When the Dubbo Region is home and your work has you travelling all over the country for work.
In a 148 year old building that once saw beer brewed for the community now sits a small business which considers ways to avoid, minimise or offset harm to the environment.
In 2019 AREA Environmental & Heritage Consultants and AREA Landscape Design Consultants purchased the locally heritage significant Old Macquarie Brewery and rebuilt it as their main office in the Central West.
Adaptive reuse restoration work on the 1867 sandstone building saw AREA protecting, enhancing and showcasing the buildings heritage values.
The modern workplace among the heritage building highlights the values that AREA brings to the region.
As a consultant Managing Director Phillip Cameron describes the Dubbo Region as the ‘land of milk and honey’.
“We pride ourselves on living in the regional community because we relate to regional communities and speak a common language. We work with regional people and communities with a connection to country or their land, if we were based in a major city our stakeholders probably wouldn’t look at us the same.”
The business employs archaeologists, environmental scientists, ecologists and environmental compliance specialist to consider ways to avoid, minimise or offset harm to the built or natural environment.
When asked what their work looked like, Phil highlighted the variety of jobs they currently had on the books.
A look at his diary revealed a stint in the Land and Environment Court as an Expert Witness for an illegal clearing matter, before consultation with a wildlife veterinarian regarding a project in Cape York.
Phil said he had rescheduled a project in the Victorian Highlands because snow had delayed the survey team and a Right to Negotiate meeting with a client regarding Native Title had come up as well.
Also on the agenda were stakeholder engagement strategies in Western NSW, Service Provision Agreements for a project with five Native Title groups in South Australian and a Biodiversity Stewardship Site Agreement with the NSW Government
While the team were wrapped up for the week, they were also already thinking about packing their bags to head to the Strzelecki and Simpsons deserts for further projects the following week.
It just showed that Dubbo is the perfect location to be based.
“The work we do is technical, the legislation is complex and the Regulation quite thorough so a lot of learning from our staff is done by being in an open plan office (the former brewery factory floor) to work shop these complexities. We have run a number of different models with staff on site and working remotely and on site is the better model.”
The team have worked to assess and manage the environment for site and infrastructure projects including mining operations, renewable energy, road infrastructure, residential developments, private land conservation, telecommunications cables and electricity transmission lines.
When Phil moved to Dubbo in 1991 he came to work at Taronga Western Plains Zoo. Thirteen years later he left to work for another Environment Consultancy before starting his own business.
“I think if you have discipline, a plan and something to offer and be willing to take a risk then there are unlimited opportunities to make a good life for yourself in Dubbo.”
“If you think you are good at something then put your money where your mouth is and have a crack. There are plenty of opportunities in this region for people wanting to make a difference.”
But the challenge for Phil, and other small businesses is convincing people to move to Dubbo.
“I can’t understand why people don’t want to live in Dubbo. There is no shortage of work and like many companies everyone is in a cycle of recruiting at the moment.
“Dubbo has come ahead in leaps and bounds and at the moment it’s looking pretty good for the future.”
To connect with ARE Environmental visit: AREA Environmental & Heritage Consultants