Civilcast has grown exponentially over the Past half decade, with exciting projects and developments coming on the horizon. Meeting and even exceeding product compliance requirements has played a crucial role in this growth, as Brian Lee, Product Development Manager explains.
Founded in 2010 by John McQuaid, a prominent figure in the civil construction industry, Civilcast grew steadily over a number of years. The company’s period of strong growth was exasperated in 2018, when private shareholders with extensive experience in manufacturing and supplying building products to the construction industry, acquired the company.
This signalled a period of rapid growth, with the company significantly growing its employee base, while also expanding its range of products and services.
Brian Lee, Product Development Manager says that despite the company’s expansion, it retained its family feel, as well as its commitment to customer service.
“We pride ourselves on our service excellence. We offer a broad range of products, coupled with fast lead times.
“We’re able to provide exceptional service partly because we’ve got our own fleet of delivery vehicles, and we’ve also got a dedicated logistics department that’s always in touch with job sites to coordinate deliveries ensuring customers get their products quickly and efficiently,” Lee says.
Civilcast is also highly flexible when it comes to meeting the requirements of clients.
“We’re very flexible as we don’t just provide a standard range of products, we also offer custom product options for complex projects,” Lee says.
“We can provide the whole package because we’re the manufacturer and importer of both steel and precast products. Other companies out there might focus on only imported products. We provide the complete package at a competitive rate with excellent service, and timely delivery.”
Using the experience of its staff, as well as its shareholders, Civilcast has been able to weather the storm of industry impacts, such as supply chain issues caused by the COVID pandemic.
“We saw the challenges coming and we increased our inventory holdings. We like to get on the front foot through those sorts of challenges. That helped us to maintain our relationships with our customers and strengthen our standing as a market leader in the marketplace,” Lee says.
This experience also fuels Civilcast’s constant product improvement, with Lee himself overseeing a number of brand-new developments for the company.
“We now have a footprint across all eastern states, so there’s that on-going need to develop new products in line with state specific requirements which will underpin our future growth. We’re also working on a number of major infrastructure projects such as the Western Sydney Airport, the Snowy 2.0 project and the M12 Motorway,” he says.
This experience has also enabled the company to stay ahead when it comes to required regulations and compliance.
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Esteemed quality
Lee says that when the private shareholders took over Civilcast, product compliance was an area that he says lacked effective enforcement and implementation. He adds that this has improved drastically and compliance and certification is now an essential requirement for products being utilised in infrastructure development.
“Soon after the acquisition we undertook independent testing of our products. We were extremely confident in the compliance of our products, but it’s important to have third-party testing and validation of compliance for grates and covers,” Lee says.
Like all other companies across the sector, Civilcast has had to weather the storm of constantly evolving guidelines and compliance requirements for infrastructure products.
Lee says that while this experience is not unique to just Civilcast, the way in which the company views and addresses compliance is distinctive.
“Compliance is essential for the design to start with,” he says. “The design of underground infrastructure is particularly important. It’s important to be able to provide a product that is compliant and can be verified as compliant that satisfies this requirements,, while also delivering quality products that adhere to Australian Standards.
“This is essential for maintaining the longevity of Australia’s overall drainage network.”
Lee says satisfying requirements for stormwater components and grates is also essential to increase the safety of essential infrastructure.
“There’s a lot of products out there that aren’t compliant. These can not only be detrimental to the success of a project but can also impede on the safety of a work site,” Lee says.
Compliance helps to also crucially maintain the safety of the wider public. These include standards around drainage systems such as capacity, slip resistance and the ability for grates to sufficiently support loads caused by pedestrians and vehicular traffic.
Using its more than 150 years in combined industry experience, as well as knowledge gathered from catering for the needs of more than 5000 projects, Civilcast has emerged as one of the industry’s leading voices on compliance.
Each of the company’s products adhere to the national standards for steel and grate covers (AS3996-2019), ensuring that its products can leave a positive legacy on infrastructure projects nationwide.
The culmination of this commitment to compliance has been the company achieving Global-Mark Certification, confirming the company’s compliance for products supplied to the industry.
“That was a huge milestone for us. We’re the first provider or importer of ductile iron and steel grates and covers to achieve it,” Lee says.
“The certification is important particularly for tier one contractors and some of the larger infrastructure projects. When they see that certification and the ISO 9001 accreditation it gives them a deep-seated confidence in your product.”
Lee believes Civilcast’s focus on compliance and quality will hold the company in great stead as it eyes even further expansion and improvement.
This article was originally published in the October edition of our magazine. To read the magazine, click here.