Weathering the Storm, how the Victorian Building and Construction Industry survived the COVID-19 pandemic

Lessons learnt show that industry and government working together saved lives and jobs.

In 2022 we commissioned a research project to investigate how our industry survived the first two years of the pandemic.

The "Weathering the Storm" Report aimed to examine the impact felt by industry and what we can learn from it.

The research included economic modelling, in-depth interviews with 17 industry stakeholders, site visits and consultation of secondary sources.

Key findings

Our industry came together to form ‘BIG1’: a united group made up of employers, industry associations, unions and government to pool expertise, resources, consistent communication, and demonstrating a united front.

This meant the industry was able to deploy timely and proactive interventions protecting workers and minimising transmission risk.

State and federal government support was pivotal in keeping the industry afloat.

This report shows that as an industry we rose to the challenge and showed a united demonstration of effective leadership, agility, and innovation.

The coordinated response meant that an estimated $22.1B of construction were completed.

This also saw 122,000 to 168,000 thousand jobs for Victorian’s during a time of increasing unemployment.

Access the report

You can read the full report here.

We’d like to thank Dr Meg Mundell, Director at Harch Insight who authored the report and Guy Jakeman, Principal at ACIL Allen who conducted the economic modelling.

Thank you to the interviewees for providing insights into the progression of events and what worked for industry stakeholders on the ground.