As well as themes and tone, we need to be consistent in the writing conventions we use. This includes spelling and grammar styles.
The following is a general guide for writing in the McConnell Dowell house style.
This includes all social media content (our website, our social accounts and copy for general marketing purposes).
The writing style for bids, submissions and formal documentation retains all of the below, plus guidelines for MS Word formatting and correct referencing of images and text.
Speak to your submissions manager for access to the Submissions Writing Style Guide document.
Adhering to certain rules of grammar and mechanics helps us keep our writing clear and consistent.
The Basics
Write for all readers. Some people will read every word you write. Others will just skim. Help everyone read better by grouping related ideas together and using descriptive headers and subheaders.
Focus your message. Create a hierarchy of information. Lead with the main point or the most important content, in sentences, paragraphs, sections, and pages.
Be concise. Use short words and sentences. Avoid unnecessary modifiers.
Be specific. Avoid vague language. Cut the fluff.
Be consistent. Stick to the copy patterns and style points outlined in this guide.
The McConnell Dowell Name
When referring to the Company in all internal and external communications, the Company name is to be written as McConnell Dowell or abbreviated to MCD eg. McConnell Dowell (here in abbreviated to MCD).
When typed in uppercase, the ‘c’ is lowercase in McCONNELL DOWELL.
NEVER use any alternate abbreviations e.g. McCD or MacDow.
McConnell Dowell is treated as a single entity not a group of people e.g., ‘McConnell Dowell is (not are) proud to announce…’, ‘McConnell Dowell has (not have) been awarded…’.
Except where in reference to the staff group. In such cases use the term 'team members e.g., ‘McConnell Dowell team members have been very generous with their time.'
When writing about McConnell Dowell’s experience, you may use the pronouns ‘we’ and ‘our’, and verb forms such as ‘are’, ‘have’, ‘offer’ and ‘propose’.
However, if the subject of your sentence is ‘McConnell Dowell’ or another company name, you must instead use the singular pronoun ‘it’ and verb forms such as ‘is’, ‘has’, ‘designs’ and ‘works’. This also applies to the terms ‘company’, ‘team’ and ‘joint venture’.
Figures, Measurements and Styling
Spelling
We use UK English grammar rules. Below is a list of common Australian English spellings we need to apply consistently in our writing:
• ‘ise’ instead of ‘ize’ in words such as ‘specialise’ and ‘organise’
• ‘our’ instead of ‘or’ in words such as ‘colour’, ‘labour’ and ‘behaviour’
• ‘re’ instead of ‘er’ in words such as ‘metre’ and ‘centre’
• ‘coordinate’ instead of ‘co-ordinate’
• ‘defence’ instead of ‘defense’
• ‘program’ instead of ‘programme’.
Numbers
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When numbers 1-9 are used in sentences they should be written as words ‘one, two, three, etc’, “the five-year-old boy’.
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Numbers 10 and above are to be written as numbers e.g., 100 not one hundred, 20 not twenty etc.
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Avoid using numbers alongside one another which can cause confusion e.g. ‘There were 500 pipes driven each 300 mm in diameter’ not ‘There were 500 300 mm diameter pipes driven’.
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The exceptions are measurements 5 cm rather than five centimetres.
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Where numbers start a sentence – this should be avoided wherever possible – written as a word e.g. ‘Twenty awards were presented at the event’, but ‘At the event there were 20 awards presented’ is preferred.
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A comma should be added in front of every third digit from the right to make amounts clear e.g. 20,576 or 5,878,000.
Spacing
A space should always be inserted between the figure and the unit name i.e. 27 m not 27m. unless it's money - see money section below
Superiors
The symbols for cube, square and the power should always be superscript. i.e. 12 m2 not 12 m2.
Measures
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The metric system measurements are to be used wherever possible - millimetres (mm), centimetres (cm) and metres (m), and their abbreviations lower case.
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Use the same measurement throughout a document wherever practicable
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Use the simplest way to express dollar amounts e.g., 5 cents not $0.05, and round to two digits where reasonable e.g. $54.78M rather than $54,779,556.00.
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Measurements should be presented in the shortest simplest form possible e.g., 20,213.426 mm should be written as 20 m wherever appropriate.
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If specificity is required round to two decimal places is suitable detail e.g., 20,213.43 mm or 20.2 m
Lists
Bulleted and numbered lists should always be formatted as follows:
Sentence case should always be applied i.e. the first letter of the first word in each bullet to be upper case; and
avoid punctuation at the end of each line, apart from the last item which is to be finished with a full stop.
Money
The measurements for money are also in the metric system not pound, pence etc. and presented with two capitals - AU, NZ, US, UK - if currency detail is required e.g. NZ$5M or US$500,000
Money should be written as a whole number or with two decimal places e.g. $56.7634 should be written as $57, $57.00 $57.80 or $56.76 (in order of preference) not $56.7
Amounts should be presented in the shortest simplest form rounded to two decimal points or e.g. $20,213.42 should be written as $20K or $20,000Use the simplest way to express dollar amounts e.g. 5 cents not $0.05, and round to two digits where reasonable e.g. $54.78M rather than $54,779,556.00 is being rounded then round to whole numbers or add a placeholder 0
$11,000 up to one million which can be written as $1M, $1.6M a billion $1B etc.
Capitalisation
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Only use capitals at the start of sentences, for proper nouns /names e.g. organisations, countries, companies, days, months and more.
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To write the title of articles or job titles capitalise the first word, the last word and nouns in between but not the articles or prepositions e.g. Ministry of Transport, Managing Director of New Zealand and NB. Where ministry or managing director are used as adjectives.
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In abbreviations and acronyms. For abbreviations write the full name in the first instance and include the abbreviation in brackets afterwards and any subsequent mentions can be abbreviated e.g. Watercare’s Asset Upgrades and Repair (AUR) project was awarded.
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In cases where the abbreviation or acronym is more commonly used that the full title uses the shorter version e.g. IT, IQ, SH25A, GST etc.
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At the start of a quote where it forms the start of a complete sentence e.g. John says “The pipeline was completed in May 2023.”
Grammar & Mechanics