September 2025

Leading with purpose

Meet new President Natalie Muir

Consult Australia’s newly-appointed President, Stantec’s Natalie Muir, has spent decades delivering sustainable water solutions. Now she’s tapping into that same drive to champion the companies that keep Australia’s infrastructure flowing.

As Stantec’s Regional Director for Water Australia, Natalie has worked on some of the country’s most innovative and community-centred water projects. One in particular, she says, shows the true power of collaboration.

At first glance, the Cedar Grove Environmental Centre in Logan is a wastewater treatment facility. Look closer, and its a masterclass in early contractor involvement, community trust-building and the kind of collaborative contracting Consult Australia has long advocated.

“Cedar Grove shows what’s possible when the right people are brought together early, when there’s openness between client, contractors and consultants, and when outcomes, not transactions, are the focus.”

Cedar Grove began with community scepticism, but finished as an award-winning benchmark for environmental performance and social license. Technical solutions, like the membrane bioreactor technology delivering ultra-low nutrient discharge, are all but invisible to the community. It’s the visible touchpoints that elevate this project.

“Of the 195-hectare site, 95% was returned to the community as wetlands, public walking trails, picnic shelters, wildlife habitats, and a Landcare nursery,” Natalie says. More than 34,000 native trees were planted, large dead red gum trees repurposed as outdoor furniture by the local Men’s Shed, and skills training delivered to local people.

For Natalie, Cedar Grove shows how infrastructure can enrich our lives. It also illustrates how collaboration and early contractor and consultant involvement create the conditions for genuine innovation.

A president with purpose

Natalie succeeds GHD’s Tasos Katopodis as President, after two years on the Consult Australia board, most recently as Vice President. “Consult Australia is strong voice for our sector, and I want to make a contribution to that work,” she says.

As chair of Consult Australia’s strategy committee, Natalie has been leading the development of a new strategic plan to be unveiled at the annual general meeting in October, and she is eager to put it into action alongside CEO Jonathan Cartledge and the team.

Natalie also sits on the FIDIC Sustainable Development Committee, which advises the global consulting engineering industry on strategy development, tools and training to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She represented Consult Australia at the FIDIC Global Infrastructure Conference in Cape Town earlier this month.

"I’m always looking for opportunities to align the work of FIDIC and Consult Australia. Engineers are the world’s great problem solvers. Policymakers may set targets, but it’s engineers, architects and scientists who turn those targets into outcomes,” she says.

“We have an incredible role to play in making sure infrastructure is appropriate, supports carbon abatement and climate adaption, and creates liveable cities and communities for future generations.”

The quiet achiever

Long a quiet achiever, the water sector is now firmly in focus. Individual projects may not be of the scale or value of some other sectors, however portfolios and multi-year water programs add up to billions, Natalie observes.

Infrastructure Australia has noted the recent shift away from transport towards energy and water projects, backed by record-breaking budgets. Sydney Water plans to invest $34 billion over the next decade, for instance. More than 180 water projects are active under the National Water Grid program.

Population growth, coupled with new industrial demands, is driving unprecedented pressure on water infrastructure. Data centres are emerging as a significant new user. In Melbourne’s north and west alone, proposed facilities could consume nearly 20 gigalitres of water each year, enough drinking water to supply 330,000 residents, according to a recent ABC investigation.

“Water projects don't often hit the headlines, but they are essential to our liveability, productivity and sustainability. While some sectors like rail and road are experiencing slowdowns, the water industry continues to grow steadily, offering a stable pipeline of work and welcoming professionals with transferable skills to contribute where it matters most.”

Governments need to consider “the full outlook and the bigger picture”. The water sector “may be a smaller part of a large industry, but it’s getting bigger, and it’s absolutely critical”.

As Consult Australia’s 38^th president since its foundation in 1952, Natalie is committed to representing the full breadth of membership, from some of the nation’s most innovative SMEs to global corporations.

“Our diverse voices sharpen advocacy, strengthen strategic thinking and ensure the full spectrum of the industry is represented in policy. That’s how we stay relevant. That’s how we keep delivering for members, and for the industry.”