Sydney Water Major Projects Program Leadership Support
Sydney Water is delivering the Major Projects West program, a portfolio of complex water and wastewater infrastructure projects supporting growth across Western Sydney, including the Western Sydney Aerotropolis.
RPS provided senior embedded program leadership support through the Program Director West role, supporting Sydney Water’s Infrastructure Delivery group through a period of significant growth and organisational change.
As part of the Major Projects Leadership Group, RPS contributed strategic input across the program, led a large matrix team and helped embed the governance, delivery discipline and stakeholder alignment needed to support safe, compliant and commercially sound outcomes.
The challenge
Sydney Water’s Infrastructure Delivery group had expanded significantly to support a major pipeline of complex infrastructure projects. The organisation had also been restructured, creating a need to embed new governance processes, clarify accountabilities and strengthen delivery performance across the program.
The Major Projects West portfolio required safe, compliant and commercially sound outcomes to be delivered within contract requirements, asset standards, planning approvals and community expectations.
The program also included projects at different stages of maturity and performance, with some requiring strong intervention to address delivery, commercial, schedule, risk or stakeholder challenges.
Our approach
RPS’ embedded support focused on program leadership, governance, stakeholder alignment and delivery performance across the Major Projects West portfolio.
Through the Program Director West role, RPS led a large matrix team, including Project Directors, and worked closely with internal stakeholders across operations, investment, finance and planning. This helped align project delivery activity with broader corporate objectives and improved collaboration across key interfaces.
RPS helped embed new governance processes and ways of working following Sydney Water’s restructure, strengthening accountability, safety focus and visible leadership across project sites.
The role also included a strong focus on cost management, schedule management and risk management, supporting corporate cash flow objectives and improving oversight of major project delivery performance.
The result
RPS’ support helped Sydney Water strengthen program leadership and delivery discipline across a complex portfolio of major water and wastewater infrastructure projects.
The role supported improved governance, clearer accountability, stronger stakeholder relationships and a more consistent focus on safety, cost, schedule and risk across the Major Projects West portfolio.
The engagement demonstrates RPS’ ability to provide senior embedded program leadership for complex utility infrastructure portfolios, helping clients strengthen governance, manage risk and maintain delivery confidence across multiple concurrent projects.
