Our Story
Ginko Consultants was originally established with the aim of bridging the gap between engineering and sustainability. Its founder, Sloan Trad, cultivated strong connections with the industry during his formative academic and research years, and identified a burning desire within the industry for guidance to achieve and maintain engineering sustainability. Upon solidifying his credentials in Engineering Management, Sloan turned his attention to sustainability integration within the engineering curriculum, coordinating several such research initiatives with industry SMEs. This evolved into a systematic and holistic approach encompassing governance, auditing and assurance, change management, process improvement, and commercial management, which eventually led the industry to seek out Sloan's guidance on a scale that warranted a team effort, and Ginko Consultants was born. Since then, Sloan and his team have dutifully served numerous clients to embed sustainability into their major infrastructure projects.
At Ginko Consultants we believe the future is now, and we believe a case aspect of sustainability is efficiency. In addition to implementing sustainability frameworks to guide our design, construction and operation processes and systems efficiencies are also vital to limiting out resource dependencies as we move into the future.
Mission
Our purpose is to collaborate with our clients through strategising today for a fair and equitable future worth living.
Vision
Our vision is to form synergies and evolve with our clients, maximising the value we create for all our stakeholders one project at a time.
Values
We place strong weight on carefully derived values which we believe help service and benefit our stakeholders. As such, we adopt a value-based thinking and acting approach towards our work. Our values are as follows:
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We will always remain up to date with contemporary literature and our work will always be guided by a research-based approach with evidence-based methodologies.
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We hold ourselves accountable to all stakeholders including our clients, societies and the environment.
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We are committed to continuous improvement, 'thinking outside the box', and evolving by always listening and remaining open to change.
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We will always make decisions in the interests of sustainability, be it environmental, commercial, corporate or social, with complete transparency to our stakeholders at all times.
Our Services
We provide services in the following key areas of expertise.
Audit and Assurance
We have provided audit and assurance services in compliance with ISO9001 to several medium to large (Tier 1 and 2) Australian companies including Qantas. Our audit recommendations contributed to enhancements to existing governance and assurance frameworks within those companies, leading to stronger consumer and business confidence.
Asset Management
We have delivered asset management services to clients including the NSW Government. We have established asset management systems and developed Strategic Asset Management Plans in compliance with ISO55001 to ensure that organisations understand the activities, resources and timescales required to achieve their asset management objectives.
Climate Change Resilience
We have provided climate change risk assessment and adaptation services in compliance with ISO14091. We have formulated sustainability frameworks underpinned by evidence based methodologies and risk matrices with comprehensive mitigation strategies to strengthen our clients' resilience to climate change.
Our Services
We provide services in the following key areas of expertise.
Financial Management
We have assisted our clients in their financial management to develop robust commercial frameworks and ensure that they exercise financial discipline in their decision making. We design and develop activity based funding models (complete with interactive reporting) at a project level and also at the organisation level to ensure that our clients achieve their annual budgetary and financial targets.
Change Management
As certified PROSCI change managers, we have supported our clients with implementing change both at the business unit level and the organisational level. This includes design of structures and job descriptions, and the development and implementation of change management plans to ensure minimal disruption to business during any change.
Process Improvement
As Black Belts in Lean Six Sigma, we have helped our clients with business process improvement to minimise waste and increase operational efficiency. This includes developing and configuring workflow management solutions. We apply Lean Six Sigma principles to all our engagements as a matter of course.
Our Certification
We are registered under the Performance and Management Services Prequalification Scheme (P&MS Scheme), which is the primary prequalification scheme adopted by NSW government agencies and other eligible buyers to acquire professional services.
1D Government and Business Strategy: Organisational Design / Transformation
Designing a transformation framework for business improvement; Organisation structure advisory services; Cluster / Agency/Department appropriateness and fit within an organisation; Total organisation and team structure review
2A Business Process Mapping /
Re-engineering
Mapping current processes and workflows; Business process review, gap analysis, evaluation and re-design; Business process outsourcing, feasibility and improvement strategies; Gateway reviews, advice and guidance on document development
4A Change Management
Change Management
Management service provided when a significant change occurs within a Cluster/Agency/Department; Communication planning of a project or change to all stakeholders.
6A Internal / External Audit
Internal Audit - Compliance audit, Performance (operational audit); Examine factors leading to an agency not meeting budgetary or performance targets; Assessment of processes for internal management to improve efficiency; External Audit - General computer controls (including Information Systems Security)
15A Infrastructure: Strategy and Planning
Financial and investment strategies; urban development; commercial property; Public/Private partnership strategy; environmentally sustainable development strategy; resource management; project definition; development and packaging
15C Infrastructure: Major Project Procurement / Delivery and Project Management
Planning and process analysis; Procurement review; Supply chain review; Strategic sourcing; Project leadership and governance and project assurance.
Our Projects
1
Transport for NSW
We were engaged by Transport for NSW (TfNSW) to establish and operate a management system to progress and govern the handover of newly built assets (955 discrete projects worth $25 billion) to an asset maintenance branch. We developed a Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) based on a detailed risk assessment in accordance with the Transport Enterprise Risk Management framework. We designed and implemented
a comprehensive 4-month change management plan in collaboration with key internal stakeholders to ensure a smooth and effective handover process within budget and time constraints. We migrated an existing, makeshift tracking system administrated in an unstable environment with poor transparency and multiple points of failure to a sophisticated, fit-for-purpose, management system in conformance with ISO55001, which included capturing system functional requirements, training users, migrating data, and providing post-rollout support. We established and implemented mechanisms to track process implementation and measure success by configuring an enterprise workflow management solution (JIRA) accordingly. We designed and implemented process improvements in conformance with Lean Six Sigma principles. We led the management system implementation. TfNSW accepted our recommendations based on the MCA and endorsed a multi-million dollar engagement of resources to implement the recommendations;
the change management plan was endorsed by the leadership team and implemented successfully;
process improvements were implemented seamlessly ;
the management system was adopted and led to effective identification and resolution of problems.
2
Parkes Shire Council
We were engaged to build a Recycled Water Management System that complies with s60 of the NSW Local Government Act 1993. We
developed and updated the PSC Recycled Water Policy & Strategy which outlines the objectives of the Council’s Recycled Water Scheme, and the activities, resources and timescales required to meet those objectives. We established a management system Monitoring Program which included an internal Verification Monitoring Plan as well as detailed Site Management Plans, providing adequate governance and assurance for the Recycled Water Scheme. We developed and implemented a Change Management Plan including the design of training material, running training sessions such as inductions, and establishing Standard Operating Procedures to ensure process efficiency. We created and updated End User Agreement and Agreed Ways of Working artefacts to enshrine all parties’ responsibilities and obligations and effect a collaborative approach to recycled water management. This involved extensive stakeholder engagement. The RWMS we created and implemented was compliant with the s60 requirements and as a result of this, PSC’s Recycled Water Scheme application successfully received NSW Government approval. We attained approval from the Environmental Protection Agency to expand the scope of PSC’s Environmental Protection Licence, based on the robustness of the newly established management system.
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Regional Councils
We have prepared several Climate Impact and Adaptation Assessments for different agencies within the public sector especially regional councils including Bathurst Regional Council and Orange City Council. Our specialist studies utilise CSIRO’s climate modelling outputs which are underpinned by findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to identify future climate change impacts relevant to major infrastructure and eco tourism projects. Adaptation measures aligned with AdaptNSW were proposed to mitigate construction and operation risks associated with extreme rainfall, drought, extreme heat, bushfire, flooding, mean rainfall, strong winds and storm events ensuring more resilient infrastructure both in the near and far future.