Client: Central Coast Council State: NSW AEC was engaged by Central Coast Regional Council to develop a 20 year Economic Development Strategy with a focussed 5 year implementation plan. Background research conducted included a literature review, baseline economic research as well as a competitive assessment and opportunity analysis. As part of the stakeholder engagement for the development of the strategy, an online survey was conducted internally for Council and residents of Central Coast as well as conducting workshops and individual interviews. The Economic Development Strategy provided Council with strategic themes to deliver upon with an implementation plan to ensure the success of the document as well as a graphic designed public facing document.

Client: Port Stephens Council State: NSW AEC updated the Council's developer contributions model with a revised work schedule and prepared an updated Developer Contributions Plan. AEC also critically reviewed and assessed the validity of a developer submission for reduced contributions for heavy haulage from an existing quarry site. The review found that the developer had not provided sufficient evidence to warrant a reduction in contribution rates.

Client: Heavy Vehicle Industry Association State: QLD The Brisbane Truck Show is held biennially at the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre. The event attracts approximately 40,000 attendees and approximately 250 exhibitors. AEC has been undertaking research with patrons and exhibitors of the Brisbane Truck Show since 2011. The objectives of the study were to: • Determine the economic impact of the show; • Investigate the effectiveness of the advertising campaign; • Ascertain attendee and exhibitor satisfaction with the show; and • Obtain a demographic profile of the attendees. On average, each time AEC has obtained over 400 intercept surveys from attendees at the Show over a course of 3 – 4 days resulting in a confidence interval of +/- 4.77. Additionally, a total of 239 emails were sent soliciting participation to a web-based survey and 138 surveys were collected from exhibitors. Expenditure data from visitors, exhibitors and Heavy Vehicle Industry Association were used in Input-Output models specific to the Queensland economy to estimate the direct and indirect impacts to the state economy. The findings of these reports are used to assist with promotion of the event both interstate and overseas.

Client: Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads State: QLD The private property towing reforms were introduced on 16 April 2018 to improve the accountability of the towing industry and to provide protection to Queensland motorists. The Queensland Government engaged with key stakeholders and communities via the Your say on Queensland’s Tow Truck Scheme discussion paper and online survey was published on the Get Involved website. AEC reported on the results obtained from the website with analysis undertaken using SPSS and Q Professional.

Client: Stadium Queensland State: QLD Stadiums Queensland (SQ) is a statutory body established under the Major Sports Facilities Act 2001 and is charged with the management of major facilities declared under Queensland Government regulation as being venues having the capacity to stage national or international sports events and to deliver recreation and entertainment experiences. Of the nine (9) venues managed by SQ, customer research has been commissioned for three key stakeholder groups (customers/patrons, members, and hirers) across six key venues including The Suncorp Stadium, The Gabba, 1300SMILES Stadium, the Cbus Super Stadium, the Sleeman Sports Complex, and the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre. Over four years, AEC will undertake more than 15,000 intercept and online surveys with spectators, members and hirers, stakeholder consultations and focus group sessions and produce 24 trend analysis reports inclusive of segmentation analysis. The four-year contract term includes delivering on strategic insights to benchmark stakeholder satisfaction overall and across key service areas (including identifying key and sub-drivers of satisfaction and a ranked action plan), retention and to track these KPIs over time, formal presentation of the results as well as infographic reporting as requested by SQ.

Client: Aqwest State: WA Aqwest (Bunbury Water Corporation) commissions AEC for an annual customer survey (since 2014) to assess the satisfaction with services it provides and to produce key performance indicators for Aqwest’s annual reporting processes. The primary objective of the Customer Survey is to establish customer and community satisfaction with a range of Aqwest water services and establish reason for any low satisfaction areas. Customers are engaged via CATI and online survey and reporting is inclusive of trend analysis over time.

AEC’s Corporate Strategy is built upon confidential and nimble negotiation and planning. The vast majority of our work is commercial in confidence and if you would like to speak with one of our talented team members please contact reception@aecgroupltd.com.

Client: City of Sydney State: NSW AEC was engaged to assist Mako (engaged by City of Sydney) in carrying out an urban design review of development options at the Waterloo Estate. AEC’s input was delivered in two workshops, (1) to provide feedback following a critique of the suggested assumptions and make recommendations as necessary and (2) a review of the revised assumptions of the feasibility model.

Client: South Burnett Regional Council State: QLD AEC were engaged by South Burnett Regional Council to conduct a market and operational review of the Coolabunia Saleyards. The purpose of the report was to identify future operating options for the saleyard and potential courses of action to assist the Council in future decision making. The report included a review of the beef cattle industry, a market overview of the catchment, an operational review of the saleyards and stakeholder engagement to understand market positioning.

Client: Market & Communications Research (MCR) State: QLD A priority Development Area was declared (September 2016) to facilitate the development of the University of the Moreton Bay Campus, located at the core of The Mill Moreton Bay. This development will support the delivery of the university, together with a number of mixed-use facilities providing education, health, retail, residential, recreation, commercial and environmental uses. The higher education precinct is anticipated to help revitalise the local area and support economic, social and environmental outcomes and priorities. Given this potential impact on the regional landscape, AEC provided a report outlining key demographic and economic indicators for the local community and economy to help understand the current landscape and environment. AEC also provided high-level population by age projections as well as employment by industry projections to understand potential growth industries in the region.

Client: Central Highlands Regional Council State: QLD This project involved a review of water and wastewater business cost recovery for Central Highlands Regional Council, in addition to benchmarking of water and wastewater prices with peer Councils. Suggested price paths were developed based on the assessment outcomes, in addition to other considerations being addressed (e.g. implications of Sunwater price hikes, adjustment to access charge multipliers for larger connections, review of appropriateness of retaining early payment discounts).

Client: Port Pirie Region Council State: SA AEC was engaged by Council to conduct a fresh review into its rating structure for potential implementation from 2019-20, with the primary objective being to ensure a fair method of recovering rates from properties across the region through the application of the principles of equity, consistency, sustainability and simplicity. The review assessed whether the current rating strategy was meeting its original objectives or whether alternative approaches may better reflect these principles, in addition to reviewing (and amending if necessary) the approach to rating against applicable legislation and equity principles given the current approach is based on a historical position. The review was focused on the composition and distribution of general rates, and therefore it did not consider increases or adjustments to total rate income or other sources of revenue.