The newly-minted group managing director of TBH (Tracey Brunstrom & Hammond), Jonathan Jacobs (pictured), says the company is focused on ensuring clients deliver their projects on time and on budget, as rail projects continue to expand.
TBH is Australia’s largest privately owned and independent specialist planning and management consultancy, with offices across Australia, Asia, Middle East and North Africa.
Since its first major rail commission in 1977, TBH has undertaken more than 250 separate commissions in this sector, including trackworks, OHW, signalling, stations, train procurement and maintenance.
Speaking from the AusRAIL PLUS conference, Jonathan said the sector met many challenges in Australia, as it deals with growing spend for the next five years, with rail spending anticipated to peak at about $14 billion in 2024.
“We are then faced with all sorts of things like supply chain problems, resource constraints, and even COVID might reappear again,” he said.
“With all of the spend driving the world’s post-pandemic economic recovery, projects have become more and more complex, are under greater scrutiny and are higher risk. And that’s where TBH’s 56 years’ international experience comes into play.
“As Australia finds its way towards the new normal, TBH’s critical support functions of time, cost and risk management will remain invaluable to the successful delivery of these projects, programs, and portfolios.
“What our client partners really are going to need is an organisation like ourselves that truly understands how to deliver a project, and what the key indicators are that make delivery successful.
“In providing this service, we can give them the confidence that they need to deliver their projects on time and on budget.”
Jonathan said TBH essentially provides an integrated project controls solution ensuring the schedule is linked to cost and risk.
“We report on all of those three functions and basically give our clients the visibility they need to manage projects,” he said.
“Obviously, historical information is important when you’re trying to generate trends. But we really focus on what’s going to happen. Our forecasting ability is very strong, and we’re able to give reliable estimates of when projects are likely to finish … as well as completion costs.”
Recent TBH projects have included Western Sydney Airport, Sydney Metro, Cross River Rail in Queensland, the Suburban Rail Loop project in Melbourne, and various METRONET jobs in WA.
In his role, Jonathan will be responsible for developing strategies that will drive the business’ long-term growth, including helping navigate how the Australian, Asian and Middle Eastern businesses can best support the public and private sector during their post-COVID economic recoveries.
With more than 20 years’ experience as a planner, PMO and project controls specialist, he has worked on major infrastructure and utilities projects in both the United Kingdom and Australia. A Director at TBH since 2011, Jonathan was instrumental in establishing its Perth office and led the growth of TBH’s Integrated Project Controls service.