Alliance Contracting in Review: The FutureFlow Alliance

By Rachael Edginton, Plum Communication

The FutureFlow Alliance was established in February 2008 by Goulburn-Murray Water to carry out the first stage of a $2 billion irrigation renewal project in Northern Victoria, as part of the State Government of Victoria’s Water Plan, and also partly funded by the Federal Government’s $13 billion Murray Darling water saving initiative.  

The FutureFlow Alliance has been established to assist G-MW to deliver a major water upgrade project that will modernise the irrigation system in significant areas of Northern Victoria.  

Australia is in the midst of an unprecedented program of infrastructure building with billions of dollars committed to creating new roads, rail networks, power plants and supporting hundreds of initiatives to save our most precious resource – water. The FutureFlow alliance contract project was based in Shepparton, Victoria, the centre of one of Australia’s key food production areas and home to over 3,000 farmers using irrigated agricultural methods to produce food commodities for local and export markets. With 11 years of drought, limited water supplies, and an ageing irrigation infrastructure, many farmers in the region were struggling to remain globally competitive, and to meet the future food production needs of Australians and Victorians.  

The success of the project hinged on more than 3,000 irrigators signing off on a recommended water meter for their farm – and providing permission for work crews to enter their property.  

Like many major infrastructure projects, FutureFlow’s alliance works were to touch the lives and livelihood of thousands of people. Early on the Alliance realised that it would require a strong community consultation and wide community relations program to ensure that permission would be granted for the project team to install the new irrigation equipment. Construction timelines were tight and community sentiment was mixed and often hostile.

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