Hutchies Tbar Talk Autumn 2023

TBAR TALK

NEWSLETTER FOR HUTCHIES’ TOOWOOMBA STAFF AUTUMN 2023

Welcome to our first Tbar Talk for 2023, hopefully everyone had a wonderful Xmas and New Year period and a great start to the year. Certainly this year hasn’t started any slower than last year finished, with plenty happening at Hutchies Toowoomba.

The start of the year has seen a couple of projects coming to an end such as Strathpine Childcare, Mylne St Apartments and Downlands College, as well as a bunch more starting up in St Vinnies ICU, Hungry Jacks, Glen Innes RAIR, Baillie Henderson Enabling Works, Centenary Heights High School, Bond University Accommodation, MMC Social Housing & SCC Nurses Quarters. This number of projects finishing and starting together has kept us pretty busy, but it’s a great place to be in with that much work coming onto the books and getting started.

The start of the year has also seen the start of an enormous milestone for Hutchies Toowoomba with our team set to move offices after 19 years in Prescott St. We have purchased 1B Kitchener St for $4.5M and sold Prescott St and are set to be all moved in by around June 30 this year.

This is no small step and one that took a lot of consideration, planning and commitment to the local team to pull the trigger on the purchase. The acquisition of the building was hotly contested with multiple parties (including FKG) tabling formal offers to purchase along with Hutchies, fortunately we were successful and it settled on the 23rd of March. The new office is about three times the size of Prescott St in total, with downstairs proposed to be leased to other businesses.

This leaves us with 760m2’s NLA (Net Lettable Area) upstairs which is an increase

From Leesy

from the 468m2’s we currently have at Prescott St, as well as significantly more carparking. This will allow us to bring the whole team in under one roof again and allow us to have the physical capacity to expand long into the future.

This is a long term play for us and speaks to our commitment to the region. We will also be spending another $1.1M on our fitout upstairs, which commences Saturday the 25th of March with a bunch of us getting into the demo and having a BBQ. It’s hard to not get excited about the thought of us being in such an amazing building that’s been bought, designed and fit out by us, for us. It’s a been a bit of a surreal time for me if I’m honest and one that I am very grateful for.

The local construction landscape in Toowoomba also feels as though it may have settled down a little bit, with the availability of trades and materials a little less constrained than what we were experiencing for most of last year. I am thankful for this small reprieve. Brisbane, Caloundra, Rocky and Glen Innes are still pretty challenging, but on the whole it feels as though things are getting a little easier. Hopefully we can benefit from the reverse of what we have experienced over the last

couple of years with pricing on things like concrete and reo having actually retracted a bit.

All in all our team is in pretty good shape, with the outlook strong. Thanks again for everyone’s continued effort, commitment and support, I appreciate it very much. Hope you enjoy the read.

TWMBA office trivia

What members of our Team wore pink wigs and tutus at work?

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inside pages of our Hutchies’ Tbar Talk

Celebrations

Break-up Party

We had our traditional Break-up party late last year. We came to the office wearing our best beach/Hawaiian attire for the occasion. The day started with a Secret Santa game in the office. We had some happy winners, some not-very-impressed participants, and plenty of laughs. Then we walked to Toowoomba City Bowls Club for some wrist action and drinks. When we got tired of pretending to be professional bowlers, we came back to the office for more food, drinks, and games.

The brisket didn’t disappoint with some people going for seconds. The prawns were fresh and juicy and there were plenty of drink options for everyone. We were lucky to have a special live performance by our Steve Andersen. We also enjoyed a playlist put together by Jodie with the songs everyone provided in advance. Even Josh delighted us with a very interesting interpretation of a rap song.

It was a fun afternoon to relax and let our hair down while enjoying everyone’s company before the holidays. We finished it up with some pizza and more games.

Secret Santa in the office

Lachy showing off his bowling skills

Lining up for a brisket frenzyThe girls enjoying themselves

We were lucky enough to have Steve perform live. Thanks Steve!

