Western Australia has built its prosperity by delivering projects of extraordinary scale and complexity. Henderson presents another defining challenge: delivering infrastructure to support Australia’s future defence capability while creating an industrial legacy for generations.
With $12 billion committed and early planning estimates pointing to about $25 billion over the decade, the program is expected to include graving docks, shipbuilding halls, sustainment yards and contingency docking for a future nuclear-powered submarine fleet, while supporting about 10,000 direct jobs over the next two decades.
But Henderson should not be measured only by the investment or infrastructure constructed. Its success will also be determined by what remains in WA: stronger local supply chains, greater industrial capacity and businesses equipped to compete for future opportunities.
Much of the expertise required already exists within the state’s marine, engineering, construction, fabrication and resources industries.
Building on established capability
Defence infrastructure requires secure operating environments, rigorous governance, complex systems integration, disciplined logistics and collaboration between government, Defence, designers, contractors and local communities.
WA industry has developed many of these capabilities through decades of delivering technically complex infrastructure in remote, coastal and operationally demanding environments.
Clough, founded in Perth in 1919 and now part of the Webuild Group, has contributed to that capability for more than a century. Its defence-related experience includes communications infrastructure at Campbell Barracks, stages one and two of the Electronic Warfare Command and Processing Sub-system, satellite ground stations supporting national Defence strategic communications, and marine and wharf infrastructure along the WA coast.
That local heritage is supported by Webuild Group’s broader engineering and construction capability. In Australia, the group holds Defence Industry Security Program accreditation and brings together the experience of Webuild, Clough and e2o across Defence, marine, aviation and secure infrastructure.
Strategic outcomes
The redevelopment of Lombrum Naval Base on Manus Island provides an example of what defence infrastructure can achieve beyond construction.
Delivered by Clough as part of an initiative between the Australian and Papua New Guinean governments, the project included electrical generation, water and sewerage systems, training and accommodation facilities, and infrastructure for Guardian-class patrol boats. It supported the Papua New Guinea Defence Force’s ability to patrol the country’s borders and protect its maritime resources.
Delivery in a logistically challenging and security-sensitive environment required close engagement with the Papua New Guinea Defence Force and local community, demonstrating the importance of integrating operational requirements, engineering decisions and stakeholder relationships from the beginning.
Designing operational requirements
A similar approach is being applied at the Ship Lift and Northern Marine Complex in Darwin, where Clough, through a joint venture, is delivering a facility for Defence, Australian Border Force and commercial maritime use.
The project includes a 26-metre by 103-metre ship lift with a 5,500-tonne capacity, wet berths and hardstand areas for vessel repair and maintenance. A Navy reservist participated in design workshops to help ensure that operational and accreditation requirements were understood early.
Early engagement between infrastructure specialists, operational users and industry can identify critical requirements before they become costly design changes or construction constraints, improving certainty, constructability and whole-of-life performance.
The delivery challenge
With funding committed, the site confirmed and concept design progressing, Henderson is moving from ambition towards execution. The challenge will be establishing a delivery environment capable of managing a complex pipeline of work over many years. Sequencing, workforce planning, design coordination, procurement, security requirements and access to specialist equipment will all matter.
Government and industry will need to consider how work packages are brought to market, competing demands for labour and materials, and how smaller WA businesses can prepare for the standards, systems and security requirements associated with Defence work.
Visibility will be important. Businesses are more likely to invest in people, technology and facilities when they understand the opportunity ahead and have time to build capability.
WA at the centre
WA enters this next phase with a significant advantage. Its engineers, marine contractors, fabricators and project delivery specialists have built a reputation for operating in complex, remote and technically demanding environments.
Through Clough, Webuild has been part of WA’s industrial landscape for more than a century, combining local knowledge and relationships with the global engineering and project delivery expertise. This reflects a long-term commitment to investing in WA’s people, businesses and communities.
Henderson is more than a defence infrastructure program. It is an opportunity to create lasting economic and social value for WA. Its success should be measured not only by the assets delivered but by the careers created, skills developed, local businesses strengthened and communities that share in its benefits.
Putting WA industry and supply chains at the centre of delivery can help ensure the investment strengthens both Australia’s defence capability and the state’s industrial capacity for decades to come.
