New Civil Engineer
Belinda Smart
25 September 2025
Darren Mort, president – infrastructure global business unit at Bechtel, on how smart delivery models are critical to megaprojects’ success.
In July, construction of Australia’s “greenfield” Western Sydney International (WSI) airport was completed almost seven months early and within its AU$5.3bn (£2.5bn) budget.
Bechtel was the delivery partner and project management consultant, responsible for managing the project’s design and construction, including contractor procurement, budget management and scheduling. It oversaw the delivery of construction packages including the terminal, runway and airfield.
For Bechtel infrastructure global business unit president Darren Mort, the scheme demonstrates the challenges and achievements of large-scale, transformative megaprojects.
“It’s been a long journey. We started back at the development phase in 2017 to engage the supply chain, get aligned with the client – the Australian Government – and deliver the project for the state of New South Wales. There’s still work to do. We’ve got to support the client to get WSI into airport operation in 2026, but to achieve construction completion the way we did, and for that to be seven months early and within budget is unusual in the aviation new build sector.”
