CPB Contractors, as part of a joint venture, is involved in the construction of the Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport (WSI), specifically Airside Civil and Pavement (ACP) works. This includes the runway, taxiways, aircraft pavement markings, airside roads, and other related infrastructure, with the airport scheduled to open in late 2026.
In this series, we deep-dive into the experience of those working on WSI to highlight the opportunities and challenges this historic project brings, and the skillset it demands.
CPB Contractors Safety, Health, Environment and Quality Manager Craig Godwin has dedicated 30 years to ensuring people return home safely from their daily construction jobs. In the early days of his career, a tragic workplace accident in the UK that resulted in a mate losing his life, as well as his own near-miss incident, fuelled his drive to embark on a career in safety, and a commitment to ensuring he didn’t see another worker hurt.
Since moving to Australia in 2009, Craig joined CPB Contractors on the Kingsgrove to Revesby Quadruplication Project in South Sydney, before a two-year stint in the corporate national rail safety team. He moved to Darwin to lead the safety team on the Inpex oil and gas project, before returning to Sydney’s WestConnex’ New M5 project. Transitioning to the first Sydney Metro package, Northwest Rapid Transit, he then moved to Sydney’s Metro Linewide City and Southwest project for five years, before landing his current role leading safety at WSI ACP and The Cargo Precinct two of the five packages awarded to CPB Contractors across the WSI precinct.
Craig’s recruitment to this role recognises his steadfast commitment to safety, a value instilled at WSI since the first Early Earthworks package began in 2018.
“Joining the WSI project to lead the safety team for the ACP and The Cargo Precinct - a joint venture with Acciona - I was well aware of the outstanding five-year safety record on the project, and walking through the gates, I immediately felt it. The project, the people and the culture are well established, with safety at its core.
Construction can be a high-pressure, sometimes risky job. It’s our responsibility to do everything we can to protect the people working on our projects by putting the right safety management processes and systems in place, providing the right equipment and training to ensure these are followed.”
CPB Contractors Project Director Christian Byrne adds that team culture and accountability has help drive the safety record at WSI.
“We don’t just have one big team at WSI, we’ve got teams of teams, and those teams overlap, working extremely well together, all aligned in their goal to succeed. Most importantly, the team mentality was instilled in our managers and superintendents. They understand they are each supporting each other, and we either succeed or fail together. When people see senior leaders behaving in those ways, everyone buys into it. This culture is a big part of what drives safety here at WSI.”
Craig says that workers at all levels, including supervisors and superintendents fully embrace the CIMIC and CPB Contractors’ One HSE culture.
“People own their responsibility for safety. If a challenge arises, the construction teams will try to resolve it themselves, as opposed to handing it over to the safety person to fix. They get together, in a huddle and invite the safety team in, to work through and resolve the issue together.
“Through this leadership, the entire workforce on the WSI Cargo Precinct, including our subcontractors, live and breathe that One HSE culture. It’s a stand-out project and one each worker is genuinely proud of – that’s a game-changer for construction.”
Reflecting on the outstanding safety record on WSI ACP for the 2.8 million project hours, WSI is a shining example of the step change in culture transformation we are starting to see more broadly in the construction industry.
“There has been a shift in people's approach. Not only are they caring more and taking greater accountability, but managers understand that safety connects to productivity. For example, a major safety incident will stop production on site, lead to investigations and can majorly impact the project. Not only is everyone more aware, they’re also less reliant on the safety leads on a project, choosing to take ownership themselves. WSI is an industry-leading example of that.”