Balancing Risk and Opportunity within the Sugarloaf Pipeline Alliance Project

Alliance Contracting IQ interviews Deborah Cownley

Deborah is the Support Services Manager at John Holland and was also a member of the Award Winning Sugarloaf Pipeline Alliance team. She has 8 years experience in the water industry, across areas of drainage, alternative water supply planning and capital delivery.  

Her capital delivery experience includes her role at Melbourne Water as the Capital Governance Support Team Leaderand involvement in the Sugarloaf Pipeline Project, where she held the position of Governance, Compliance and Completion Manager on the Alliance Management Team.  

In recognition of her work on the Sugarloaf Pipeline Project, Deborah was recently awarded the Victorian/Tasmanian, National Association for Women in Construction award for outstanding achievement in delivery and development.

Balancing Risk and Opportunity on the Sugarloaf Pipeline Alliance Project

Deborah discusses her involvement in the SugarLoaf Pipeline Alliance. A project that faced great adversity during its construction and one which managed, despite some significant setbacks from mother nature, to deliver outstanding outcomes.

In this interview Alliance Contracting IQ asked: 

• With regards to the sugarloaf pipeline alliance can you please fill the audience in on your role and responsibilities within that team?
• I understand that you had to wear two hats during your time on the project – alternating between both owner and Alliance member? What were the challenges of that scenario and how did you resolve them?
• With respect to the duality of your role – how did you implement risk processes whilst balancing your owner and Alliance member requirements?
• What was the most significant risk that the project and team faced?
• Do you have any tips or quick wins that you can share with the audience with respect to risk management and transfer?

Deborah is also the Head Judge at the upcoming ACE Awards in conjunction with the Collaborative Contracting Summit in May this year. To find out more about the awards and the conference agenda visit www.collaborativecontracting.com.au or call 02 9229 1000 for more information.