Sir David Higgins is one of those Australians who have moved seamlessly between the two countries, holding top positions in each. In Australia he’s best known as former CEO of Lend Lease. In the UK he’s the man who played a hugely important role in the fantastic success of London 2012 as head of the Olympic Delivery Authority. He now runs Network Rail and will shortly take over as chairman of HS2 the major UK rail project.
I hosted a dinner for him at our Consul General’s Residence in Sydney this week, with NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian and a number of leading figures in the transport sector. He also addressed a breakfast organised by our UKTI team for over 100 businesspeople, around the Ausrail trade show and conference currently taking place here. We had a strong trade mission of 12 UK companies attending the show, together with the Railway Industry Association. David was joined at the breakfast by Howard Collins, a Brit who has moved in the opposite direction, from being COO of London Underground to now running Sydney Trains.
Infrastructure, particularly transport, is a top priority in both Britain and Australia at present. Tony Abbott has said he wants to be remembered as the “infrastructure Prime Minister”, and this will be one of the themes for Australia’s G20 presidency. The federal government has significant plans in the roads sector and the governments of NSW and other states are working on some major rail projects. In the UK we are working on London’s transformational Crossrail project – the largest current rail project in Europe, and in 2017 work is set to begin on High Speed 2 (HS2) a massive project providing big improvements in speed and capacity between London and major UK cities, which will have a profound impact on the UK economy.
All of this means that there is a lot of expertise in the UK rail sector which provides valuable opportunities for cooperation with Australian governments and business. Sir David, who gave an extensive interview on the ABC, opened the Australian office of Network Rail Consulting, a subsidiary of Network Rail that shares expertise with other rail operators around the world. It is overseeing safety for the A$8.3 billion North West Rail Link in Sydney. British companies interested in finding out more about opportunities in Australian infrastructure can read our recent infrastructure briefing.
Having worked on Crossrail for three years in workforce development and social sustainability- and now working with NWRL and CBD and SE LIght Rail, I agree it an exciting time for rail infrastructure in both countries. Lots of opportunities to share good practice and learn from each other whilst using these great projects to develop and build highly skilled workforces for the future