Griff ready to party

Adam, Ricky, Tez and Corey playing roughly

Rod and Mick wearing matching outfits

Megan and Amy amused with an item they found in the Christmas box

Lachy and Davo having fun

Master Builders Toowoomba Influencers Luncheon

Some ladies from our team attended the Master Builders Toowoomba Influencers Luncheon at Preston Peak, last month. The theme of the event was “Empowering women in the building and construction industry”. The guest speakers Kylie Howell from Clifford Gouldson Lawyers, Amy Evans from Lavish Constructions Pty Ltd and Nicole Erlandson from Andrew Erlandson Home Loan Specialist shared their inspirational stories with the attendees.

The speakers and guests also discussed the importance of work/life balance and wellness initiatives in the workplace, along with their key strategies for business and financial success. They also discussed their experience working in a maledominated industry and shared their hopes for growing female empowerment and recognition in the workplace.

Brisket day

We loved the brisket from the latest Break up party so much that we would buy the whole trailer. Tez bought the ingredients, did the prep, and stayed overnight at the yard tending the meat so the brisket could be ready by lunch the following day. Blocka and Jodie also helped with set up and grabbing all the gear in the morning, getting ready for the lunchtime rush. It was a total success and a hell of a turnout that it ran short in the end.

Hutchies table at the LuncheonGrace, Ish and Cody exchanging experiences with other ladies in the industry

Blocka proudly showing and serving the brisket

It was a good turn out at 7SD

Birthday celebrations

Engagement

Jack Laine and Sally got engaged over the weekend.

started as an apprentice with Hutchies six years ago. He is one of the tradesman in our plumbers’ team.

Jimmy was very grateful for his birthday celebration in the office

Chandy enjoying a pastry during his birthday celebration in the office

Mick ‘s first bday celebration with Hutchies

Ladies’ arvo

Last month, the ladies of our Team had their first arvo celebration of the year. The team chatted whilst enjoying a delicious lunch and drinks at Bergen, followed by a polymer clay trinket dishes class at Tinker Art Studio. The night finished with drinks and dancing at Muller Bros.

It was also a good opportunity to farewell Lauren and Megan before they left for maternity leave.

Welcome to Hutchies!

Our Team keeps growing. A warm welcome to all our new starters. We are very excited to have all of you joining our team.

Jordan FurnellJaime Bell Brod KoinaNicole Bond

Gina MeeveBailee WardGlenn Johnstone Fleur Koch

Project updates

Mylne St Apartments

These 12 luxury units are just days away from finishing, with the site team doing a great job to close the project out. This project was due in June but the team have managed to hand it over in March.

Downlands College Prep - Year 4

The client is very grateful that the team managed to get the classrooms, play area, hall and offices ready for the start of the first school term. The entry and exit gates, walls and roadworks to Ruthven St are now complete, and the tennis courts are very close to completion.

ED and Covid Ward - Base Hospital

The covid ward and ED extension Projects where completed in the weeks before the Christmas closure. ED was handed over to the client at 5pm on the Wednesday and had patents in the areas at 3pm the next day. Both projects are now fully operational and at full capacity.

The Mylne St. team; Milllsy, Bree, Adam, Cody and Ben proudly posing in front of the apartments

New Toowoomba Hospital - Enabling Works

The purpose of this project is to carry out essential Early Works for the proposed future hospital on the Baillie Henderson Hospital Campus. These works include site clearing from Burnview Av. to Hermitage Rd, the construction of new temporary access roads, diversion of Sanitary Drainage via new path, modifying and making good existing sewer manholes, the construction of new access road after site clearing. It also includes the removal of existing guard rail along Hermitage Rd., Relocation of traffic sign, lightpoles, CCTV camera, electrical and communications conduits along Hermitage Road for road widening works, the construction of a new off & on ramp along Hermitage Road, site clearing for new Bio Retention Basin, a new Bio Retention Basin, landscaping and remedial works.

Baillie Henderson Hospital - Day Surgery

All suspended concrete works and blockwork associated with the BHDS building are complete. All services diversions and a majority of the external services are also complete. They currently have structural steel, retaining walls and internal partitions underway. The biggest issue to date has been the scope reprocessing change and stop works notice that the client had placed on the plant deck 3 days before it was due to be poured. The Site team did a great job at reallocating labour to external works to keep the consistency of the project. Shout out to Scottish for his enthusiastic (sarcastic) approach to fixing everyday problems. Their next milestone is the top out of the plant deck expected within the next week. A client, impressed with the speed of the progress on site, quoted “you guys are giving it a red hot crack”.

