Tasmanian Company Walks On Air

Tasmanian structural engineering company Crisp Bros is fast building a reputation for tackling challenging projects in environmentally sensitive areas.

The Launceston based company, which recently received its fifth engineering excellence award, has fabricated and erected Tasmania's Tahune Airwalk and the 'Otway Fly' tourist viewing platform in Victoria, and is drawing, fabricating and erecting the 500 metre elevated tree-top walk 'Illawarra Fly' on the escarpment at Knights Hill above Wollongong in New South Wales.

"We enjoy tackling the fabrication and construction challenges that environmentally sensitive projects pose," Director Peter Acheson says.

Crisp Bros won the Australian Steel Institute (ASI) - VIC/TAS 2006 Structural Steel Engineering Award for Avalon Coastal Retreat, an architecturally designed luxury accommodation house near Swansea on Tasmania's east coast.

However, the Tahune Airwalk, built on the edge of the Huon River in Tasmania's southern forest area in 2003 is the company's most awarded project.

"This project has received awards from the ASI - VIC/TAS, from the Master Builders Association of Tasmania and from Master Builders Australia," Peter says.

He says the Tahune Airwalk was also the most challenging fabrication and construction project Crisp Bros had undertaken.

"The structure had to be built like a high wire, running through the treetops of re-growth forests on the Huon Trail," Peter says. "We were given a design layout, and minimal machinery access to assemble the structure on the forest floor.

"We had to develop drawings to meet size and weight restrictions, fabricating the 500 metre long structure in small structural steel sections, like a Meccano set, with the largest section only six metres long."

The Tahune Airwalk was fabricated from tube sections and XLERPLATE® steel plate over two months, and involved three months' on-site construction.

"Our assembly team followed our environmental risk assessments, and made no impact on the forest vegetation," Peter says.

Crisp Bros, which specialises in architectural, residential and commercial fabrication, can undertake up to six jobs at any one time at its 3500 square metre Kings Meadows workshop.

"Commercial projects involving beams and columns are our bread and butter," Peter says.

Current commercial projects include a $1 million Hydro Tasmania call centre, a new Harvey Norman building in Hobart, and structural steel work for the Avebury Nickel Project, near Zeehan, on the west coast of Tasmania.

Established in the late 1950s, Crisp Bros has occupied its present site since 1962. It is a privately-owned company whose partners also operate Tasmanian heavy fabrication company Haywards Steel Fabrication and Construction. Between them the companies have a combined annual turnover of $50 million.

Crisp Bros is a member of the STEEL BY™ Brand Partnership Program.

"We proudly support BlueScope Steel because it's an Australian company producing quality Australian steel," Peter says. "If we don't support Australian steel producers, prices will increase, quality may fall and the industry will suffer."

For more information contact:

Peter Acheson
Crisp Bros
Ph: 03 6344 4144
www.crispbros.com.au