Consult Australia has made two new appointments to the executive board, welcoming Natalie Muir, Regional
Director, Environment & Geosciences – Stantec and Rachel Nicholls,
Principal – Arup to the leadership team.
With over 25 years’ experience across water and environment
sectors, Natalie Muir is bringing her expertise to the industry level. In her current role, she drives policy, business direction, operational protocols,
growth and staff engagement across her operating portfolio and more broadly across Stantec as part of the Australian Leadership Team.
Natalie also sits as the Vice Chair of the FIDIC Sustainable Development Committee, and says she is excited to create greater cohesion between Consult Australia and FIDIC’s global initiatives as part of her new appointment.
So what’s
keeping her up at night?
“Resource shortages are the biggest challenge in our industry at the moment,” says Natalie. “Ensuring we have the people to deliver projects already
on the books is a major concern as the industry faces so much uncertainty.”
But for Natalie, the future is rife with opportunities. With the board in the beginning stages of forming
the next 3-year strategy, the investigations are already underway to understand what challenges the industry is facing and how to implement sustainable solutions for the future.
“Any
strategy that sits on the shelf is not practical. We need to understand the opportunities for improvement and ensure we are visiting these regularly as and review these strategic decisions as the world continually changes,”
says Natalie.
From roundtables to large-scale advocacy campaigns, Natalie says there is a good track record of the Board identifying and addressing member issues as they arise.
Rachel Nicholls, mirrors this sentiment, saying “I see the value that Consult Australia provides for its members, and I’m
in a point in my career where I want to ‘give back’ to the industry.”
Rachel leads multidisciplinary teams and major infrastructure projects for Arup.
With over 30 years’ experience in geotechnical engineering and design management, she is passionate about using technical, leadership and communication skills to shape better outcomes for the built environment. From 2016
to 2020, she was a Victorian Consult Australia committee member, including a three-year tenure as Chair.
For Rachel, a key focus is on creating a more sustainable project pipeline. “We have seen a focus on major project delivery over the last 10 years, combined with major skills shortages, but the industry is also in a huge period of growth.”
“As we are moving into a future of uncertainty, how can we deliver better, more sustainable growth in a way that doesn’t sit in the ‘boom-and-bust cycle?”
With a major projects background, Rachel is excited to bring closer collaboration between the consulting and construction delivery across the industry, and the opportunity to join the Board comes at a promising time.
“We are seeing an increased common understanding of goals, and a more integrated way of working throughout the industry,” says Rachel. “This transparency allows people to bring their diverse, lived experience into each project, creating a stronger foundation and generally leading to a positive outcome.”
The answers are not ‘one-size-fits-all’, and Rachel says the focus for the Board will be to review the complexities of overlapping industry regulations and responding with agility to new industries as they arise.
But for Rachel, the real benefit of being part of the Board is the member engagement. “I’m most excited to have the ability to elevate day-to-day conversations to an industry level, where there is an opportunity to create tangible impacts for members.”