St. Vincent’s Hospital ICU

This project entails the construction of a new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Level 1 of Gateway Building and new car parking bays at the Scott St. entrance.

The objective of this project is to deliver a modern, well-equipped ICU designed to provide the best care for the community. The ICU will be constructed at level-1 of the existing Gateway Building, which is occupied by the Emergency Department (ED) on Lower Ground Level and tenanted by Queensland X-Ray (Q X-Ray) on Ground Level.

The existing car parking area and gardens at the Scott Street entrance will be reconfigured to create additional car parking bays.

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Strathpine Childcare Centre

Strathpine Childcare is on the home straight now with landscaping underway at present and final clean last week. The last few final metal work elements externally this week and the team will hit PC in the next couple of days. Tenants are mobilising in all their furniture next week.

The main challenge faced recently was simply trying to get concrete when the goal posts changed slightly and finalising the DTMR approval.

Generally the subbies on the project have been pretty good and the client and tenant have both commented that they are really happy with the quality of work.

Benevolent Living

“A shout out to the crew up at Rockhampton at Benevolent Living. This job went straight from one side (Building A) to the other (Building B) with no break in between so they haven’t caught their breath in a long time”, Nick said. The HB block layers have also been putting in some good numbers and smashing the floors out.

Wilsonton Shopping Centre Stage 2

This building was a long time coming and had its challenges with a massive design change thrown in about half way through. The team finished installing the last tilt panel there this month. A big shout out to all involved from the design boys in the office to the subbies onsite. Go Off and Holt, subbies, did an amazing job at keeping everyone safe and installing a quality

Ocean Verge

This project is starting to see consistent workflow and, whilst it still has it’s challenges due to the current market and limited room on site, the site team must be commended for their effort. Deck cycles are continuing with finishes happening on Ground, Level 1 and Level 2.

Hungry Jacks

This new food and drink 304 sqm outlet will include a restaurant, Jack’s Café, order/pick-up counters, self-serve kiosks, 48 seat dining area, amenities, drive through, and 20 parking spaces and bike racks. Demolition of the 3 existing dwellings has been completed, whilst council approvals & design is completed in the background.

Bulky Goods Toowoomba

Work completed recently includes bulk cut of 1.4m unsuitable fill and reinstall of blended compacted fill to 1.4m. Inground building footings, external retaining walls and concrete sleeper retaining wall, currently pouring tilt panels and installing inground services. The team would like to recognise Kampfy and Josh for doing a staged commencement onsite and handover, and also to Jordan for his good work effort to date and his willingness to get involved and understand commercial construction. The next biggest milestone will be installing a tilt panel by the start of next month. Other obstacles are, achieving TMR & SARA approval for James St & Neil St works.

Josh supervising concrete pouring at Ocean VergeTMD crew pouring concrete on level 3 of the building

Glen Innes Ambulance Station

Site mobilisation and bulk earthworks have commenced, and site is ready to start works at the end of this month.

The team have encountered plenty of battles with the subcontractors given, the location of the project and other local options for them to work with. The demolition portion has been a learning curve for all involved. Demolishing a 3,000m2 3-storey asbestos-ridden building within 5m of the existing hospital infrastructure has proved timely to get underway. The team would like to give a shout-out to Matty Waldron for ripping through trade letting for a regional project in a challenging market and doing a cracking job. Also, to Steve Anderson for putting his hand up again for another regional project. The client is monitoring the project heavily from multiple levels, with this being the pre-curser to the main hospital build. A solid working relationship has been established with the client and the project is moving in the right direction.

Kotzur

The team has been working on procurement. No physical work on site has begun. They are hoping to begin mobilisation on site soon.

Pyrocal

This project has come to a grinding halt for another 2 -3 months due to an issue getting the DA.

