Conference Agenda

Ministerial Address

Andrew Barr MLA, Chief Minister, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Tourism and Trade

Speed Networking
This speed networking session will allow delegates to introduce themselves and swap business cards with other conference attendees.

Acton Waterfront expansion and City Walk revitalisation

• Construction is underway on the Ngamawari park, located at the Acton Waterfront in Canberra, with completion expected in 2028.
• The 30,000-square-metre space, designed with local Ngunnawal input, will feature an adventure playground, two pavilions, cafes, and native gardens.

Craig Gillman, Chief Executive Officer, City Renewal Authority

Upcoming development releases and plans to create affordable, connected neighbourhoods across the ACT

Adam Davey, Chief Executive Officer, Suburban Land Agency

Canberra Theatre Centre Redevelopment: delivering a new lyric theatre

• Construction work has commenced on a new lyric theatre, which will bring major shows such as Broadway musicals, international acts, ballet and opera to the city, boost visitation and create new business opportunities.
• The new lyric theatre will feature a “living curtain” façade, which utilises vertical, layered, and translucent materials designed by Cox Architecture and Yerrabingin to filter light and offer views to Black Mountain.
• The auditorium design, which comprises stepped terraces of 1,000-seat stalls, a 500-seat circle and a 500-seat balcony, is aimed at enhancing acoustics and intimacy while reducing the building’s mass along the site's main public frontages.

Joe Agius, Director and Project Design Lead, Cox Architecture

PANEL DISCUSSION

Housing supply and affordability in ACT

• Canberra is currently navigating a severe housing and rental crisis.
• The capital city is one of the most expensive places in Australia to rent and buy a home, characterised by an ongoing social housing shortage and rising rates of homelessness.
• One of the biggest barriers to home ownership is access to a new and affordable supply of homes.
• A panel of experts, comprised of representatives from government, advisory and industry bodies, will discuss measures being implemented to deliver more homes, in the right locations, supported by the infrastructure needed to bring them to market.

Anna Neelagama, CEO, Master Builders ACT
Ashlee Berry, ACT & Capital Region Executive Director, Property Council of Australia
Nadia Jaworski, Partner and Social Infrastructure Lead, Ontoit
Natalia Anderson, ACT President, Planning Institute of Australia & Associate Director – Capital Region, Gyde Consulting
Sam Pedram, Chair, Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM)

Belconnen project – delivering affordable housing

• Backed by government and institutional partners, 420 build-to-rent apartments across four buildings, are being built on Benjamin Way.
• 75% of the apartments will be social and affordable rental homes, with the remaining apartments being offered at market rates.
• This is affordable housing developer Assemble’s first ACT project. The project is the largest round one funding recipient of the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) in the ACT.
• The Belconnen project is also backed by institutional capital, including majority ownership from AustralianSuper and HESTA.
• Hear about the project and the delivery model.

David Allt-Graham, Head of Development, Assemble

Presentation by Conference Gold Sponsor

UNSW Canberra City Campus Expansion

• Construction is underway on UNSW Canberra’s new city campus.
• Located on an eight-hectare site in Parkes, the new university precinct will attract over 6,000 more students and educators to Canberra once complete. 
• Stage One, which is expected to be completed in 2028, will feature two contemporary six-story buildings connected by elevated bridges.
• The new city campus will deliver education, research and innovation in defence, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, digital engineering, climate and public policy.

Kevin Lloyd, Principal/Head of Design, Architecture, Hassell

Denman Prospect Suburb Development

• Located along the southern banks of the Molonglo River, Denman Prospect is a vibrant and growing suburb within the Molonglo Valley, one of Canberra’s newest residential regions.
• Denman Prospect Stage Two is currently under construction.
• Denman Prospect Stage Three is set for a major 40-hectare, medium and high-density development slated to begin construction in 2027.
• For stage three, appointed developer TP Dynamics will deliver nearly 3,000 new, gas-free homes, along with a primary school, community facilities, and open spaces, with the project closely tied to the 2026 completion of the Molonglo River Bridge.
• The residential mix for stage three includes 144 affordable, 207 community and 60 public homes.

Tony Pan, Founder & Managing Director, TP Dynamics

Molonglo River Bridge

• The Molonglo River Bridge will feature a three-span trapezoidal box girder construction and an 80-metre central span of weathering steel, making it the longest of its kind in Australia and the southern hemisphere.
• Construction of the $201 million project, which will create a new, flood-free connection between the Molonglo Valley and Belconnen, began in early 2024 and is on track for completion in late 2026.

Sam Tindal, Project Manager, BMD Group

Electricity and gas network operations

• Households and businesses will need to switch from gas to electricity as part of the territory’s net-zero goals.
• Hear about progress on the gas to electricity transition, battery implementations and grid connections, two-way renewable energy flows and future energy plans for the ACT.

Tomas Keraitis, Group Manager, Asset Management, Evoenergy

Stromlo Forest Anglican College

• The Stromlo Forest Anglican College will welcome over 1,800 students across early learning to Year 12 upon completion.
• This is the first Anglican school to be built in the ACT in over 26 years.
• The early education (ages 3-5) and primary (up to year 2) schools opened in 2026.
• Hear about the various development stages, as well as the vertical and sustainable school design.

