Why builder didn’t choose local for steel

BUILDER Hutchinson has defended a decision to source steel for a major Townsville construction project from Brisbane as a matter of ensuring value for money for the client.

Hutchinson’s Townsville team leader Peter Lee was commenting after sources contacted the Bulletin concerned steel for the project was being imported from China.

Lion Dairy and Drinks is developing a 5000sq m coldstorage facility in Shaw to support the distribution of milk throughout the region.

Mr Lee said he was not aware if the steel was imported but that much of the steel used in Australia was, because the country produced very little structural steel.

“We have contracted a company from Brisbane who supplied the steel and it’s being installed by a local Townsville company,” Mr Lee said.

“I don’t know where they got the steel from but most of the steel comes from China.”

Mr Lee said local steel suppliers were given the opportunity to quote and a “fair chunk” of steel used in other Townsville projects the company had been involved in, including at St Patrick’s College and Fairfield Central, had been sourced from local suppliers.

“It comes down to price at the time. It’s the same as any subcontractor or supplier, we have to provide the client with the best value for money,” Mr Lee said.

“We always try and steer work to local industry. At the end of the day, we are local.

“It’s much easier for us ... if we have a local supplier and you can talk to them quickly.”

Last month Townsville galvanising business Industrial Galvanizers closed after 30 years of operation because of lack of work and the growing use of steel sourced from China and India.

The industry is consolidating statewide with the closure or downsizing of plants in Brisbane and a fall in the level of infrastructure and construction work.

A local representative for the Townsville galvanising plant owners, the Us-based Valmont group, said the closure occurred because “the market is not here”.

This is despite a boom in solar farm construction in North and Central Queensland with as much as 100,000 tonnes of steel pilings shipped into Australia to build solar farms over the past two years.

The Lion distribution facility, expected to open this year, is understood to have required about 200 tonnes of steel.