This year marks the 20-year anniversary of CNC Project Management (CNC), a company that has built a strong reputation of balancing major project delivery with long-term relationships, landholders, local communities, and traditional landowners.
For decades, CNC has helped some of Australia’s most complex infrastructure and energy projects move from concept to delivery.
CNC is a national multi-disciplinary consultancy that provides services to a range of industries; including, infrastructure, utilities, resources, and renewable energy projects across Australia. CNC’s integrated services allow them to work across all stages of the project lifecycle whilst providing multi-faceted solutions across planning and management, land access, permitting and approvals, environmental management, stakeholder engagement, geographical information services, and advisory services.
For CNC’s Founder and Managing Director, Dave Maloney, the company’s 20-year anniversary reflects its ability to maintain its strong track record in providing complex services for utility-scale projects through some of the most volatile periods for the infrastructure sector in Australia.
“We’re proud to have supported our clients through the highs and the lows of the ever-evolving regulatory requirements and expectations surrounding community engagement and approvals for their projects,” Maloney says.
From land access to full-service
From humble beginnings to where it is today, CNC has been built on strong relationships, hard work, resilience and passion.
“Initially, the business was very focused on land access. But over the years, we’ve moved into managing consultation with key stakeholders including the surrounding communities of large-scale utility projects, various approval processes, and environmental management. Combined with our Geographic Information System Team and Paralegal Team, we’re able to provide a broader service offering,” Maloney says.
That growth has been a natural response to client needs.
“It started with clients asking ‘you already work well with landholders, can you also help with Indigenous relationships?’ Then eventually clients started asking if we could support environment and approvals as well,” Maloney says.
“The answer from us has always been ‘yes.’ As demand grew for these areas, we brought in more people and skills to support these workstreams.”
CNC’s next phase is focused on internal growth and mentoring the upcoming generation of leadership.
“For us to continue to grow, developing our readily experienced people is key. In this sector, the number of deeply experienced people that started their careers decades ago is limited. The key is to strengthen their knowledge so they train up our future workforce,” Maloney says.
That internal development is visible in the company’s leadership structure. Maloney points to the CNC Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Liz Veneziano, who has risen through the ranks of the business.
“Liz has been at the helm for one year now. Her elevation through the business talks to CNC’s development of its people. We’re also so proud to have her as our first female CEO,” Maloney says.
“Furthermore, our Senior Management Team is 50/50 male and female.”
Managing community expectations
CNC’s program of work has become more complex as Australia’s energy and infrastructure landscape has evolved. Land access, in particular, has shifted dramatically.
“With land access being such a large portion of our business, we’ve previously seen farmers with the mindset of you can’t stand in the way of progress,” Maloney says.
In more recent years, this has changed along with the rise of social media use and ‘not in my backyard’ culture which has seen a dramatic increase in community scrutiny and opposition to utility-scale projects, making local engagement and stakeholder relationships more critical than ever.
In the context of renewable energy, transmission and other major infrastructure projects, this has made process, safety and communication a non-negotiable.
“Today there’s a greater focus on ensuring process, procedure, safety culture and all of those types of things are followed, which is really great from the perspective of maintaining quality long-term outcomes,” Maloney says.
CNC also takes pride in its ability to build strong relationships with landholders based on its decades-long foundation of open and transparent communication.
“In practice, this means engaging and consulting with landholders, directly affected by projects, to ensure they understand what land access is required for surveys/easements, acquisition of the land, how this may impact their business activity,” Maloney says.
For Maloney, his expertise in dealing with landholders is a second-generation skill, built on a relationship network passed down from his father, who ran a land access and property valuation business many decades ago.
“My father was a property valuer who did a lot of work on the acquisition of easements for infrastructure, whether it was for power lines, pipelines, or other acquisitions for highways,” he says.
“A lot of my school holidays were spent travelling with my father out in the country, talking to landholders and seeing how the whole consultation process was done.”
When Maloney entered the family business, he was quickly immersed in the complexities of managing infrastructure delivery.
Today, his father’s grounding informs how CNC approaches high impact infrastructure, such as high-voltage transmission lines, where sensitivity from landholders and communities is both expected and understandable.
“The nature of land access for a high impact infrastructure means there’s naturally going to be a heightened level of sensitivity,” Maloney says.
“Ensuring we manage these relationships from a completely respectful, compassionate and professional perspective is key. This means taking into account the natural concerns and anxieties these projects can bring local farmers, residents and businesses.”
Consultation requirements differ across state jurisdictions, project types and development stages. To navigate this, CNC closely works with clients to go beyond minimum industry expectations.
“Broader community engagement can be delivered in a range of ways, depending on the nature and impacts of a project. Rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach, engagement is delivered through a mix of targeted digital channels, local communications, and direct conversations with affected stakeholders,” Maloney says.
CNC focuses on meeting people where they are. This means providing clear, accessible information, as well as creating opportunities for meaningful dialogue throughout the project lifecycle. First nations heritage and traditional land owner engagement are also important aspects of project planning.
“There’s absolutely an obligation in this respect, no matter where you are in Australia,” Maloney says.
“It’s not just a matter of science around having an archaeologist tell you whether or not you may be impacting the traditional cultural land. Genuinely building relationships with traditional owners means closely working with them throughout the different stages of project delivery.”
As CNC marks 20 years, Maloney shares that the company’s culture of care exemplified through its respectful engagement with landholders, communities and traditional owners has become one of its strongest assets. In addition, the company places significant value on ensuring the safety and security of its staff. “Our care for one another is the best it’s ever been,” Maloney says.
For a business built around complex projects, long timelines and sensitive relationships, CNC’s 20 year anniversary is ultimately a story of trust.
This article was featured in ecogeneration magazine (June 2026 edition).
