For society

From hospitals to railways, we’re delivering the infrastructure needed to enrich lives and help local communities thrive. By investing in skills development and creating employment opportunities, we create economic growth and increase prosperity in the community.

Delivering projects that connect and support people and communities is a privilege and a responsibility. As a family-owned business, we have always sought to ensure our work delivers a lasting benefit for people, in line with our purpose of pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in service of humanity.

Our social value strategies in each operating region provide a framework to achieve this. This allows our project teams to adapt and focus on what clients and communities need most.  This could be more skills and employment opportunities, prioritising local supply chain partners, inspiring the next generation about careers in construction, improving community health and wellbeing or protecting the planet and nature.

Reconciliation Action Plan

At Laing O’Rourke Australia we accept the challenges and opportunities of Reconciliation and the work required. In 2011 we were the first major contractor to develop a Reconciliation Action Plan, officially endorsed by Reconciliation Australia. Our current Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan provides clear direction and a delivery plan for our teams, as it includes our key deliverables, targets, initiatives and actions that we will integrate with the way we work.

You can find our Reconciliation Action Plan here.

Promoting best practice

We know that to maximise the social value we create, we’re better working with others. We partner with a range of experts with specialist skills and knowledge to complement that of our own people. We share our insight within social value-focused forums and at industry events, and listen to examples from our peers to ensure we continue to deliver to the highest standards.

We are members of the Diversity Council Australia, Australian Network on Disability and we partner with several social enterprises, including CareerSeekers, giving us an opportunity to help shape and drive social value action across our industry and directly within the communities we work with.

Inspiring STEM+

Encouraging more women into the construction and infrastructure sector starts earlier than adulthood. Laing O’Rourke’s Inspiring STEM+ is a school partnership program designed in-house in 2017 to encourage female students to consider careers in the construction industry, via studying engineering, law, commerce, and environmental science, as well as trade apprenticeships.

Each program includes eight learning modules, including site visits over a two-year period.

The program is active in seven partner schools around the country and has resulted in high school students progressing to work experience, internships, and the graduate program at Laing O’Rourke.