collaborate with clients in the critical area of mine waste and tailings management, given social value drivers.

Even with social unrest and political instability in South America, large mining projects are still being developed in Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil and Bolivia, while existing operations in Chile mainly are focusing on process improvements, higher efficiency and the use of renewable energies.

GHD Digital is using emerging technologies to capture and analyse richer data to improve operational efficiencies, predict maintenance and gain better customer insights. The use of quality data analytics redefines the customer experience providing real-time and intuitive insights.

GHD Digital also uses Virtual Reality (VR) to help clients enhance safety and training before placing staff in potentially hazardous situations, particularly in mining. VR also provides a convenient and cost-effective way to rehearse how personnel will respond under real and dangerous conditions.

Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) considerations are rapidly gaining scale across the world, with many clients managing investments through an ESG framework. This is driving clients to assess benchmark and improve the ESG performance of their existing assets, avoid investments in certain industries, companies and geographies and to seek out new sustainable businesses, technologies and markets.

Climate risk in particular has been an increasing focus this year, as we see more extreme weather events across the world, and GHD is working with clients to not only assess the risk to their business and assets but also to provide resilience and adaptation solutions using our depth of technical expertise.

In New Zealand, climate change adaptation and resilience is fast becoming a mandatory area to consider for all projects – how the infrastructure that is being delivered for a community will address the hazards of climate change, enhance community health and wellbeing, and provide an asset that will endure.

In Australia, we are supporting clients with waste to energy projects, driven in part by changes to the waste material export market, and assisting clients design and deliver infrastructure construction projects in a more sustainable way.

We are also helping clients tackle the contamination legacies of the past, while anticipating and addressing emerging issues that pose a risk to business continuity and balance sheet strength.

Our services continue to evolve and diversify, ranging from impact and assessment to contamination and remediation, climate change and resilience. We integrate strategic business advisory, digital solutions, and market-driven innovation to maintain pace with the challenges faced by public and private sector clients alike.

Our clients are increasingly seeking a professional partnership, where we bring new ideas and thoughts into their businesses. Our ambition is to create client value in response to emerging trends, including new environmental threats and opportunities, climate change, ageing assets and infrastructure, and digital disruption.

To do this effectively we are continuing to improve knowledge sharing across our global business, bringing innovation and research developments from our mature markets into emerging ones. For example, we are extending our experience of assessing and managing Poly and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Australia and Europe into the US and Canadian markets.

As many clients have to make provisions for future site rehabilitation, GHD Advisory is working closely with them to help understand closure or reuse of assets in complex regulatory environments.

GHD Digital realises the potential of artificial intelligence, robotics and machine learning in the environmental sector and employs these techniques to improve resource planning and use, as well as analysing data to monitor and improve decision making.

Looking to the future, we believe that technology offers the greatest opportunities to support our clients in achieving their business sustainability goals. We are pushing the boundaries with new services such as virtual reality training on spill sites for first responders, and online portals that help clients identify liabilities by bringing together lab results, historical data and regulatory information.

With increased spending on national security, health and education, we are experiencing continuing growth with many new opportunities in the market, despite considerable regional differences. With uncertainty emerging from regional trade relations, governments and private sector clients are adapting their asset portfolios to manage the emergent risks.

Our integrated design practise GHDWoodhead is renowned for its work on complex projects such as transport stations and interchanges, healthcare, education, international gateways and defence facilities. Working closely with our Advisory consultants, projects are progressed through all stages of development including through investment, feasibility, development, whole of life asset management and optimisation.

GHDWoodhead has earned growing recognition for its architectural design excellence, receiving the 2018 Harry Seidler National Award for Commercial Architecture and the inaugural national sustainability award from the Australian Institute of Architects for the design of the Barwon Water HQ in Geelong.

World Architecture 100 2019 rankings placed GHDWoodhead as the #54 largest practice globally by number of architects and third largest in Australasia.

Complementing the strengths of GHDWoodhead, we are also raising our market profile in commercial program management, building services, structural engineering and sustainability services, to deliver complex projects at scale.

With an election year coming up in New Zealand, education, health and urbanisation are being flagged as key issues. The Defence estate requires "regeneration" and the same is true for much of the existing education facilities and housing stocks. With increasing population densities continuing to be forecast and the densification of Auckland (and other urban centres) there is also a need to renew and refresh the community infrastructure, such as libraries and recreation centres. GHDWoodhead Creative Spaces is now recognised as a leader in the interiors, justice and police sectors, all of which require considerable adaptation and expansion.

As the Philippines gears up for a revitalized tourism industry, GHD has placed a renewed interest in the leisure and hospitality sector to support this growth. Our connected network and experience in key developments across the world position us as a trusted and innovative solutions provider.

We can help clients find business opportunities at the start of the project life cycle and ongoing cost savings as buildings perform their duty, over their useful life. GHD Advisory is helping develop business cases, due diligence audits and on various asset management programs, while GHD Digital is working with clients on a number of smart building and smart precinct opportunities.

Virtual and augmented reality can be used effectively to transform how we plan, design and build infrastructure. Clients can experience first-hand how a design and its iterations work in reality, as they are put into the virtual space before it is built.

Spatial services and data analytics are continuing to drive efficiencies in asset maintenance, enabling the connectivity in smart precincts providing better amenities to communities. Combining our knowledge and experience of building design and operations, we enable organisations to operate via a cloud based, connected buildings management system.

The increased mobility and ease of travel is reshaping the nature and scale of international gateways to assist with transit of products and people. Integral to the effective growth of airports in the Asian region and ports to support increased trade, our clients are benefitting from digital approaches that support the optimization of freight across the supply chain.

In Australia, there continues to be a strong investment across most cities and regions in road and rail and a commitment to integrating placemaking with transport infrastructure. As rail investment accelerates, projects face a variety of challenges such as rising costs, stricter deadlines and resource constraints – but they also need to bring communities effectively to rapidly urbanised landscapes. We are helping clients meet these project demands and transition to digital project delivery and provide them with a higher degree of digital, technical and commercial acumen influenced by global trends and practices.

Responding to a greater shift to public transport, GHD is involved in a number of high-profile metro, rail and light rail projects globally.

In New Zealand, the market is experiencing a high level of demand, whilst needing to balance the impact of changing transport policy emphasis of the government and the pace of response from the national transport agencies. GHD is placing greater focus on assisting regional and local clients while contributing to policy change at the national agency level, and is leveraging our global transport experience to enhance outcomes for our clients.

Expansion of our airports business has also played a major part of our growth in the past year, delivering for clients across New Zealand and the Pacific.

In the Philippines, the government has embarked on the Build, Build, Build program to accelerate funding and implementation of infrastructure developments, including road, highway, bridge, , airport, mass transit, seaport, and telecommunication projects – all to propel the country's growth and improve quality of life.

South America continues to invest in the development of quality public transport, improving railways and providing better accessibility to interurban highways. We are helping our transportation clients by integrating design and digital solutions such as BIM, leading to better asset management of critical infrastructure.

The launch of our GHD Advisory business in the Middle East has led to opportunities to provide logistics and infrastructure services to rapidly growing cities and global trade hubs.

As our cities continue to evolve and transform at a pace never seen before, connectivity and information systems are driving a new wave of innovation within the transportation sector. This has led to an increased reliance on the availability and continual operation of Intelligent Transportation Systems and associated infrastructure.

Further elevating the customer experience is Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and On Demand Services, providing commuters with greater convenience and accuracy in journey planning. The future of efficient, seamless and personalised transportation is based on highly accurate and reliable insight being delivered at the right time and to the right person, effortlessly guiding and helping citizens in deciding their next move on the transport network.