Women of Winslow continues to encourage our female employees to stay connected with each other and the wider business by providing opportunities to have conversations that can help support each other.

On Thursday at Hyatt Place Events Centre, Essendon Fields, women from across the Group gathered for a signature event Building Gravitas, which was also attended by business leaders and external partners.

Keynote Speaker, Dr Louise Mahler, discussed the changing face of civil construction where women are entering the workforce for the better. But how do they lead the way?

By building what the Ancient Romans called ‘gravitas’.

Gravitas means your ideas and voice are taken seriously, your input is sought and valued, and you are more likely to gain the trust and respect of those around you.

In an engaging and humorous presentation, Dr Mahler highlighted how simple changes to mannerisms and speech can present as confidence.

“Confidence is competence, and that competence is in the areas of vocal presence, body power and clear and concise messaging,” Dr Mahler said. 

All those who attended the event praised Dr Maher and their first opportunity to meet so many women from around the Group, who can be identified with their one-off Women of Winslow hoodies.

This year, Women of Winslow increased its activity across the business with the commencement of our inhouse Women of Winslow Mentoring program and attending industry events.

It not only builds the positive visibility of women in our business, but also provides important opportunities to understand career pathways and development opportunities through stronger connections with like-minded colleagues.

“I am proud to continue championing Women of Winslow initiatives that enhance connections and provide opportunities for our Women across Winslow,” said Winslow Group General Counsel Amelia Rizzo.

October is Mental Health Month, and Winslow continues to be committed to raising the awareness and understanding of the benefits of positive mental health to our employees and the wider community.

Last Friday, to raise awareness for Mental Health Month, the Winslow Group, through its philanthropic arm The Allenby Foundation, donated $20,000 to mental health and wellbeing support organisation Beyond Blue.

The event was held at the Kingsfield Estate in Sunbury and was attended by VIPs including Beyond Blue’s Philanthropy Manager Sharney Bowen, Member for Sunbury Josh Bull MP, Winslow leaders Managing Director Dino Strano, CEO Trevor Lockwood, COO – Construction Rohan Davidson and General Counsel Amelia Rizzo.

“Mental illness is a serious problem in the construction industry, and we know Australian construction workers are six times more likely to die from suicide than an accident at work,” Amelia said.  

“We care about the health and wellbeing of our employees and their families - the Winslow family - which is why we continue to support Beyond Blue and the vital work it does for the community.”

On site for the event was Big Blue, Winslow’s 36-tonne excavator painted blue in 2018 to be a great conversation starter to encourage anyone who is struggling to reach out and seek support from workmates, family and friends. 

It’s been spreading the word on mental health awareness across Winslow projects ever since.

Our Big Blue Hitachi ZX360 is a visual reminder for employees to ‘Chat and Check-In’ with colleagues.

We empower our leaders to guide employees to find support needed as we are all there to support each other.

Our qualified Mental Health first Aiders and Mental Health Champions are site based and are dressed in TradeMutt high vis shirts to ensure they are very assessable, easy to find and a safer option for employees.

Our Women of Winslow program highlights and celebrates positive role modelling of women in positions across our Group, by developing training opportunities, capability and diversity that will engage and empower our women to confidently pursue many career opportunities at Winslow.

The Women of Winslow mentoring program connects, supports, and develops our female employees.  

The aim is to strengthen the internal connections of our Winslow women and external industry connections.

By coming together, the women have an opportunity to connect as a network and enables them to support each other throughout the program.

Our mentors have been actively engaging with their mentees and sharing experiences and learning from each other.

Winslow’s wholistic approach to learning reinforces the value we place on using and passing on knowledge.

Our traffic management HSE Coordinator Charlotte was partnered with mentor Chantal, a HSE Manager at our utilities business.

The pairing has provided them both with mutual support and a greater understanding of each other’s roles and Business Unit.

“The program has provided me with valuable insights from Chantal’s experience in the field and helped to promote professional growth by providing me with guidance, support, skill development, and confidence that I would not have gained on my own,” Charlotte said.

“I look forward to how this mentorship will further influence my development.”

Chantal said she is really enjoying the mentoring program and having Charlotte as her mentee has been beneficial because they both work in the HSE field.

“We both learn from each other and share experiences,” Chantal said.

“It has also been good having another female to talk about life with. For our last catch-up, Charlotte spent the morning with me visiting my job sites to see what we do as it is very different to her work sites.

“The program has also allowed me to build friendships with other women part of the Winslow Group that I would never cross paths with.”

Some lessons are more impactful when they are hands on.

At Winslow, we lean heavily into the experiential learning model, favouring hands-on experience and on-the-job learning where possible for the development of our teams.

Dioramas are a learning tool created to tabletop working on our sites.

It is a complete scenario, representing a complete aspect of the learning objective. It is three dimensional and it is hands on.

In this case the learning objective is to determine what safety controls are required to make the site safe and how they should be situated.

