Hi all,

Firstly, a happy new year! Whatever you got up to over the break, I hope you found some time to relax and enjoy it with family and friends. A particular highlight for me was visiting my sister and old friends living in the UK. Yes, it was cold and got dark at 4pm but the good company more than made up for it!
   
2025 Outlook

This year is shaping up to be a busy one across the Group. Our workbook is back up around similar levels to the previous record delivery cycle that was completed through the pandemic period, with several major projects now well underway or ramping up in the greater Sydney area and regionally. While this is a great outcome after a relatively quieter period over the preceding two years, particularly in our Sydney Construction division, it also calls for disciplined focus from all of us to ensure we’re successfully delivering for our clients across projects while living our “Think Safe, Act Safe, Home Safe” motto and looking out for each other’s wellbeing.

A key personal goal for me this year will be getting out more regularly to sites to monitor progress and check in with our people.

      Health Translation Hub

John Hunter Health & Innovation Precinct

New business

Turning to new business, our estimators and everyone involved in tendering remain busy as we continue to pursue a diversified pipeline of work across sectors and clients. The number one theme we’re seeing remains data centres, and I’m confident 2025 will be our most significant year yet in this sector with some positive news about new opportunities hopefully coming soon. A congratulations to our Service division who have got the ball rolling in 2025, securing maintenance works with longstanding client BGIS for a portfolio of regional data centres.

I’d also like to shout out our Engineering & Infrastructure division, who continue to expand our footprint of operations in the water utilities sector having recently been appointed to the panel of approved contractors for Mid Coast Council which covers the region to the south of Kempsey and the north of Newcastle. This appointment follows the successful completion of works in the water space for Kempsey Shire Council and provides solid potential to further expand in Northern NSW.

Technology improvements

Another key priority in 2025 will be implementing the first phase of some major technology improvements for the Group. As I’ve mentioned previously there has been a lot of work going on behind the scenes, and the focus this year will be on the implementation of a bespoke, modern system to better track and manage projects and remove many of our older paper or excel based processes. Our warehousing, procurement, plant and equipment operations will also transition to this new system, providing greater visibility and efficiencies between our delivery and warehouse teams. As a strategic priority for the Group and a key theme for improvement that came out of our first engagement survey, the Board is committing to considerable investment over multiple years to support this initiative. While this first phase of implementation gets underway in February,  we will also be looking at our next priorities for improvement including digitalisation of our health, safety, and quality processes.
    
Focus on emloyee engagement and experience

A big thanks to all of you who took the time to complete our second annual engagement survey toward the end of last year. Please look out for some further communications on the results from the P&C team and how this is informing our priorities in the people space for 2025. A few key reflections from me when looking at the results:

• The survey participation rate of 58% is lower than I’d like it to be and is largely attributed to lower participation from our wages staff and apprentices. To get the most value out of these surveys it is important to have broad representation across our people so that all voices are adequately heard. I’ve had some initial conversations including with our Sydney Construction and E&I Consultative Committee on how we can improve this participation in future and will continue to seek feedback.
• Our overall engagement score of 73% while well in line with Australian construction industry averages is good but not where we aspire to be if we want to say hand on heart that Star Group is a leader in employee experience. Identifying and actioning a tangible set of priorities to address this will therefore be a key priority in 2025.

In speaking with a few of you already, it is clear we need to do a better job at regularly communicating back what is being actioned as a result of the survey findings. Rest assured this has been heard.
   
Longer term planning

Finally, 2025 also brings our Board and senior team into the next cycle of longer-term strategic planning for the Group. This is all about reflecting on and celebrating what we have achieved, and lifting our heads up, looking at what’s going on in the construction industry and internally and deciding where we want to take the business and our priorities to get there. I’m excited to get going with this work in the coming months and communicating more with you all.

Cheers,

John