Endrim Childcare

Over the past couple of months, the team have completed the bulk out of the rock underneath the existing Heritage house, finished the supporting structural steel holding the existing house up and poured the last slab on ground. Only carparks remain. They are planning to have all 3 crossovers on Main Roads complete by the end of March, leaving only internal works to complete. It has been a massive effort from the whole team with multiple building fronts, all running at the same time and consistently hitting targets. The next milestone will be the completion of the rock excavation and the roof on the new building

Just Crete’n crew pouring concrete on the pathway

Projects recently awarded

The history of the gong dates back thousands of years. Throughout its history, the gong has been revered for its deep, rich sound and its ability to evoke strong emotions and create a sense of drama and excitement. Overall, the sound and symbolism of the gong make it a popular choice for celebratory events and moments of triumph.

Our gong is a 38cm traditional ceremonial gong hand hammered from fine German silver. It will be struck in the office every time we win a project.

New Site Offices

Check out the brand new site office design. New signed door for easy location.

A Hutchies banner has been added to the veranda to shield from morning sun.

Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) for the Department of Energy & Public Works Approx. value $14,192,762.00

Southern Cross Care Illoura Village, Chinchilla Approx. value $1,586,731.00

Bond University Accommodation Expansion, Gold Coast Approx. value $5,247,680.00

Sean showing how to strike the gong

Centenary Heights SHS - New GLA & Music Centre Approx. value $9,165,584.00

New Office

After 19 years working at 8 Prescott St., we are moving to a new office on 1B Kitchener St. overlooking Mothers Memorial and Queens Park. This will mean more office and parking space for all of us.

Our new office is getting noticed by the news already

View of the Mother’s Memorial from the new lunchroom

View of the Mother’s Memorial from the new boardroom

3D view of the concept plan

Group of volunteers ripping carpets at the Demo day

Happy faces after finishing the job at the Demo day

Community Engagement

Western Clydesdales Major Sponsor

We’re proud to be the principal partner of the Western Clydesdales. A lot of people will remember the (old) Toowoomba Clydesdales days and we’re certainly excited to see the local community have a team in the Hostplus Cup. Rugby league in this town is something we’re pretty passionate about and obviously having a team at the most senior (state) level in this region is a big deal. Every time it’s an amazing atmosphere at the Clive Berghofer stadium when the whole community comes together for it.

Phil ‘Gus’ Gould at the Bulldogs Legends Lunch

Breakfast launch at Fitzy’s

Gav and Tarla with Jayden Corrigan (Tarla’s cousin) in the office Hutchies Hill at the Clive Berghofer stadium

The Hutchies corner inside the Hutchies Hill in the last game

Gav and Greeny discussing the Clydesdales vs PNG Hunters game

Tour de cure with Steven Bradbury

Members of our team participated in the Sportsman’s Lunch with Steven Bradbury to raise funds for Tour de Cure Australia at The Rock Pub. Tour De Cure is an Australian charity that raises money to fund cancer research, support and prevention programs.

Danes Golf Day

Some of our golfers represented our Team as sponsor of the Danes Golf Day at the Pittsworth Golf Club. The Pittsworth Danes Rugby League is committed to fostering a love of sport and a healthy lifestyle amongst its players, within a fun and safe environment, even if the’re not very good at footy...

In October 2017, Washo and Greg Inwood wore tutus while working at the St. Vincent’s Private Hospital $20 million theatre redevelopment site to raise $10,000 for Blush Cancer Care. Not a bad idea for the team working there at the moment. Just saying ...

Blocka didn’t miss the opportunity to have a selfie with Steven Bradbury

Blocka, Tori, Chandy, Bryce, Alec, Cody, Lachy, Matt and Ricky supporting this great cause

The boys making some puts Matt, Chez, Morgs and Ben at the Danes Golf Day

Hope for Hugo

Some members of our Team and their partners had a lovely time at the Hope for Hugo Type 1 Diabetes Gala Dinner this month. It was a good opportunity to join the community spirit and support children suffering from T1 diabetes. The funds collected at the event and the auction will help to improve the lives of children with T1 diabetes today and tomorrow by accelerating life-changing breakthroughs to cure, prevent, and treat this condition and its complications.

Humans of Hutchies Toowoomba

We continue our “Humans of Hutchies Toowoomba” series featuring our Site Manager Steve Andersen currently working at the Glenn Innes Ambulance site.

