1. Tell me about your company – what industry you are in and what does your business do?
AREA Environmental & Heritage Consultants (AREA) is a diverse team of experienced scientists and cadets, specialising in the fields of ecology, archaeology, landscape and design. The collective experience of the AREA team is used to assess and manage conservation of or an impact to the environmental for site based and / or linear infrastructure projects such as:
• Mining operations
• Renewable energy
• Road infrastructure
• Telecommunication cables
• Electricity transmission lines
• Residential developments
• Biodiversity offsetting
• Private land conservation
• Rehabilitation
• And various other government and private projects
AREAs team has completed environmental and heritage requirements for just about every kind of project, from small desktop assessments to State Significant Developments across the Australian eastern seaboard.
2. Can you please provide some top-level information about your organisation, such as size, number of staff, office locations or similar?
AREA was established in 2016 as a start-up company with one employee. In 2022, the company has 10 full-time, two part-time and two casual employees, and we are recruiting for additional positions in 2022. Our employees are based in Dubbo, Sydney, Goulburn and Armidale.
In 2019 AREA purchased the local heritage significant ‘The Old Macquarie Brewery’ in Dubbo, Central West NSW. The 1876 sandstone building, originally built to be a brewery, was retrofitted several times until the 1980s. Restoration work has removed previous retrofits to achieve its 1876 state. AREA’s archaeologists applied adaptive reuse principles to protect, enhance and showcase the buildings heritage values so we could deliver a modern working environment amongst the heritage values. Our landscape design and ecology teams are currently working on a workplace environmental emersion experience focussing on native flora species and plant communities.
3. Why did you go through certification?
4. How did you find the process with Global-Mark?
- Consistency – With consistency we can guarantee the quality of products delivered.
- Improvement – By engaging every member of staff in the quality process, we create a culture of constant problem solving and innovation.
- Employee communication – Communication and education is essential to get employee buy-in to quality objectives. When staff openly share information they understand the company’s values.
- Evidence based decision making – Leaders can make subjective decisions. Evidence-based decisions benefits the company in many direct and indirect ways.
- Profits – A QMS can improve efficiency and profitability by preventing problems and providing tools to identify and address them. This minimised risk of rework, waste or nonconformances.
5. What is your outcome e.g. are you happy with the outcome?
Global-Mark helped us through the daunting task of QMS certification and ensuring ongoing compliance through the audit processes. As a small business, we were unsure of many aspects of a process that seemed to be tailored to large operations. However, we could see the value of formalising our quality control measures in a more systematic way. Global-Mark gave us a clearer understanding of how QMS could be used effectively for a company of our size and type.
6. What is your outcome e.g., are you happy with the outcome?
In September 2020, AREA was successful in their surveillance audit and were happy with the outcome. Because the audit was during the covid-19 lockdown, it required a remote audit which had it challenges. Global-Mark auditor, Chris, was very accommodating, professional and the audit went smoothly…and importantly, AREA passed!
The surveillance audit gave insight into aspects of the QMS which could be improved. Some of these are safeguards for business development which is always an area of risk as well as streamlining procedures to become more efficient.
For more information on AREA Environmental & Heritage Consultants, click here.
