Celebrating 10 Years of SmedTech

This year, SmedTech proudly marks a major milestone — 10 years of delivering excellence in infrastructure advisory and project management across Australia.

What started as ‘one engineer and a laptop’ has grown into a trusted partner for government agencies, private sector clients, and infrastructure leaders. Over the past decade, our team has contributed to some of the nation’s most complex and high-profile transport and infrastructure programs, offering strategic guidance, commercial expertise, and technical support that drives real outcomes.

We are now an established leader in the toll road, technical documentation and traffic sectors.

While transport infrastructure remains at our core, we’ve also expanded our advisory services to support emerging priorities in the water and energy sectors — helping clients navigate new challenges and opportunities in a rapidly evolving landscape.

What sets SmedTech apart?  Our commitment to building lasting relationships, providing honest advice, and bringing practical, in-depth industry experience to every engagement. Our journey so far has been shaped by the incredible people we work with our clients, our partners, and importantly, our dedicated team.

To mark this milestone, we recently held an industry event in Melbourne where we were joined by clients, partners and Sir Rod Eddington in a thought-provoking discussion about the industry, project development and the legacy of his ‘Investing in Transport’ study.

As we celebrate this 10-year anniversary, we’re filled with gratitude and excitement for what’s ahead. We look forward to continuing to support transformative projects and making a positive impact across the infrastructure landscape for many years to come.

Graeme Vellacott - 50 years of service in Transit projects and planning

The team at SmedTech congratulates Graeme Vellacott on reaching his golden career milestone, notching up 50 years of service in transit and transport policy, planning, projects and operations.  

Graeme’s expertise and technical knowledge has seen him work on projects in every state in Australia, as well as the United Arab Emirates, southern Africa, southeast Asia. Canada and the United States

Well done Graeme and happy ‘golden’ career anniversary. 

Louisa Jenkinson promoted to Principal Advisor

The SmedTech leadership team is proud to announce the promotion of Louisa Jenkinson to Principal Advisor.

Since joining SmedTech in 2018, Louisa has worked with a range of clients such as the North East Link Program, State Tolling Corporation, Department of Treasury and Finance, Major Road Projects Victoria and recently the Department for Infrastructure and Transport South Australia.

Louisa has demonstrated commitment to her clients through her proactive project management, strong work ethic and focus on actively solving problems.

In recent times, Louisa has taken on leadership roles across a number of SmedTech’s projects and has been an active contributor on many others.

We congratulate Louisa on this milestone achievement in her career.

Welcoming Sam Parkinson

In August 2022, Smedley Technical & Strategic welcomed Sam Parkinson to the team. Sam is a qualified Civil Engineer with experience in the development and delivery of large-scale civil infrastructure projects.

Sam has broad experience working in a variety of roles across a number of civil infrastructure projects for both client and contractor organisations. He has most recently worked on some of Victoria’s largest infrastructure projects, including the state’s largest ever road project, the North East Link Project.

Sam joins the Smedley Technical & Strategic team as a Senior Advisor and will be advising the Department of Infrastructure and Transport in Adelaide on the North-South Corridor, Torrens to Darlington Project, as well as Major Roads Projects Victoria on various road upgrade projects.

Welcoming Jim Sheward

In March 2022, Smedley Technical & Strategic welcomed Jim Sheward to the team. Jim is a Chartered Professional Civil Engineer and brings with him significant experience in the development and delivery of complex major projects in Australia, the United Kingdom and the Middle East.

Jim’s experience spans across the whole project lifecycle including most recently the development of a public transport business case for the Victorian Government and the development of the North East Link Project.

Jim joins the Smedley Technical & Strategic team as a Principal Advisor advising on major project development and delivery, and is currently advising the Department of Infrastructure and Transport in Adelaide on the North-South Corridor, Torrens to Darlington Project.

North East Link PPP Awarded

Today SmedTech acknowledges an amazing accomplishment for the North East Link Project (NELP), with the Victorian State Government reaching contract close on the $11.1 billion Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract with project consortia Spark. 

 SmedTech is proud of our involvement in this landmark project where we have played a critical role since 2017 in all facets of the project including the original options assessment, business case development, EES approvals, reference design development, busway development and the PPP transaction and procurement.

 It has been our pleasure to work with the NELP team, the Department of Transport, the Department of Treasury and Finance and alongside a great team of advisors from Clayton Utz, EY, IAG/MBB and CICA.

