HANDLEY Surveys, a family-owned business from Karratha, has come a long way since it was established in 1976 and worked on residential sub-divisions.
HANDLEY Surveys, a family-owned business from Karratha, has come a long way since it was established in 1976 and worked on residential sub-divisions.
Included among the projects the company has worked on more recently is one of the state’s largest construction projects, Woodside’s Pluto gas plant, where Handley has played a small but critical role.
Its role has included posting staff to Thailand, where the gas plant has been built in modules before being shipped to the Burrup Peninsula for assembly.
General manager Alex Handley said his company had an established working relationship with Woodside and contractor FosterWheeler Worley, which led to its role in the world-first offshore modular construction of the Pluto plant.
“Woodside did a modular train out of Indonesia, the first time it was actually done in the world. This time they’re doing the whole plant,” Mr Handley told WA Business News.
The three-year job meant a crew of Handley workers was deployed to Thailand for the module-development period.
“Our role, predominantly, is certifying the accuracy of what’s being built; dimensional control,” Mr Handley said.
“We ensure what’s being built is exactly correct, so that when it does come back here it’s going to fit together nicely.”
Handley’s work in Thailand lasted 18 months, and at its peak the firm had six employees in the country.
“They were all full-time guys from Karratha. We only use expats, to ensure we maintain that communication level with the clients,” Mr Handley said.
About 60 per cent of Handley’s gross turnover is tied to the Pluto contract.
Beyond that, Mr Handley has been investigating other major upcoming projects, including Gorgon, Wheatstone and Pluto 2.
“As soon as we win a contract, a lot of our work is in the planning of that. As soon as the execution has begun, my role is to find the next project we’re working on,” he said.
The firm is also assessing options in coal-seam gas projects in Queensland, and Mr Handley envisaged his company expanding to include offices in Broome, Darwin and Gladstone.
The company was the only north-west WA-based company to be nominated in this year’s Telstra Business Awards, the winners of which will be announced on July 20 in Perth..
Mr Handley said the company’s high standards and reliability were key to its nomination. He said Handley invested heavily in new technology and had a strong relationship with suppliers and manufacturers.
“A lot of different companies never really embrace the one supplier, but developing that relationship with product manufacturer Trimble and Perth-based supplier Haefeli-Lysnar has allowed us to get much better results from them and put us at the forefront of their worldwide development plans,” Mr Handley said.
