Do joint ventures hold the key to large-scale project success?
This article first appeared in Australian Design Review, Issue 162, 2019
Collins Arch in Melbourne by Woods Bagot and SHoP Architects.
In an increasingly globalised architecture and construction market, the number of large-scale projects being delivered as joint ventures and under JV contractual agreements is growing, but with increased size and complexity comes additional risks and new challenges. Is your firm ready to compete?
In the past, Australian architecture joint ventures (JVs) have typically involved bringing together interstate peers to provide complementary expertise and/or proximity, or practices joining forces to deliver specialised buildings, or collaborations between different-sized firms to enhance capacity and upscale their projects.
But a new trend is emerging: Australian firms are partnering with international practices to deliver large-scale projects.
This trend is driven largely by clients, especially state government clients that stipulate the use of international firms in design competitions, such as the WA Museum project (currently in construction, by HASSELL + OMA), the Adelaide Contemporary International Design Competition (won by Diller Scofidio and Renfro and Woods Bagot, currently shelved) and the Sydney Fish Market (won by 3XN with BVN and Aspect Studios). Another good example is the current relocation of the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta project. The first stage of its international design competition for the new museum attracted 74 submissions from 20 countries, made up by more than 500 individual firms from five continents. Six teams have been shortlisted with a winning design for the new museum to be announced in late 2019.
Such client demands leave Australian firms little option but to form JVs to compete, but not all firms are happy about this trend.
“The question about JVs with overseas architects – which has become a big issue with projects in Melbourne, and Australia generally – is that a lot of international firms are looking for new markets, and they are quite opportunistic around public buildings and large projects,” says Peter Bickle, principal at ARM.
“This is a conversation that is currently ongoing within the profession,” he says. “Some see the situation to their advantage, while others think: ‘Why can’t we do the project?’”
Regardless of where you sit on the subject of international JVs, there are several key issues to consider before undertaking both local and overseas partnerships.
You can download this article in pdf format here: page 24 and page 25, or read the entire article online here.