Construction Industry in Australia: A Comprehensive Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the construction industry in Australia. It begins by examining the industry's nature, its contribution to the Australian GDP, and its key sectors, including residential, non-residential, and engineering construction. The report then delves into various job roles within the industry, such as construction equipment operators, repairmen/elevator installers, electricians, construction foremen, and construction expediters, analyzing their descriptions, employment opportunities, and how technological trends might impact future employment. The report further explores industrial awards, specifically the Building & Construction General Onsite Award 2010, and its categories. Finally, the report discusses sustainability measures employed in construction sites, including prefabrication of materials, construction waste management, and site management for improved environmental control, with references to relevant sources. This report is contributed by a student and available on Desklib, a platform offering AI-based study tools and past assignments.

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA
First Name
Last Name
Institution name

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA
Question 1
Nature of construction industries in Australia
Construction industry in Australia is seen as one of the leading industries that has at least
accounted and contributed to about 7 percent of Australian GDP. Looking at the reports and
statistics provided by the Australian Bureau of statistics the contribution of construction industry
is as a result of involvement of three industries. The sectors include the residential construction,
non-residential construction and engineering construction (Yu, 2017).
The size of the construction industry in Australia
According to the statistics provided by rthe Australian Bureau of statistics,at least ¾ of the profit
before tax comes from the construction businesses. The Australian construction industries
contribute to at least 8% of the GDP. This is one the Australian largest non-service sectors
contributing in figures a net of $ 135 billion to the Australian economy. This construction has
been showing a growth rate of at least 2% each quarter as per ABS (Campbell, 2017). This has
led to at least more than 1.1 million people be employed in the construction sectors.
The changes that are experienced in the construction industry like in the introduction of the
construction software, has led to the saving of at least $25 billion in a year. This can contributed
positively to the economy of the country.

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA
Question 2
Job role
Description and employment
opportunity
Trends and how it may affect
future employment
Construction
equipment operator
This involves moving heavy materials,
Paving ways and roads for the
construction process to take place,
Hammering huge and big rocks to give
way for construction etc
The operation of the equipments on
the site may be minimized by the
procurement of services to clear the
construction before construction
takes place. Technology may help
suppliers of construction materials to
be delivered as a final product
without necessarily being modified
by the contractor. The effect on
environment would be degradation of
the environment
Repairmen/Elevator
installers
install and repair all the ways like
elevators or lifts used in the construction
industry
This may be affected by upcoming
trends in construction industries
where folk lifters may be used in
exception of elevators. Elevators tend
to consume a lot of energy which
comes from electricity mostly

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA
generate through dams. Due to
ongoing environment pollution
negative impact on climate change
may be experienced (Levison, 2018).
Electrician
Fixes all electricity issues in the
construction site
This may involve collaborating with
authorizes to have the power
connected to the building for lighting
and welding purposes. This may led
to loss due to wastage of power and
may act as a hazard to the
construction environment. This is
because it poses risk to the workers
on site. Technology may change this
with the use of generators during the
construction where the owner of the
building will use his own power after
completion.
Construction
foreman
His main role is to oversee workers that
they complete their work
Monitors each of the workers on site.
Due to upcoming trends, the foreman
may have less work due to
installation of Cctv to monitor the
work being done. This may led to

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA
unemployment in future generation.
Construction
expeditor
His main role is to manager movement of
supplies from the supplier to the
construction site (Richards, 2017).
The ordering of the construction
materials may be in future be
replaced by tendering process where
the owner of the construction project
may order himself rather than
depending of expeditor services.
Technology may also be used where
the suppliers can be reviewed on
basis of who bids the lowest. This
may reduce the involvement of the
construction expeditor in the work
Question 3
Industrial awards are binding agreement that sets up the terms and all conditions of work
including the wages of employees in particular industry. The documents sets up the conditions of
the occupation.
Enterprise agreements/award are agreements that are binding between the employers and their
employees.
The current award that has been seen in the construction industry is the building & construction
general onsite award dated back to year 2010 (Hansen, 2019).This type of award is only

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA
recognized by national system employers. This applies only to the employees that have been on
site building, civil construction and even engineering. The award has been categorized as below;
 Fireworks & electrical ward 2010
 Plumbing award 2010
 Joinery and building award 2010
 Coal mining award (black) 2010
 Manufacturing industries award 2010
 Quarrying award 2010
 Mining award 2010
Part B- report
Several ways and techniques are used in the sustainability measures in construction sites. These
are some of the strategies that are used most o the time by the construction engineers in their
work. They are important in save time and resources (Carlstein, 2019). They also bring a good
feeling to the contractor or the engineer in charge of the work. This is because the resources and
time is saved and this leads to minimal wastage. The below are some of the techniques that are
mostly used in the construction industry;

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA
 Prefabricating materials in environment that is controlled (Chang, 2018). This means that
the materials being used in the construction industry can be fabricated to reduce wastage.
When a mason has been using a ladder made of timber, it can be refabricated at the end to
make a staircase. This cutting of materials will precisely decrease the amount of waste
that is going to be seen. The other method that can be used especially by the Building
information management (BIM) is the cutting of metal for some other work like duct but
in a controlled surrounding.
 Management of construction waste (Ghaffar, 2020).This may include recycling some
materials in the site itself. For instance, Concrete can be crushed thoroughly and used in
foundations.
 Management of the site of construction for improved and controlled environment
For suitable and sustainable work site in the construction industry, health and safety measures
should be at the forefront (Gaur, 2019). This means that the people working in the site are
familiar with all the hazards.

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA
References and sources of information
Campbell, S., & Withers, H. (2017). Australian productivity trends and the effect of structural
change. Economic Round-up, (2017), 1.
Carlstein, T. (2019). Time resources, society and ecology: On the capacity for human interaction
in space and time. Routledge.
Chang, Y., Li, X., Masanet, E., Zhang, L., Huang, Z., & Ries, R. (2018). Unlocking the green
opportunity for prefabricated buildings and construction in China. Resources,
Conservation and Recycling, 139, 259-261.
Gaur, A., & Vazquez-Brust, D. A. (2019). Sustainable Development Goals: Corporate Social
Responsibility? A Critical Analysis of Interactions in the Construction Industry Supply
Chains Using Externalities Theory. In Sustainable Development Goals and Sustainable
Supply Chains in the Post-global Economy (pp. 133-157). Springer, Cham.
Ghaffar, S. H., Burman, M., & Braimah, N. (2020). Pathways to circular construction: An
integrated management of construction and demolition waste for resource
recovery. Journal of Cleaner Production, 244, 118710.

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA
Hansen, S. (2019). Challenging arbitral awards in the construction industry: Case study of
infrastructure disputes. Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering
and Construction, 11(1), 06518004.
Levison, M. M., Butler, A. J., Rebellato, S., Armstrong, B., Whelan, M., & Gardner, C. (2018).
Development of a climate change vulnerability assessment using a public health lens to
determine local health vulnerabilities: An Ontario health unit experience. International
journal of environmental research and public health, 15(10), 2237.
Richards, G. (2017). Warehouse management: a complete guide to improving efficiency and
minimizing costs in the modern warehouse. Kogan Page Publishers.
Yu, M., Wiedmann, T., Crawford, R., & Tait, C. (2017). The carbon footprint of Australia's
construction sector. Procedia engineering, 180, 211-220.