Thursday, 3 July 2008

Fix the mess: Brundell (Thursday, 3 July 2008) CRANE Industry Council of Australia director Jeff Brundell says buoyant new crane sales in 2007 have caused the significant decline in the average age of cranes inspected under the CraneSafe scheme – from 9.63 years in 2006 to 8.76 years last year. Full Story... Indigenous contractors helping the boom along (Thursday, 3 July 2008) A FEW years ago names such as CDE Capital, Ngarda Civil and Mining and Central Mining and Contracting were largely unknown. These companies are Indigenous mining contractors and experiencing rising demand for their services. By Noel Dyson Full Story... CHAIN MAIL: Wrestle for $20 billion infrastructure fund underway (Thursday, 3 July 2008) IN POLITICS you can, of course, never please everyone, a message reaffirmed this week by Infrastructure Partnerships Australia’s gentle cheer for the New South Wales Government’s infrastructure audit handed to Infrastructure Australia. Full Story... New best friend for Qld construction industry (Thursday, 3 July 2008) A NEW initiative fronted by a dog and designed to support employers in Queensland’s construction industry and help them tackle skills shortages has been launched by the industry funding group Construction Skills Queensland. Full Story... Caterpillar inks deal with Chinese (Thursday, 3 July 2008) GLOBAL construction equipment giant Caterpillar has secured an investment agreement in China with the Jiangning Science Park Administrative Committee to construct a manufacturing facility for building hydraulic excavators less than 20 tons in size. Full Story... Risk management step-by-step (Thursday, 3 July 2008) VERO Insurance’s Brad Dalton says the risk management process involves four steps – identification, analysis, evaluation and action. Full Story... BlueScope Steel successful in debt raising (Thursday, 3 July 2008) BLUESCOPE Steel has announced the successful completion of debt raising worth $325 million that will be used to partially repay bridging finance for the acquisition of IMSA Steel Corp. Full Story... Diamond chainsaw cuts man-hours (Thursday, 3 July 2008) A NEW type of diamond chainsaw that can cut through double brick walls has allowed a demolition contractor to easily cut five door openings during a major refurbishment project. Full Story...

Wednesday, 2 July 2008

NSW Earth Awards winners announced (Wednesday, 2 July 2008) A LOCAL community construction project in that saw an old carpark in the New South Wales suburb of Bondi replaced with parkland has been recognised by the New South Wales Civil Contractors Federation at its annual Earth Awards. Full Story... Westfield progresses with £1.5b Olympics shopping centre (Wednesday, 2 July 2008) SHOPPING centre development giant Westfield Group has taken another step towards the construction of the £1.5 billion Stratford City retail and leisure development in east London, which is expected to serve as a gateway to the 2012 London Olympics. Full Story... Risk management ‘not rocket science’ (Wednesday, 2 July 2008) THE field of risk management may still be viewed with scepticism – even scorn – by some contractors, but it really is just a commonsense approach, according to Vero Insurance’s Brad Dalton. Full Story... Second WA purchase for Boart Longyear (Wednesday, 2 July 2008) BOART Longyear has announced the acquisition of Westrod Engineering, a Western Australia-based manufacturer of reverse circulation (RC) rods, subs and swivels for minerals drilling. Full Story... A KEANE EYE: ‘The finest’ concrete that doesn’t play by the rules (Wednesday, 2 July 2008) ONE of the interesting displays at CivEnEx in 2007 was a cost-effective concrete paver displayed by Jean-Eudes Monger of Global Equipment Manufacturing (Sydney). When this machine (branded the FASTlane) was not shown at the 2008 CivEnEx, some might have gained the impression that development of the machine had been curtailed. Full Story... Leighton to build two Dubai towers for $740m (Wednesday, 2 July 2008) LEIGHTON’S United Arab Emirates arm, Al Habtoor Leighton Group, is continuing to expand its already sizeable Dubai contract portfolio, most recently gaining a $A740 million contract to build two high-rise residential towers. Full Story... Adelaide Brighton buys Hanson for $81m (Wednesday, 2 July 2008) SOUTH Australian concrete products company Adelaide Brighton has paid $81 million for Queensland-based Hanson Building Products in a debt-free cash transaction. Full Story... Thumbs up for non-plastic PVC window frames (Wednesday, 2 July 2008) A UK-based construction industry research and advice group, the Building Research Establishment Trust, has strongly backed the use of unplasticised PVC in window frames in commercial and residential buildings. Full Story...