“It’s hard to put a definitive title on what I do. By day, I’m a Builder and Site Manager. I started in the building industry as a Labourer for a Formwork company and over many years worked my way through to Construction Manager. About fifteen years ago I decided it was time to move from Subbie to Builder, it meant virtually starting from scratch. After working for a small builder for a few years, I found that I was consistently building McDonald’s Restaurants, so the opportunity arose to build and renovate these in my own right. So, I formed a partnership and that’s what I did. One of the Restaurants I built was part of a Hutchies site in Toowoomba, and this is where I met and got to know the crew. It took a little while until an opportunity came up to jump on board for a “six-to-eight-month job” in Broken Hill. That of course turned into a constant flow of work and a five-year assignment! There are other endeavours that take up my “spare time”. I’ve always been a Musician and have played with many bands and artists over the years. From Keith Urban, Stevie Wright, Phil Emanuel to Wikety Wak and even Meatloaf!... and everything in between. For quite a while I’ve been doing Solo guitar and singing. In other previous lives, I’ve been a Skydive Instructor (and competitor) and a Scuba Instructor (I currently hold a Divemaster rating). My sanctuary is my property at Esk, with a menagerie of animals and plenty of peace and quiet. My wife Tanja is a Chef who often travels for work, so we both gravitate back to home base. Son Beau is in the Army and based in Townsville and Daughter, Georgia is in year 9 at school. It’s important to me to balance work with family, and I’ve learned that this is possible even when you are working away.”

Adam, Amber, Cody, Brooke, Nick, Hayley, Josh, Bridget and Alec dressing up for the occasion

Ben enjoying the evening at the Hope for Hugo Type 1 Diabetes Gala Dinner

Safety Visitor

Health & Safety Officer, Shannon Scott visited our office to provide some additional starter training to Jaime and to deliver training for the regional admin users on HammerTech. She ran through the updates on the HSE system on HammerTech and things that we can do to get the most out of the platform for our office and site staff

Future of Jobs Forum

Leesy was part of the panel at the Future of Jobs - We Built This City Forum organised by Employ Toowoomba at the Oaks Toowoomba Hotel. They discussed workforce needs and challenges and improvement ideas for our region. They also shared their views on what additional work needs to be done at the education and training level, to ensure there are a pool of qualified/skilled applicants to choose from by local employers.

NAWIC breakfast at Joe Wagner Group

Some ladies from our team got to meet with representatives of local businesses in the construction industry at the NAWIC QLD - National Association of Women in Construction breakfast hosted by Joe Wagner Group. It was good to see so many women actively involved in the construction industry here in Toowoomba. The panel of women and allies spoke about how they are forging ahead with running their own trade-centric businesses and challenging the gender norms in construction

Shannon and Jaime taking a break from the training

Ish, Morgan Rooney (Hutchies Social Responsibility Manager), Jess and Cody participating at the NAWIC breakfast

Estimators Conference 2023

The annual Estimators’ Conference was held in Hobart, Tasmania. Attendees took part in a range of interactive sessions over two days, designed to share knowledge and insights on market conditions and the latest processes and methods to achieve better outcomes for our clients and projects. They also had a site tour to the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA).

We are extremely proud of Gav being awarded Estimator of the year (EOTY) for 2022. EOTY started in 1996 to recognise high achievement in estimating. Gav’s leadership in our Hutchies Modular division in Toowoomba has been outstanding. From project procurement to post-completion, he’s been involved in every step of the process, making his contribution invaluable to the success of several recent projects.

Thanks to all our contributors! We couldn’t do this newsletter without you GOT AN IDEA? If you would like to contribute to the next edition of Hutchies’ Tbar Talk, take a photo of the activity our team is taking part in and send it by email to Jessica.Ramos@hutchinsonbuilders.com.au by COB June 15th.

Gav receiving the EOTY 2022 from Josh Chau, Jack Hutchinson, and Paul David

Darren, Ish, Gav, Charlesy, Glenn, and Chandy at the Estimators Conference in Hobart

Estimators from all Hutchies offices were welcomed by Hutchies Tassie team in Hobart