4 minute read
CONSTRUCTION
B&E Foods turned to Total Construction when it needed to expand its facilities
Sydney-based B&E Foods decided to expand its poultry supply operations after finding growing success and to do so, the company turned to Total Construction. Adam McCleery explains.
Sydney and Brisbane-based wholesale food suppliers, B&E Foods is expanding production to continue to deliver a range of fresh meat, seafood, frozen food, and dry products to the Australian market.
The company has experienced growth since it was originally launched as a retail butcher at Canley Vale, in NSW, in 1991, evolving into a supplier and establishing sites in Sydney and another in Queensland.
After deciding to extend its operations, B&E Foods tendered a contract for the project, which Total Construction secured.
General manager of engineering construction group at Total Construction, Rob Blythman, said the company was thrilled to get the contract to build additional space at B&E Foods Blacktown facility.
Blythman credited Total Construction’s reputation for its expert food and beverage construction and fit out experience.
Total Construction’s reputation in the food and beverage construction space helped the company secure an extension project (pictured) with B&E Foods.
"Building the box around the site wasn’t the main priority for B&E Foods, instead, it was about ensuring the inside fit the company’s production needs. The finishes are such a critical element of the project. For example, the company will be installing a spiral chiller and we are tasked with building the space to support those requirements."
“Some time back B&E Foods purchased a site about 1km from their current facility in Blacktown,” Blythman said. The site had a small warehouse facility already in place, which B&E Foods developed into a production facility to trial a new product lines.
“B&E foods trialled the new products into the market, which was a success and drove the decision to expand production areas.”
“The new facility extension will be built to cater to the new product varieties from B&E Foods, such as like deep fried chicken, chicken combined with sauces and so on.
Both companies collaborated on
Part of the construction project includes an underground wastewater treatment plant.
an existing design until all parties were happy with the revised plan.
“We’ve spent a lot of time over the last eight to ten weeks working on the design and finalising the minor points, and now have started the civil works on site,” said Blythman.
“Building the box around the site wasn’t the main priority for B&E Foods, instead, it was about ensuring the inside fit the company’s production needs.
“The finishes are such a critical element of the project. For example, the company will be installing a spiral chiller and we are tasked with building the space to support those requirements.”
Among the project brief, a new 1,600sqm kitchen & production area will be included in the new extension, complete with hygienic finishes, as well as a new 832sqm storage and amenities area, and a 205sqm office. Making the total size of the entire facility a 4,545sqm property.
“The project will also consist of production kitchen, deep frying line, spiral freezer, as well as storage and offices. The original facility was a trial and now the investment is being upscaled,” said Blythman.
As with any major construction project, especially those that require new fit outs or extensions, several obstacles had to be overcome by Total Construction.
“One of the issues we’ve had to overcome in the project has been asbestos on site,” said Blythman.
Another was the rebuilding and relocation of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP).
As the WWTP is a Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) Plant and was servicing the existing production facility, it was required to continue operation and remain accessible for servicing. Thus, the new DAF location had to be installed prior to demolishing the existing.
“The new facility will be built right over the top of the existing Wastewater Treatment Plant location the new one had to be constructed first, and because the site is a tight one, we had to design an access path in a way that would allow access to the WWTP undergo cleaning,” said Blythman.
“We must also keep the existing facility running during construction and join onto the whole length of the building and that is a big task. B&E Foods existing production is not impeded through construction of the new extension will be a critical part of the project,” said Blythman.
A 357kl on-site underground detention tank for storm water, covering a third of the site, will also be built by Total Construction and will be located across the front of the site. Again, this needs to be completed early in the project to allow access to build the main extension.
The largest aspect of the project will be connecting the two facilities. It was decided that the fire isolated passage along the interconnected walls would create the least disruption to existing food production area during the main construction, so was decided to build this first.
“Eventually both facilities will operate together instead of independently,” said Blythman.
“There will be a partial handover to the client and process equipment will start to be installed, we will facilitate these installations by managing their installers because all equipment manufacturers have their own installers, but they have to fall under our occupational health and safety regulations.
“That is generally a four-tosix-week process after we have completed the build.”
Blythman said rain and the COVID-19 lockdown had pushed the project back by six weeks, but the slab is due to go down this month and the project is scheduled for completion by May of 2022. F
