2018 CCF Victorian Infrastructure Outlook Report 1 | Page 43

Figure 3.5 Engineering Construction Work Done (Excluding Mining and Heavy Industry Construction), Private Sector
Funded, Victoria, $Billion, 2014/15 Prices
Source: BIS Oxford Economics, ABS data
Rising infrastructure spending
brings capacity and capability
risks – and need for planning
As discussed in previous sections of this Report, while
total construction activity in Victoria will be sustained at
very high levels overall (before easing late this decade
as residential building work subsides) relatively stronger
growth is anticipated in key infrastructure segments
including roads, railways, electricity and (in the near
term) telecommunications with the ongoing rollout of
the NBN. Furthermore, this experience is not limited to
Victoria, with BIS Oxford Economics forecasting rising
civil infrastructure construction activity in other states
and territories, particularly New South Wales, with new
public investment the main driver.
In recent years, Victoria’s construction industry has mostly
(though not entirely) been able to avoid capacity and
capability constraints by tapping into spare capacity
in skills and equipment from states such as Western
Australia and Queensland as the mining investment
boom subsided. However, with civil construction activity
(excluding oil and gas work) stabilising (and then picking
up) in these states over the next five years – and New
South Wales civil work expected to remain hot – Victoria
will need to implement a range of strategies across
construction skills and training, ensuring adequate
equipment and materials supply, and developing
construction logistics and transport solutions to avoid
bottlenecks and constraints in the delivery of work and
materials to and from construction sites.
Increasing levels of civil infrastructure investment across
Australia is expected, in turn, to increase demands for key
materials and skills in the civil construction industry.
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