PROMOTION | TOWNSVILLE PROUD
He’s travelled all over the world but Brad Webb always returns to Townsville. Why? “You’ve got to love somewhere you don’t need an air conditioner, or even a shirt, for nine months of the year,” says the BM Webb Industrial Property founder. “There’s plenty of opportunity in this city, you’ve just got to get in and try.” Brad is living proof of this. Having grown up in a housing commission area with “salt of the earth” parents, he was introduced to the notion of hard work early. At seven he was mowing lawns. By nine, he was working at a butcher shop. A stint as a diesel fitter followed but that was short-lived as Brad admits he “had too much to say and not enough to back it up.” Next Brad started building box trailers and, at 19, he bought his first truck. “I couldn’t ring up Dad and ask him to pay the bill because he was working at the copper refineries on wages, so the pressure was on me to deliver,” Brad says. “I made mistakes but, in my day, you got kicked in the butt or laughed at for it, so you soon learned.” Fast forward 36 years and Brad is listed in Queensland’s Top 150 Rich List and has mani-
INDUSTRIAL INVESTOR BRAD WEBB WAS BORN AND BRED IN TOWNSVILLE AND, WITH A 25-YEAR LIFESPAN LEFT IN HIS INDUSTRIAL ESTATE AT THE BOHLE, HE’S HERE FOR THE LONG HAUL.
fested his vision of building, owning and maintaining one of the best industrial estates in Queensland. Webb Drive Industrial Estate is now home to 90 businesses and Brad and his team are currently close to finishing the construction of three more buildings — one 4000sqm building and two 2000sqm buildings. “We’ll be finished in about 10 weeks so we’re looking for tenants,” Brad says. At its peak, the Webb group employed 160 people and encompassed BM Webb Concrete, BM Webb Quarry, BM Webb Bulk Cement and BM Webb Transport. This helped keep thirdparty costs low while developing the estate, in turn keeping lease pricing low. Last year, with all the base infrastructure now laid in Webb Drive Estate, Brad made the decision to sell these assets to Adelaide Brighton. Having said that, BM Webb Industrial Property has retained its own steel fabrication shop, pre-cast factory, construction capabilities, civil division, mechanical workshop, and property management and maintenance divisions. “We still do our own transport and civil but only for ourselves,” Brad says. That does not mean, however, that the Webb group only thinks of itself — far from it. For nearly 13 years now the Webb team have run Food Relief NQ which, thanks to the invaluable support of 30 volunteers, produces 250 food hampers a week. That’s 1.6 million dollars of food each year that goes to local welfare organisations. Brad has also recently teamed up on another soon-to-be announced initiative that will give around $300,000 to $400,000 in value back to the community. “I’m proud to say I’ve seen Townsville grow from a dusty town into a vibrant city,” Brad says. “Once upon a time you’d hang your head when you said you’re from Townsville but not any more. We’ve got a top university, the biggest defence base in Australia, a strong industrial base, and we’re centrally located to be the transport hub for the north with road train access straight to the port.” What makes Brad even more assured of Townsville’s continued rise is the stream of “good young talent” coming through who are also keen to give back to the community. “We’re not silly in this town. We can compete with anybody down south or overseas for that matter,” he says. “I wouldn’t live anywhere else. We’ve got everything the big city’s got on a smaller scale so you can manage the community better. It’s a good community and it really pulls together.”
BM Webb Industrial Property 47-49 Webb Drive Bohle 4774 7880 www.bmwebb.com.au
DUO MAGAZINE MAY 2015 duomagazine.com.au 41