Downer empowers supervisors, frees engineer hours
Digital QA empowered Downer to deliver more with less, minimising cost of rework and empowering supervisors with quality tools on site.
.png?width=600&height=450&name=Template%20website%20heros%20(13).png "Road surfacing")
Civil Infrastructure
Downer
Craig Lingard
Senior Project Manager
Whineray Arries
Quality Manager
The results speak for themselves
👉 Supervisors lead on quality, engineers freed for higher-value work
👉 $190K saving on a single project
👉 50% reduction in quality management hours
👉 <0.1% NCR rate across 6,500 tests
👉 Faster closeouts, cutting months off project tails
Read below to see how they did it!
“It’s a change in how we operate. Supervisors are important to the business, so why not make the most of that?”
Whineray Arries, Quality Manager, Downer
The critical nature of QA in large-scale infrastructure
Downer is one of Australasia’s largest infrastructure companies, responsible for delivering complex roading and civil projects where margins are tight, compliance is non-negotiable, and reputations are on the line. On major works QA can make or break a project. It’s not just about ticking boxes, but proving compliance layer by layer, satisfying client auditors, and ensuring that the finished product will stand the test of time.
But in practice, QA has long been a pain point. Projects often required extra engineers or full-time quality managers just to keep up with the paperwork. Closeouts dragged on for months, holding up bonds and retentions. Supervisors, who were closest to the work, had little direct involvement, leaving visibility gaps that increased the risk of costly rework. As Craig, a Senior Project Manager at Downer, put it:
"You cannot get practical completion until you’ve got your QA signed off."
The question for Downer wasn’t whether QA was important, it was how to make the most of their time on site without compromising compliance.
Digital tools becoming a competitive advantage
Downer introduced CONQA as a way to transform how QA was done across major projects like highways, tunnels, roading maintenance and even beach remediation. The aim wasn't just digitisation for its own sake, but to change the culture and role of QA.
Instead of QA being an administrative afterthought, it became part of daily site operations, and an area where Downer could gain a genuine edge
“You can't build a road with a Leatherman... you need a specialised tool to do a specialised job. That’s what CONQA is.”
Craig Lingard, Senior Project Manager
How CONQA reshaped Downer's delivery
Supervisors empowered, engineers freed
The biggest shift came from putting QA directly in the hands of site staff. Instead of QA being left only to engineers and quality managers, supervisors were brought into the process at the point of work. They capture deliveries and check ITPs in real time, taking responsibility for compliance at the point of work.
“Supervisors now handle deliveries, capturing live in CONQA the delivery docket and as materials are being offloaded, put into storage, all of that the supervisors are now checking against the ITPs on their phone.” - Whineray Arries
This frees engineers to focus on higher-value work, and allows quality managers to oversee more projects, delivering leaner staffing and cost savings.
“We had budgeted to have three engineers and a cadet, but were able to run it with one engineer and a cadet. One of those was down to CONQA... that’s probably a net saving of $190K for this 18-month project… we could definitely plan to have one less engineer on jobs where we are using CONQA.” - Craig Lingard
Across the wider business, the impact was clear
"In the quality space, we’ve halved the man hours required on a project. That’s where the savings are at.” - Whineray Arries
Failures caught, trust earned
In roading projects, a missed QA check can mean catastrophic rework. With CONQA, Downer’s teams could see results in real time and act immediately. On one project, 260,000 tonnes of structural fill required 6,500 tests. Only six came back out of spec, an NCR rate of less than 0.1% compared to the 0.5–1% industry norm.
“If we hadn’t been getting that information straight away, and you miss a test result, you’ve now got to redo work that’s buried under 4 metres of fill.” - Craig Lingard
Catching issues early doesn’t eliminate rework completely, but it meant fixes were faster and far less costly.
At the same time, CONQA’s transparency helped Downer build stronger relationships with its clients. By sharing QA data live, clients could see progress as it happened, facilitating greater alignment and trust.
“Reputation and trust, that’s a big thing. By having a system that’s transparent you can involve the client, making them a part of the QA process.” - Craig Lingard
This visibility also meant when engineers moved projects, there was no added downtime. The project experienced smoother closeouts, fewer disputes, and bonds released months earlier.
For Downer, CONQA is more than compliance. It’s how supervisors actively contribute to quality, engineers focus on value, and projects run leaner from start to finish.
See how CONQA works
Book a demo and our team will be in touch to set up a time to show you how CONQA checklists, approvals and reports help you manage progress on-site.