Tuesday, 1 July 2008

NEWEST AND BRIGHTEST: Disorderly transition moves ahead (Tuesday, 1 July 2008) THE change to the new national licensing system for high-risk work is gathering steam, with more and more crane operators and riggers having to trade their old lifetime paper ticket for the new five-year plastic card with photo ID. Full Story... Carbon trading: No place for ‘business as usual’ (Tuesday, 1 July 2008) POLITICIANS on both sides of the fence are taking positions at odds with the facts and the actual purpose of an emissions trading scheme in their latest public pronouncements. Fiona Melville reports Full Story... Arup report to save older buildings (Tuesday, 1 July 2008) ENGINEERING and design consultancy Arup is to deliver a report at the Property Council of Australia’s Existing Buildings conference demonstrating that owners and managers of existing commercial buildings can powerfully diminish their buildings’ toll on the environment. Full Story... Construction Movers (Tuesday, 1 July 2008) CIN'S twice-weekly watchlist of Australian publicly-listed companies in the construction sector shows the state of play for some of the industry's biggest players. Full Story... Lend Lease gets slice of $600m court building (Tuesday, 1 July 2008) LEND Lease subsidiary Bovis has been appointed by the Queensland Government as managing contractor for the $600 million Brisbane Supreme and District Court complex. Full Story... Midland Brick scoops two awards (Tuesday, 1 July 2008) PERTH-based Midland Brick has recently won two Sustainable Cities Awards in the categories of Waste Management and Sustainable Community Partnerships, following on from the company’s HIA Greensmart award earlier in the year. Full Story... Industry Report – Contracts (Tuesday, 1 July 2008) Every Tuesday and Friday, CIN’s Industry Report brings you up to date on major earthmoving, construction and supply contracts in the civil engineering and mining sector awarded around the country. Full Story... Industry Report – Projects (Tuesday, 1 July 2008) BRISBANE City Council will begin community consultation this month on the $2 billion plan for an underground Northern Link toll road that will link the Western Freeway to the Inner City Bypass. With a final decision on the project due later this year, the tender process should begin next year with a completion target of 2014. Full Story...

Monday, 30 June 2008

Lusty to improve Thiess fleet (Monday, 30 June 2008) LUSTY EMS is to assist Thiess Waste Management in delivering improvements in productivity and safety at its Brisbane refuse collection facility via a fleet of seven new aluminium walking floor trailers. Full Story... Heavy equipment bank robberies on the rise (Monday, 30 June 2008) THE increasing use of construction equipment to forcibly remove automatic teller machines has prompted authorities in the US to heighten security at construction sites near banks. Full Story... Sandwell secures Porto Brasil contract (Monday, 30 June 2008) AUSENCO Limited has announced that its Canada-based Sandwell business has executed a conceptual and basic engineering contract for the proposed 11-berth multiproduct port, Porto Brasil. Full Story... Mine truck driver has life-saving surgery (Monday, 30 June 2008) A MAN critically injured when the mining truck he was driving ran into a dozer at a mine in Meekatharra has had life-saving surgery at Royal Perth Hospital. Full Story... WA could lose giant LNG project; Inpex leaning towards Darwin (Monday, 30 June 2008) FED up with Western Australia’s red tape, Japanese major Inpex has decided that the construction of a gas pipeline from the giant Ichthys gas field in north west WA to Darwin for liquefaction is now its preferred option over plans to build an LNG plant in WA. Full Story... Plans finalised for major Perth urban renewal (Monday, 30 June 2008) COMMERCIAL and residential redevelopment of a 13.5-hectare site between Perth’s CBD and Northbridge has moved a step closer with the release of the East Perth Redevelopment Authority’s master plan. Full Story... Case expansion continues (Monday, 30 June 2008) CASE Construction Equipment is set to expand its market share even further with the announcement it has entered an agreement to purchase selected dealership assets of Washington-based construction equipment sales and rental company Western Power & Equipment. Full Story... New man at Manitowoc Australia (Monday, 30 June 2008) US-based crane manufacturing major Manitowoc has appointed a new managing director for its operations in Australia, John Lukow. Full Story...

Friday, 27 June 2008

Industry Report – Contracts (Friday, 27 June 2008) KEEP in touch every Tuesday and Friday with the latest major earthmoving, construction and supply contracts in civil engineering and mining awarded around the country, through CIN’s Industry Report. Full Story... Industry Report – Projects (Friday, 27 June 2008) WORK on the final stage of the Princes Highway upgrade over Conjola Mountain in southern New South Wales is due to begin this year following the Federal Government’s confirmation of its $10 million contribution to the $45 million project. Full Story... CFMEU secret recording claims refuted (Friday, 27 June 2008) THE Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner has strenuously denied claims by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union that it has been misusing its powers. Full Story... Construction heads company failures list (Friday, 27 June 2008) CONSTRUCTION companies are the most highly represented industry sector among Australian businesses hitting the wall. And, according to statistics released by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, nearly half of them fail for reasons relating to poor management. Full Story... Queensland set for mining week (Friday, 27 June 2008) OVER 500 companies will be present at this year’s Queensland Mining and Engineering (QME) exhibition which takes place on July 22–24 in Mackay. Full Story... Fears for future of engineering sector (Friday, 27 June 2008) NEW research by Engineers Australia has found that between 2001 and 2006 the number of engineers in Australia dropped by around 6500 as more professionals have left the engineering workforce than have joined it. Full Story... A KEANE EYE: When a plan comes together… (Friday, 27 June 2008) DON’T you just love it when a plan comes together? A couple of years ago I visited Sunset Machinery when it was starting out in its distribution of Morooka tracked carriers in Oceania – it was actually the focus of one of the first Keane Eye columns. Full Story... Construction Movers (Friday, 27 June 2008) CIN'S twice-weekly watchlist of Australian publicly-listed companies in the construction sector shows the state of play for some of the industry's biggest players. Full Story...

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