Our trainers can also quickly change the conditions of the scenario to showcase different situations and how they should be handled.

A recent request for asset protection training from Winslow’s National HSE Manager – Residential came with an extra requirement: “make it impactful, and make it hands on”.

The result?

A 1/50th scale diorama of a site showcasing trenching next to overhead powerlines.

The diorama comes with accompanying training aimed at identifying hazards, assessing risk, and implementing controls.

At a recent training session for our Site Leadership Program, we had the privilege of hosting Rob Oldfield from Energy Safe Victoria and Michael Welsh from Before You Dig Australia.

Future Site Leadership Program attendees will utilise this training tool in their Locate, Prove & Protect Services module, where from the safety of the training room they can take what they have learnt and practically apply it.

Learning by doing - the Winslow Way.

Winslow is committed to protecting and enhancing the environment in which we operate and are committed to achieving strong sustainable outcomes through innovative solutions.

Winslow Group recently made the exciting decision to re-join the Infrastructure Sustainability Council, of which it was a Founding Member in 2009. 

The ISC is the peak industry body that is enabling environmental, social, governance and economic benefits for people, planet, and the economy through infrastructure projects.

To find out more about the Infrastructure Sustainability Council, the IS Rating Scheme and the benefits of Winslow Group's ISC membership, click here.

Winslow continues to raise awareness and build respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders cultures and histories by celebrating NAIDOC Week each year.

This year we focused on embracing Winslow’s Indigenous artwork unveiled last year and continue to share its meaning with employees through a special colouring-in competition.

We invited all employees and their families from across The Winslow Group to complete a colouring-in sheet, which was created especially for NAIDOC Week to reflect our Indigenous artwork - Koling wada-ngal (Let Us Walk Together).

The winning entries from each office in Victoria received a family ticket to the Melbourne Museum and Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre.

In Queensland and Northern NSW winners were awarded a family ticket to Currumbin Wildlife sanctuary to see the Aboriginal Culture Show.

Winslow recently asked staff to nominate a charity to receive $20,000 that was close to their heart through the ‘Tell Your Story’ initiative.

After careful consideration of many nominations, Winslow selected the story of Dorian Sinopoli, a Project Manager at Winslow Constructors who had nominated the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

On Monday June 26, Winslow leaders visited ‘Peter Mac’ in Parkville to present the centre with the donation and learn more about the amazing work it is doing for the community.

Sadly, Dorian’s father Dominic Sinopoli passed away in November 2022 after battling Leukemia for 10 years.

Peter Mac provided critical treatment and care for Dominic throughout this time.

It was a very special visit with Dorian and his brother Anton present.

The donation was made via the Allenby Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Winslow Group created to help those who need it, particularly those that align with Winslow family values.

“Thank you for the incredible generosity of the Allenby Foundation – it is thanks to donations such as these that we are able to accelerate the search for cancer cures and kinder treatments”. 

A Peter MacCallum spokesperson

Winslow Group, via the Allenby Foundation, donated $20,000 to Ganbina, an organisation that matches Winslow’s values of encouraging the growth and development of young people.

Ganbina runs Australia’s most successful Aboriginal school-to-work transition program Jobs4U2, which helps Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and youth aged from five to 25 years old stay engaged in mainstream education, training and employment.

Winslow’s donation will support the Ganbina Aboriginal Youth Leadership Program, which gives participants an insight into leadership and to expose them to the skills and commitment required to be leaders.

The program aligns with Winslow’s values where each person is empowered to make good decisions to look after each other as family, be accountable to each other and be committed to operating safely.

“It has been a great honour to continue the relationship with Ganbina and support the important work they do with young Aboriginal people in nurturing them to achieve their full potential,”  said Amelia Rizzo, Winslow’s General Counsel.

The three-year program starts in Year 10 and assists participants to develop initial skills around leadership and expose them to leaders and experiences that they would otherwise not have.

“We are delighted to accept another generous donation from Winslow,” said Ganbina CEO Anthony Cavanagh.

“These much-needed funds will ensure our Youth Leadership Program continues to give participants an insight into leadership and to expose them to the skills and commitment required to be leaders.”

The Allenby Foundation was established in 2022 by Dino and Franca Strano as the philanthropic arm of the Winslow Group to help those who need it.

Today is World Environment Day, which is celebrated annually on June 5 around the globe to encourage awareness and action for the protection of the environment.

Winslow is committed to reducing plastic pollution in the environment and is invested in using science and technology-based solutions to tackle this issue. 

Winslow is using sustainably based outcomes, such as EKOPipe to reduce pollution. 

In addition, Winslow will be removing plastic from the environment by avoiding plastics in the supply chain and picking plastic rubbish from the environment to ensure plastics don’t end up in waterways and our oceans.

Our projects will be showcasing what they have done to make a positive impact in reducing and removing plastics from the environment

We are driven to find sustainable outcomes through innovative solutions, such as the EKOPipe.

