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With TBH Director, Robbie Breschkin
Desalination projects come with unique delivery pressures. Marine interfaces, reverse osmosis systems, tunnelling, power integration and environmental constraints all need to be managed within compressed timelines and under high public scrutiny. These challenges make desalination one of the most complex infrastructure tasks in Australia’s portfolio.
In this article, TBH Director Robbie Breschkin reflects on the Sydney and Adelaide Desalination Projects and TBH’s role in supporting performance, coordination and schedule certainty under pressure.
The Sydney Blueprint
The $1.9 billion Sydney Desalination Project brought together multiple joint ventures to deliver offshore intake and outlet infrastructure, treatment plant commissioning and a major transfer pipeline. With a high number of technical interfaces and overlapping workstreams, Sydney Water required full visibility of delivery sequencing, schedule risk and coordination across the entire program.
“Our role was to give Sydney Water confidence in a high-risk delivery environment,” says Breschkin. “That meant reviewing contractor schedules, testing program logic, tracking earned value and identifying sequencing risks that could impact critical milestones.”
Working alongside John Holland, Veolia, McConnell Dowell, and KBR, TBH provided integrated time and cost management support. Our team enabled transparency between parties, validated performance, and supported informed decisions throughout delivery. The project was ultimately completed within budget.
Complexity at Scale in Adelaide
At $1.98 billion, the Adelaide Desalination Project was one of the largest infrastructure investments in South Australia’s history. Designed to drought-proof metropolitan Adelaide, the program included a reverse osmosis plant, pumping station, undersea tunnels, and staged power supply; all delivered under intense public and political scrutiny.
Engaged by SA Water, together with the AdelaideAqua consortium (Abigroup, McConnell Dowell and Acciona Agua), TBH provided planning and time management support throughout the delivery and handover of the project. Our team worked with both client and contractor groups to provide a realistic delivery plan for marine tunnelling, energy integration, and environmental interfaces.
“The Adelaide Desalination Project combined every complexity: marine works, energy, public expectation, and a compressed timeline,” says Breschkin. “We provided the schedule rigour and insights to give all parties confidence in a realistic and achievable plan.”
The result for the project was an on-schedule handover and multiple national and international awards for project excellence.
Looking Forward
Desalination delivery tests every part of a project’s structure, from the baseline schedule to contract strategy, planning and environmental approvals, coordination and stakeholder management. With workfronts spread across coastal, civil and electrical packages, the risk of slippage is high without clear sequencing and fast, informed responses to change.
TBH’s role in these projects extends beyond planning, scheduling, cost and risk management, supporting decision-making, enabling transparency between delivery partners, and ensuring risks are surfaced early enough to act.
TBH has supported six completed and two current desalination projects, solving the unique delivery challenges these projects encounter. “We know how to plan amid uncertainty, manage risk across complex interfaces, and keep delivery moving, even in the complex world of desalination.” says Breschkin.
“We’ve seen what works and what doesn’t, and we bring that clarity to every desalination project we support.”
For current desalination projects emerging across Australia, success will come down to experience, coordination, and delivery discipline. With decades of experience in desalination, TBH is ready to help.