SPONSORED CONTENT
This year marks 20 years since CNC Project Management was established—growing from a specialist land access consultancy into a national multi-disciplinary infrastructure services provider supporting some of Australia’s most complex energy, utilities and infrastructure projects.
Over two decades, CNC has built a reputation grounded in trusted relationships, technical expertise and a commitment to respectful engagement with landholders, communities and Traditional Owners.
In this article, CNC Managing Director and Founder Dave Maloney reflects on the drive and challenges of growing a new single-service consultancy to a multi-disciplinary service offering across Australia.
From one-man band to national consultancy
CNC, like many other consultancies, began with determination to deliver things differently and create a unique offering. In CNC’s case, Maloney established CNC in 2006 to deliver a quality land access service for infrastructure projects that was built on respect, trust and consistency.
CNC’s first project was providing land access services on the Grampians Wimmera Mallee (GWMWater) pipeline project.
Delivering land access on pipeline projects was a natural first step for Maloney, who drew on his childhood experience of accompanying his father, a property valuer, on visits to properties in school holidays to value properties as part of easement acquisition for various forms of infrastructure, including pipelines, powerlines and road infrastructure.
“Observing my father talking to landholders and seeing how the whole consultation process was done was hugely valuable in determining CNC’s approach,” he says.
“Negotiating land access for infrastructure projects is an extremely sensitive topic. This sensitivity has grown significantly in recent years, particularly in relation to electricity transmission projects that have accompanied the surge in renewable energy projects and demand to upgrade Australia’s grid network.
“CNC continues to approach managing this issue by ensuring the relationships we have with landholders and communities are respectful, compassionate and professional, and that our team can truly listen and report on their concerns to the project proponent.”
After building its land access capability, CNC expanded into providing community and stakeholder engagement, planning and approvals, paralegal and payments management and geographic information systems (GIS) and mapping. This expansion was driven by clients’ needs over the years, and CNC’s attitude of saying yes to that demand.
“We are always focused on responding to a client’s needs,” Maloney says.
“If there was a demand for a particular service or solution to a problem, our approach has always been to say yes and ensure we’ve got the right people in place to deliver that particular need.”
That mindset has required the company to remain agile, responsive and comfortable operating in complex and evolving environments. While not without risk, the approach has paid dividends, enabling CNC to attract a diverse range of highly skilled professionals across Australia capable of meeting specialised and often niche client requirements.
Today there are approximately 50 employees in the company, based across regional and metropolitan Australia and supported by main offices in the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, and Melbourne.
National delivery
CNC’s industry experience is now spread across electricity transmission, onshore and offshore renewable projects, water infrastructure, minerals exploration and natural gas exploration and production. However, it has been the pipelines industry where CNC has had its most involvement, harking back to CNC’s original first project.
Maloney has been a Board Director and President of the Australian Pipelines and Gas Association (APGA), and current Chief Executive, Liz Veneziano, is a Director of APGA.
“CNC has built many strong relationships and a strong profile within the pipeline industry through our ongoing involvement in APGA. It is a great industry organisation to support, and a fantastic industry to be involved in,” Maloney says.
Team culture and values
From its inception to today, CNC has remained a strongly employee focused organisation, with a longstanding emphasis on hiring from its existing network and promoting internal talent to senior positions.
CNC CEO Liz Veneziano has led the company since 2025. Her former role was managing the Land and Regulatory team within CNC, at a time when a huge demand for landholder relations expertise was felt and proponents needed experience and advice in this highly sensitive space.
“Liz is our first female CEO. This is something I am proud of and I want to see further C-suite female leadership reflected in the industries in which we operate, which remain male dominated, particularly in senior and executive positions,” Maloney says.
“CNC also has 50/50 male and female representation on its senior management team, which we are conscious of retaining.”
Future direction and goals
Looking ahead, Maloney says CNC will continue focusing on delivering high-quality advice and support to infrastructure projects across Australia, particularly as the energy transition accelerates and projects become increasingly complex over the coming decade.
He says the company’s future direction will remain grounded in the same principles that have underpinned CNC for the past 20 years—agility, trusted relationships, technical expertise and a strong commitment to supporting both clients and communities through periods of significant change.
For more information visit the company’s website.
