Infrastructure Skills Legacy Program 

The Infrastructure Skills Legacy Program aims to address skills shortages and increase diversity in the construction sector.

Group of construction workers on site
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What the program does 

The Infrastructure Skills Legacy Program:

  • boosts the number of skilled construction workers
  • increases diversity in construction.

ISLP is part of NSW Government Action Plan: A ten point commitment to the construction sector. 

It recognises the need for the NSW Government to work with industry to:

  • develop skills, capability and capacity
  • increase diversity.

The program was approved by the NSW Procurement Board Direction - PBD 2023-01 Skills, Training, and diversity in construction (nsw.gov.au) and is now mandatory for all NSW Government infrastructure projects.

Training Services manages the program in consultation with other government agencies and in partnership with the construction industry.

How it works 

The program helps to 

  • address skills shortages in the construction sector
  • increase diversity in the workforce 
  • train workers to gain new skills on the job
  • increase the number of apprenticeship opportunities 
  • increase the representation of young people, Aboriginal people and women 
  • ensure workers from surrounding areas get training and employment.

Skills training and diversity targets 

These are the program skills, training and diversity targets agreed by government and industry.

Graph displaying targets listed in plain text below it

Plain text version of table data:

  • Apply the relevant Aboriginal Procurement Policy*: Applies to contract value $7.5m to over $100m
  • 20% of the Trades Workforce to be apprentices: Applies to contract value $10m to over $100m
  • 2% of the Trades Workforce to be women: Applies to contract value over $100m
  • Report % of Women in Non-Traditional roles
  • 20% of the Project Workforce to be learning workers: Applies to contract value over $100m
  • 8% of the Project Workforce to be young people: Applies to contract value over $100m
  • Report Local Employment Outcomes: Applies to contract value over $100m.

* Please refer to the definition of Aboriginal Procurement Policy in the Training Management Guidelines.

Women in Construction focused ISLP

The NSW Government’s Women in Construction focused ISLP is a new pilot initiative aimed at increasing the number of women in construction.

Through this initiative, the NSW Government is trialling minimum targets across a portfolio of government infrastructure projects.

The trial targets are:

  • 4% of the trades workforce to be women
  • 7% of the project workforce to be women in non-traditional roles

The NSW Government will embed project officers in industry to work across a number of NSW government infrastructure projects to pilot the new targets. The initiative aims to address the high labour and skills demand and improve gender diversity within the construction industry.

The project officers will:

  • support the employment, upskilling, and retention of women in the construction sector and work to improve the culture within the industry to make it more inclusive for everyone.
  • report to the Department of Education on the achievement against the targets including initiatives, barriers, critical success factors and case studies.

More information:

Training management guidelines

The Training Management Guidelines provide: 

  • information for NSW Government agencies and construction contractors on meeting ISLP targets.  
  • skills and diversity targets  
  • examples of strategies for achievement  
  • guidance on reporting performance to TSNSW. 

The Training Management Guidelines and Reporting Template are live documents and will be updated from time to time. If you have any questions or feedback in relation to these documents please contact the team at ISLP@det.nsw.edu.au. 

Case studies and achievements

Current projects

Completed projects

The infrastructure build may still be ongoing. 

Achievements against targets 

The ISLP projects are demonstrating strong performance against the Infrastructure Skills Legacy Program targets. The table below shows total achievement against targets for key ISLP projects. 

Targets 

Number of people 
(see note 3)

ISLP Target % 

Average % across key ISLP projects 

Inducted on to site 

87,497

  

  

Learning Workers 

29,240

20% 

27% 

Apprentices 

2,086

20% 

26% 

Aboriginal People 

2,646

In line with APIC and APP (see note 1) 

7% 

Women in non-traditional Trades/Roles 

4,077

2% 

4% 

Young people under 25 years 

14,174

8% 

17% 

People living in the local Region 

56,205

As per the contract (see note 2) 

54% 

Note 1: Aboriginal Participation in Construction Policy / Aboriginal Procurement Policy. There is no set target unless specified in procurement. 

Note 2: No specific target agreed, although contractors encouraged to ensure local jobs for local people. 

Note 3: All projects reporting data within the table are part of the initial ISLP pilot and there are variances in the way the projects report against the targets. 

Figures are from June 2016 to 30 December 2022

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