 Congratulations to NELP and Spark on this significant achievement.

Kris Saw promoted to Principal Advisor

Kris Saw joined SmedTech back in 2016 and since then he has continued to provide exceptional advice and support to our clients.

Kris has always maintained a highly responsive approach to his clients and is known for his high-quality outputs and for always being across the pertinent details.

Recently, Kris has managed SmedTech’s development of the Project Scope and Delivery Requirements for the North East Link, including the management and coordination of the various departures and changes that are common to these documents as they are progressed. These are complex processes that take enormous effort, coordination, patience, and persistence.

Kris has demonstrated exceptional leadership, knowledge and commitment to his projects and his clients. This, along with his strong work ethic, has displayed all the key qualities that SmedTech expects of our Principal Advisors.

The SmedTech leadership team is proud to announce Kris Saw as one of our Principal Advisors.

Appointed for North South Corridor Torrens to Darlington Transaction & Commercial Advisory

Smedley Technical & Strategic is delighted to be joining together with MBB Group and Minter Ellison Consulting in announcing our appointment to provide Transaction and Commercial Advisory services for the North South Corridor Torrens to Darlington (T2D) project in Adelaide. 

 The 10.5km T2D project is the final piece of Adelaide’s 78km North-South Corridor, which will unlock the city’s transport network, providing a non-stop traffic-light-free connection between Gawler and Old Noarlunga, with links to the port and airport precincts. 

We look forward to working with our partners, MBB, Minter Ellison Consulting and the SA Department for Infrastructure and Transport on the next stage of this highly complex urban-shaping project, sharing our extensive experience in the development and procurement of major infrastructure projects to play a part in delivering South Australia’s most significant infrastructure project to date.

We're Hiring

SmedTech is looking to expand our Transit team with two new positions that we’re seeking to fill.

Our Transit team, lead by John Storrie, has been undertaking some amazing work in the public transport planning space over the last few years. We’ve advised on a range of bus network planning studies, busway design, zero emission bus investigations, fleet strategies, depot strategies, rail timetable assurance and we recently assisted the Victorian Department of Transport with their new Bus Plan.

Supported by Graeme Vellacott and Mel Nanscawen, both senior experienced public transport experts, we’re looking to grow the team.

Victoria's Bus Plan

Recently the Victorian Government announced Victoria’s Bus Plan, a major public transport policy document that sets a new vision for the bus system to be one that is “a productive, environmentally sustainable modern bus network that attracts and supports travellers with simple, safe, reliable and comfortable journeys.”

We would like to congratulate the Government for this important milestone. 

SmedTech is proud of the involvement of the SmedTech team, led by John Storrie, to support the Department of Transport in structuring, developing  and drafting this important policy document. John was supported by both Graeme Vellacott and Mel Nanscawen from the SmedTech team, each with significant experience in public transport services.

To read more about Victoria’s Bus Plan, follow the link here  

Or to read more about our SmedTech team, follow the links below:

• John

• Mel

• Graeme

Welcoming John Storrie

At the start of May 2019, SmedTech welcomed John Storrie to the team. SmedTech and John have worked together on a range of projects in the past and the addition of John to the team builds on that collaboration to provide a wider offering to SmedTech’s clients.

 John brings 20 years of experience in provision of transport network and service planning advice, transport policy and strategy development, business case development, program and project management and commercial advice.

 John’s depth of experience in transport planning and public transport strengthens SmedTech’s technical and strategic offering, providing our clients with a greater range of services from our highly experienced strategic advisors.

Click link to go to John’s page

North East Link EES Released

This week the North East Link Environment Effects Statement (EES) was released for public exhibition.

This is an important milestone in this significant project for Melbourne as it provides a comprehensive set of information and analysis on how the project could affect the environment and how adverse impacts would be managed.

 Smedley Technical & Strategic has played a key role in this project producing the Traffic and Transport Impact Assessment for the EES, contained in Technical Report A. This report responds to the Scoping Directions issued by the Minster for Planning and assesses the project’s impact across the north east of Melbourne at both a strategic and detailed corridor level.

 This is one of the many areas where Smedley Technical & Strategic has been assisting the State on the North East Link Project since January 2017 and in our key role as the Strategic Technical Advisor.

 The full EES for the North East Link can be found here: https://northeastlink.vic.gov.au/environment/environment-effects-statement-ees