Precast concrete products for construction.
Hi, I’m Tim Reinen. I am the Managing Director of Otway Precast in Cola, Victoria. We manufacture precast concrete products for construction. Precast elements that are of an architectural nature, that usually revolves around some of the more ornate work around government projects and schools, and sort of that kind of work.
We do a lot more ornate stuff, that bespoke type precast that involves a multitude of finishes. A lot of our work is based in Melbourne. We are currently working with the Melbourne University, also alongside a number of companies for a lot of cemetery work, doing a lot of ornate work in mausoleums, and a multitude of projects around the area from bridging through to buildings, through to seating and landscaping works. Yeah, we have quite a vast field.
A couple of great examples of the work we do more locally would be the Geelong Library, it was a large project for us. In 2004, we completed that one alongside Kane Constructions, it comprised of stair cores, lift cores, and the eastern elevation, including a pattern where we had to go extreme lengths to make the architects and the clients happy.
Another good project locally was the Surf Coast School at Torquay where we produced structural columns, which formed a wave around the building, along with 200-odd black items.
Over the past four years, working with Hugh, we’ve had a massive increase in profits. We went 30 times better in our profit margins and we’ve had a 237% growth in our revenue.
Going forward with Hugh we’ve got some pretty big plans. We’re on the verge of investing $2.5 million into a new facility, to better our turnover and increase more staff, and things are looking quite positive going forward. Planning on sticking with Hugh into the future and using his services. As we grow, we require some more expertise and Hugh’s definitely the man to help.
Into the future with the increase in popularity behind GFRC, we are setting up a factory to create GFRC. GFRC is a cement sand-based compound bound by structural fibers. Essentially it’s a lightweight precast panel, looks and feels exactly what our concrete does, but essentially is only around about 20th of the weight, which allows for better use into a multitude of areas, where normal precast weight or crane sizes don’t allow. So this helps us to help fulfill dreams of people wanting to use concrete products where they otherwise might be restricted.
The use of GFRC in the MCG mausoleum at the Melbourne Cemetery was a quite interesting one where we had to build custom window frames and feature columns, where the use of precast wouldn’t allow for due to the design and the weight, we used the GFRC product because of the lightweight nature and the ability to install it after the building was almost complete, as opposed to having something that was being damaged throughout the construction process.
Another asset of our businesses is the crane hire, so we currently have cranes up to 55 ton, and we’re about to introduce a new 685 Effer into our mix, which will give us quite good reach, in quite tight areas.
Predominantly we service the south west with crane hire. We’ve had a lot of background in petrochemical work and also throughout just general hire. We’ve been now with 30 years of experience. We’ve got all the rigging covered and lifting covered that you might need.
