Projects

Delivering Australia’s Expo 2025 pavilion with Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

The World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Kansai welcomed more than 28 million visitors, providing an opportunity to strengthen Australia’s deep and long-standing bilateral relationship with Japan and showcase the best of Australia to a global audience.

Key information

Client Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)

Location Japan

Project type Real estate

Services Cost and commercial management, Procurement and supply chain, Project management

Project timeline 2022 - 2025

Australian and Japanese Expo at day time with blue skies and lots of visitors. There are colorful statue animals such as a orange kangaroo and pink flamingo.

Image courtesy: © Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Contact

Tristan Mobbs

Associate Director

+61 402 020 259

Australia on show

The pavilion hosted dynamic Australian cultural events and a strategic business programme. Visitors embarked on an immersive, multi-sensory adventure that highlighted the connection of First Nations Australians to country and how this ancient knowledge can build a future society.

Guided by the theme narrative ‘Chasing the Sun’, the pavilion's design showcased Australia's diverse culture, talent and creativity, stunning natural environment, and reflected on the country’s ambition for an inclusive future society.

project story

Bringing the vision to life

To realise this vision, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) appointed us to provide project and cost and commercial management services. This included support across all stages of the pavilion’s lifecycle, including procurement, government approvals, design, construction, operations and decommissioning of the pavilion.

We supported DFAT by developing procurement and implementation plans that enabled the selection of a team capable of delivering an iconic and innovative pavilion.

Our role included advising on contract options to maximise value for money and implementing a robust procurement approach for the design and construction. This included supporting project implementation, risk management, cost control, schedule management and project reporting advisory.

The collaborative efforts and combined expertise of our teams across Australia and Japan resulted in a building poised to effectively represent Australia at the Expo.

Celebrating culture and sustainability

The timely delivery of the Australian Pavilion provided a platform for Australia to connect with the 150 nations and 25 international organisations that participated in World Expo 2025, as well as 28 million visitors.

The Australian Pavilion was built on four key values: sustainability, First Nations priorities, gender equality and inclusion, and regional collaboration. Sustainable practices were integrated using repurposed materials from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The perspectives, experiences and interests of First Nations Australians were embedded throughout the pavilion, from its base design to its visitor experience and cultural and business programmes. It championed gender equality and celebrated diversity, recognising the importance of social, economic and political inclusion. Finally, a Special Event Zone hosted business events to strengthen networks and foster collaboration on global challenges.