Australian Defence Force veterans have helped to build a new car park at the Australian War Memorial.
Construction company Lendlease teamed up with Veterans in Construction to employ five veterans across a variety of roles in the project.
Veterans in Construction is a company that employs retired ADF personnel in civil construction. Minister for Veterans' Affairs Darren Chester praised the work of the company.
"Service in the ADF is overwhelmingly positive - it's good for the individual, good for the community and is in the national interest, and it sets up our personnel with skills and experience that are highly valued in the civilian workforce," he said.
"It's great to see organisations such as Lendlease working with veterans and capitalising on their valuable skills and experience to work on projects such as this, particularly at the Australian War Memorial."
The new car park at the war memorial includes extended permanent underground spaces as well as extra spaces closer to the memorial for visitors with mobility concerns.
Lendlease general manager ACT Ben Owen said the company had worked to support veterans to transition to the work force for a number of years. He said the War Memorial project was a fitting project for the program.
"Fundamentally the Australian War Memorial is a place of commemoration of the sacrifices Australia's service men and women have made, so we thought what better opportunity to showcase the skill set of our returned service men and women have then on that project," he said.
"The war memorial is as committed as we are in supporting veterans from transitioning from military to civilian life."
Mr Owen said skills veterans gained through service such as engineering, project management, logistics and planning and communication were transferable to the construction industry.
"The focus from Veterans in Construction and what we support is really the employment opportunities," he said. "What we hope to be able to do is to continue to build those relationships, continue to provide further opportunities for veterans and continue to build their skill set in transitioning their existing skills across to the construction industry."
