Major capital projects

The University defines major capital projects as those costing more than $5 million. During 2017 the University spent $41 million on major capital projects. Total capital expenditure in 2017 was $86.5 million. The University places student experience at the heart of its teaching and research mission and will continue to invest in the modernisation of the campus to achieve this aim.

Completed projects

The Medical and Dental Library was transformed to better meet the needs of current and future students, researchers and the community, and was renamed the J. Robin Warren Library in honour of UWA's Nobel laureate. The refurbishment works were completed in 2017 at a cost of $7 million ($5 million CAPEX). This investment strengthens the strategic presence for the University on the QEII Medical Centre campus and provides a high-quality teaching and learning environment incorporating innovative spaces and facilities.

A major refurbishment program to modernise and revitalise the central teaching and bathroom facilities within the Arts, Social Sciences, Law, Physics and Engineering precincts was completed in 2017 at a total cost of $11 million.

Projects in progress

During 2017, the University began forward works on the transformational EZONE UWA project, which will become Western Australia's premier engineering learning facility when completed in early 2020. The major building component of the $80 million project begins construction in 2018.

The concept design for the new $16.5 million School of Indigenous Studies building was approved by the Senate in 2017. It includes the expansion of Prescott Court towards Hackett Drive, enhancing internal and external space integration. The building is planned to be completed late in 2019.

Forrest Hall is nearing completion. The $30 million building on the bank of the Swan River will offer contemporary accommodation to some of the world's leading PhD students coming to study and live in Western Australia.

Planning to increase the capacity of the mechanical system at the Crawley campus to support heating and cooling requirements is underway, with the aim of being implemented prior to EZONE UWA completion in 2020. The University has allocated $12 million to this project, and forward infrastructure upgrade works are underway.

Major projects in progress at 31 December 2017

Our people and culture

The people priorities for 2017 focused on the successful implementation of the transformational University structure. This new structure provided the flexibility for staff to reshape their roles and pursue new career paths in different teams. It has also provided an exciting opportunity to embark on an international recruitment campaign focused on UWA’s teaching and research priority areas.

A wide range of strategic staffing programs has been undertaken throughout 2017, focusing on strengthening the capabilities of academic and professional staff to continue to perform to the University’s high standards during a period of significant change as well as maintaining the organisational culture which defines UWA.

In 2018, we will focus on continuing to develop the People and Culture Strategy, which will be underpinned by a strong workforce plan, a high-performance culture, and one of continuous improvement, clear, insightful and incisive leadership, and a focus on a sustainable workforce, through talent development strategies.

Inclusion and diversity

In line with the Inclusion and Diversity Strategy 2015–2020, UWA established five working groups to ensure there is a continued focus on Gender Equity, Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CaLD), Disability issues, and Indigenous-and LGBTI-inclusion.

UWA continues to maintain its stellar performance in LGBTI-inclusion, achieving Platinum Status as the only university to be ranked as a Top 10 employer in the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) since the inception of the awards in 2011. Successes of recent programs include: the annual Isabelle Lake Memorial Lecture series, run in partnership with the Equal Opportunity Commission; the rollout of unconscious bias training; the continued success of the ALLY Program across Australia and New Zealand; and equal opportunity online training modules (to prevent workplace bullying and sexual harassment) implemented across the University.

The UWA node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) has been recognised by the Astronomical Society of Australia for its commitment to advancing women in astronomical sciences and technology, and in March 2017 ICRAR received Silver in The Pleiades Awards.

The University remains committed to achieving bronze status in the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) Athena-Swan pilot, which is focused on encouraging women in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) areas.

Employee relations

The successful negotiation of new enterprise agreements for academic and professional staff was a significant achievement in 2017.

In 2018, Human Resources will focus on implementing the new terms and conditions from the agreements and then shift to cascading the improvements into existing policies, processes and practices to better align with UWA's values and culture.

Work, health and safety

UWA is committed to providing a safe and healthy working and learning environment for its staff, students, visitors and contractors and takes a proactive approach to minimising the potential for injury, illness and harm. This is achieved by ensuring that health and safety management is a key priority in all areas of planning, implementation, measurement and review.

During 2017, there were 263 incidents and injuries reported; 27 were accepted as workers' compensation claims, and 10 cases were recorded as lost time injuries (LTIs) with a total of 155 work days lost. By comparison, in 2016 there were 324 incidents and injuries reported with 34 accepted workers’ compensation claims, and 10 cases recorded as LTIs with a total of 167 work days lost.

Detailed information on the work health and safety, injury management, and health and wellbeing program priorities, activities and reporting is provided in the University Safety Committee Annual Report. The information provided in the table below is provided to align with the requirements of the Public Sector Commission reporting.

UWA continues to provide a dedicated service to assist staff return to work following injuries or illness through its Injury Management and Wellbeing team. This team provides best practice injury management services for both work-related and non-compensable conditions, along with proactive and targeted wellbeing initiatives which ensure the University continues to meet its obligations under the Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981. This proactive approach enables area-specific injury prevention projects across UWA to target positive health and safety outcomes.

Reportable key performance Work health and safety indicators—2017

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