Iain Davidson, State Chief Executive, ACT, Colliers

ACT Cladding Rectification Program

• While combustible cladding on government buildings in ACT has been rectified, many private buildings in the territory are still clad in non-compliant panels.
• There are still numerous buildings in ACT that do not meet the fire safety requirements of the National Construction Code.
• The Grenfell Tower fire, in London in 2017, highlighted the urgent need to replace combustible and flammable cladding. Cladding related blazes also occurred on Melbourne buildings in 2014 and 2019.
• Hear about the ACT Government’s Cladding Rectification Program, some of the barriers to cladding rectification adoption for apartment owners, and what compliant replacement options look like.

Michael O’Grady, Managing Director, Valmond & Gibson

Ministerial Address

Rachel Stephen-Smith MLA, Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Finance, Minister for the Public Service, Minister for Education, Minister for Child Development & Wellbeing, Minister for Health Infrastructure

Speed Networking
This speed networking session will allow delegates to introduce themselves and swap business cards with other conference attendees.

South Tuggeranong Health Centre

• The ACT Government is investing in four new health centres to provide care closer to home for Canberrans.
• The South Tuggeranong Health Centre in Conder, the first of the centres to be completed, will offer various appointment-based services, including community paediatrics and diabetes clinics.
• This session focuses on the design and construction of the South Tuggeranong Health Centre.

Mark Mikolajczak, Senior Commercial Manager, SHAPE

Ginninderry residential development

• Ginninderry is a cross-border, sustainable, residential development, which will ultimately span 1,600 hectares on the western edge of Belconnen, Canberra, and into New South Wales.
• Ginninderry is a joint venture between the ACT Government’s Suburban Land Agency and Riverview Developments.
• The joint venture aims to deliver 11,500 homes for over 30,000 residents over a 30-year period.
• Hear about Ginninderry’s staged development, the 6-star Communities rating, and the conservation corridor.
• The development director will also outline why supply outstripped demand by 16 to 1 for a recent block release.

Stephen Harding, Development Director, Ginninderry

What is Canberra’s ‘missing middle’ and why is a design guide required?

This session will outline:

• What is meant by the ‘missing middle’.
• What the missing middle housing reforms involve and why they were introduced.
• How to utilise the design guide to plan developments.
• Examples of well-designed missing middle housing types. 

Mel Jones, Associate Director, Urbis

PANEL DISCUSSION

Achieving a zero-emissions transport system for the ACT

• In 2020, the ACT became the first jurisdiction outside Europe to reach 100% renewable electricity.
• The ACT Government is now tackling the largest source of emissions, transport, which makes up over 60% of the territory’s net emissions.
• A panel of experts will discuss progress that has been made in transitioning to battery electric buses, light rail and road transport, as well as future challenges such as the need for extensive utility work, cyber security risks, specialised charging infrastructure and upskilling of local workforces in the ACT. 

Jeremy Smith, Executive Group Manager, Transport Canberra and City Services

Building Canberra's digital future: Delivering gigabit connectivity across the ACT

NBN is currently delivering one of the largest infrastructure upgrade programs in the ACT, with plans to upgrade about 97,000 premises from Fibre to the Node (FTTN) to Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) by 2030. In this session, hear about:

• The scale and progress of the ACT Fibre Upgrade Program.
• Lessons learned from delivering a large-scale infrastructure program across established suburbs.
• Stakeholder and community engagement approaches.
• Partnerships with government, industry and delivery partners.
• The role of digital infrastructure in supporting the ACT's future growth and development.

Greg Thornton, Executive General Manager, Infrastructure Planning & Delivery, NBN Co.

Snowy 2.0

• Snowy 2.0 is Australia’s largest renewable energy megaproject.
• Acting as a giant water battery, Snowy 2.0 expands the Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme by linking two existing reservoirs via a 27 km underground tunnel system. 
• When completed, Snowy 2.0 will have the capacity to provide more than 80 percent of Australia’s energy storage.
• Hear about progress on Snowy 2.0 and its significance for the ACT.

Williamsdale Battery Energy Storage System (BESS)

• The 250 MW / 500 MWh Williamsdale BESS will have the capacity to store enough renewable energy to power one-third of Canberra for two hours during peak demand periods. 
• The inclusion of additional storage in the network will enable more renewable energy to be deployed within the grid, thereby supporting the ACT Government’s commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2045. 
• Hear about the project’s delivery and the innovative revenue contracting model. 

Tom Best, Chief Operating Officer, Eku Energy

Adaptive governance in major infrastructure: The cost of a change of course is set by its timing, not by the quality of the original plan

• Every complex program adapts. What distinguishes successful programs is not whether adaptation occurs, but how quickly leaders recognise and respond to the need for change.
• Adaptation latency is the gap between the point at which adaptation becomes necessary and the point at which governance acts. Delays can significantly increase cost, risk and complexity while reducing strategic options.
• Drawing on major program case studies, explore where adaptation was delayed, what drove governance inaction, and the consequences for project delivery and performance.
• Learn the four structural governance traps that commonly prevent timely adaptation and take away a practical six-question diagnostic that boards and executives can use to strengthen decision-making in uncertain environments.

Collin Smith, Managing Director and CEO, International Centre for Complex Project Management (CCPM)

Monaro Highway Upgrade

• The Monaro Highway project, jointly funded by the Federal and ACT Governments, aims to significantly improve safety, travel times, and freight efficiency into Canberra's south.
• Stage one is expected to be completed by late 2027.
• Planning for stage two works are scheduled to begin in mid-2026, with project completion expected by mid-2028.