Townsville-based engineering and project management firm FortisEM has helped drive Agripower’s new $52 million development from the start.
Director/principal engineer Bill Hutton said he had personally been involved in plans for the fertiliser manufacturing plant near Charters Towers for seven years, and FortisEM had been involved since he started the business five years ago.
“Projects like this are long-term propositions that take time to develop – so it’s been great to be involved from a very early stage,” he said.
FortisEM has been providing structural engineering services over the life of the project, which is expected to come online early next year.
Mr Hutton said in the current Stage 2a program of development, FortisEM’s primary role was providing construction phase inspection and certification services.
“FortisEM is also currently working closely with construction company Formset to undertake the design and construction of a new 36m x 40m packing shed at the site,” he said.
As with all of the firm’s jobs, there had been a strong focus on the use of technology to improve the quality of outcomes.
“In particular we focus on using BIM (Building Information Modelling) and 3D laser scanning techniques in combination with traditional engineering and finite element modelling. This keeps construction phase RFIs (Requests For Information) to a minimum,” Mr Hutton said.
Mr Hutton said FortisEM had a strong focus on optimising material use to design structures that were fit for purpose and not grossly over-designed – which was a common issue in the mining area.
With his background in fabrication and maintenance and the specialist technical abilities of the FortisEM team, they were able to add great value to the design and construct teams they worked with, he said.
“Our involvement in this project has really highlighted our ability to work closely with our clients to develop solutions that meet their specific needs and our willingness to work on sites that are out of town,” Mr Hutton said.
“It’s a great project to have been involved in and hopefully we will continue to be involved into the future.”
FortisEM has a number of other large projects in the pipeline, including work with Brisbane City Council, Diamantina Power Station and Queensland Rail.
“We are also heavily involved with education projects in the Northern Region, working closely with i4 Architecture on a number of projects,” Mr Hutton said.
“Use of our 3D laser scanner is also growing as clients learn the value of capturing accurate site data prior to commencement of a project.”
FortisEM was recently named the winner of the Business Innovation and Small Firm of the Year categories in the 2018 Consult Australia National Awards for Excellence.
http://new.fortisem.com.au/agripower-forges-ahead-with-52m-plant/
