20 Jul Perth you’ve won me over!

20 July 2018

After many pots of tea, even more conversations, a cinnamon cruffin, just a few coffees and the most delicious custard bun from Hattendo; Perth has won me over.

While the weather was (surprisingly) cooler than Sydney, the people in Perth are extremely warm and welcoming. Business development (BD) professionals across legal, Big 4, design and engineering are busy, and with the huge Western Australia Infrastructure Package, market confidence is high.

Below are some of the key takeaways during my many conversations in Perth:

• Bidding activities have increased exponentially given the billion-dollar infrastructure projects in development. This sheer volume of bidding activities has been keeping BD professionals and fee earners equally busy, and things are expected to continue.
• Across legal; litigation, M&A, projects and infrastructure groups are in demand, with banking & finance teams remaining steady.
• There is a bullish outlook for the next 6-12 months. While there is realistic skepticism and agreement that the market won’t return to levels of the mining boom, the future is looking bright.
• With many solar power plants and wind farms currently underway, renewable energy projects will continue to keep professional services busy across the West coast.
• Perth teams within international firms continue to work across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and some firms are relocating fee earners ‘down under’ to cope with the increasing amount of work.
• BD professionals based in Perth are usually energy and resources sector leads, with responsibilities spanning global, regional, Australia-wide and/or Perth-only.

Exciting times ahead for the West coast and definitely more trips on the horizon to, what some say is, the best city in the world.