Michael Close interviews SLR Consulting technical discipline manager – construction materials and services, Clayton Hill.
Michael Close: What’s kept you and so many SLR colleagues engaged with the Institute?
Clayton Hill: The industry itself is one that values networking and professional development. The IQA provides access to industry relevant training, networking and learning opportunities that are not found elsewhere. We are a niche industry and the IQA caters for both members and non-members by providing industry specific events and professional development opportunities. Now with the introduction of practising certificates and mandatory professional development in a number of states, this is even more relevant.
For our team members starting their careers in the sector, they have the opportunity to get involved in committees, attend conferences, training and build relationships with industry peers and mentors. They come back with insights that make them better consultants.
MC: The sustainability conversation has shifted dramatically since you joined. What’s different now?
CH: Since I first joined the industry, the sustainability conversation in Australia’s quarry and broader resources sector has shifted from aspiration to expectation—driven by policy pressure, investor scrutiny, technological advancement and the rapid acceleration of decarbonisation initiatives.
The sustainability conversation today is broader, more technical, more urgent, and significantly more strategic. It’s no longer about compliance, it’s about transformation.
MC: Community expectations seem particularly challenging. What are you seeing?
CH: Communities expect transparency – real data on dust, noise, water quality, not just assurances. They want demonstrated outcomes, not promises about what might happen at closure in 20 years.
The operations doing well treat community relationships as ongoing, not transactional. They involve locals in monitoring programs, hire locally, contribute meaningfully to regional development.
MC: What worries you about the sector looking ahead?
CH: Skills and capability. Attracting the next generation of quarrying professionals is something that I am concerned about.
The current and likely future generations have a different outlook on work and the sectors they want to be involved with. We’re often invisible to school leavers and those choosing career changes. And were competing with other industries looking to secure talent.
We need to do more in this space which is why I am excited about the ‘That’s Solid’ campaign the IQA is launching and a project I am leading investigating a tertiary qualification for the quarry industry in Australia, partnering and learning from the good work the Institute has done in the UK with the University of Derby.
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