Manidis Roberts has been instrumental in developing, planning and mobilising for a future metro network for Sydney. Working with the Centre for Transport Planning and Product Development within the NSW Ministry of Transport, and Sydney Metro, we have provided strategic advice to the NSW Government and undertaken scoping and
feasibility studies.

Initially, we focused on establishing a governance structure for the project team that prioritised integrated land use and transport route planning. We also developed the key deliverables, milestones and resourcing strategy for the initial phase, and prepared
and produced internal and external project documentation.

We provided leadership and senior team members for the transport and land use planning documentation and stakeholder relations streams within the North West, CBD and West Metro projects.

We also scoped and mobilised the feasibility study for the second metro line, the West Metro between Parramatta and Sydney CBD. We developed a governance structure to integrate this study with an analysis of the M5 motorway corridor, and had responsibity
for providing transport and land use planning and documentation services throughout the feasibility and pre-construction phases.

We undertook the research and planning for the development of a Sydney-wide metro network strategy and prepared the Part 3A Environmental Assessment documentation of Metro Stage 1 (CBD Metro) and Metro Stage 2 (West Metro). The EA for Metro Stage 1 was completed in record time and was approved in January 2010 by the Minister for Planning.

Our role at Sydney Metro has also included developing the organisation’s sustainability policy framework and ensuring its application in the environmental assessment, reference design and contract documentation and governance phases of the CBD Metro project.

In February 2010, the NSW Government launched its Metropolitan Transport Plan. This included a decision to defer the network in the short to medium term.