The EKOPipe innovation helps us achieve our environmental and sustainability goals, and the use of more sustainable production methods helps us reduce our environmental footprint.

Last week, Winslow Infrastructure received the very first order of this amazing solution for the Bradmill Remediation Project in Yarraville, the first project in Australia to use product.

The pipe reduces concrete CO2 emissions by more than 50 per cent, which exceeds the 2030 commonwealth emissions targets.

“Our commitment to sustainability factors into every decision we make on Winslow sites,” said Allan Campbell, Winslow Infrastructure’s Environment and Sustainability Manager.

“It’s this drive for sustainable outcomes that pushes innovative solutions, like RCPA’s EKOPipes - a carbon reduced steel-reinforced concrete pipe and is the first of its kind in Australia.

“It’s another reason that Winslow is leading the way in the civil construction sustainability by utilising new technologies and finding better ways to do our job.

“EKOPipe is a game changer for the use of concrete pipes for our projects.”

Last week, the final of two workshops for the Women of Winslow mentoring program was held at Marnong Estate.  

Women of Winslow highlights and celebrates positive role modelling of women in positions across our business, by developing training opportunities, capability and diversity that will engage and empower our women to pursue many career opportunities at Winslow confidently.

The mentoring workshops, with the first held in February, were designed as a structured training opportunity to increase knowledge and skills to support women within the Winslow Group in their role as a mentor. 

Our mentors have been active since and the first workshop and the second workshop highlighted the importance of learning from each other.

Winslow’s wholistic approach to learning reinforces the value we place on using and passing on knowledge.

At Winslow, we learn from each other, we stretch and challenge ourselves and provide opportunities of diverse experiences – it’s The Winslow Way.

The inspiring mentoring workshops, hosted by Winslow Group General Counsel Amelia Rizzo, and facilitated by Laurice Temple and Nicole Jordan, enabled the women to have an opportunity to connect as a network and to support each other throughout the program.

The Women of Winslow mentoring program is creating and developing leaders, impacting the culture of Winslow through support, connection and genuine care for each other and their teams back on site.

Winslow is future focused on supporting our women and we believe that “you can’t be what you can’t see”.

Our new mentoring graduates are creating positive energy on our sites – thank you for your active participation and enthusiasm!

Congratulations to all mentoring graduates, whose enthusiasm has made the initiative a success.

A partnership between Geelong Soccer Club and civil construction company Winslow continues to kick goals on and off the field.

Winslow has been a major sponsor of the Geelong Lions since 2021, which has benefitted both parties with club members finding career opportunities at the family owned business.

The civil construction company, which operates across Victoria, is busy helping develop housing estates in the Geelong, Bellarine and Surfcoast regions.

“I am extremely grateful of the career pathways that Winslow has provided to Geelong Soccer Club members and very proud that our members have been able to make a success of these opportunities,” said club President Robert Kukanovski.

“We are working as hard as ever in the community to make this relationship beneficial for us all, and I look forward to hearing more success stories.”        

Antonija Balta, who is a Team Manager for her sons’ junior teams, joined Winslow as a project administrator earlier this year after being impressed by the career opportunities available.

“The connection between the soccer club and Winslow has been great. It’s great to feel part of a family both at work and at the club considering I’m there every night of the week,” Antonija said.

“Winslow is all for progression and everyone here is always available to provide that helping hand and assistance to get you there.”

Geelong player, Keegan Kukanovski, has been working at Winslow as a labourer while also studying for a Bachelor in Construction Management at Deakin University.

“Winslow offers pretty good opportunities to advance your career,” Keegan said. “I hope to step up to a site engineering role.”

Winslow’s Regional Manager for Geelong Darran Bunnett said there are more opportunities for employees with so many projects in the area, and the partnership with the Lions has been successful in attracting skilled people.

“We are always looking for people keen to forge a career in civil infrastructure,” Darran said.

“Winslow offers live local, work local opportunities to build a career in this exciting industry, and many of our employees have gone from labourers to senior positions.

“Hard working and enthusiastic people will be rewarded.”

Winslow participated in Women in Construction Week across many functions last week, including International Women’s Day-related events.

The National Association of Women In Construction (NAWIC) held its annual high tea event at the Glasshouse in Melbourne, which was also a great opportunity for participants of our Women of Winslow mentoring program (mentees and mentors) to connect.

Winlsow was represented at the NAWIC High Tea by women from across the Winslow Group, who work in various roles and projects, who all enjoyed the opportunity to engage with peers in the civil construction industry.

Our Women of Winslow initiative’s aim is to strengthen the internal connections of our Winslow women and also external industry connections.

It highlights and celebrates positive role modelling of women in positions across our business, demonstrating capability and diversity that will inspire and empower future generations of women to pursue many opportunities at Winslow confidently.

Women of Winslow not only builds the positive visibility of women in our business, but also provides important opportunities to understand career pathways and development opportunities through stronger connections with like-minded colleagues.