By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
THE words ‘bunjil’ and ‘business’ proved synonymous this week.
Representatives from more than 130 businesses visited Casey council chambers on Monday 22 February for a special information session about the $125 million Bunjil Place project.
A number of local traders, manufacturers and suppliers turned out to meet with representatives from Brookfield Multiplex which was recently awarded the contract to build the new facility, while a number of major sub-contractors – including plumbing, electrical, climate control and civil works representatives – were available for discussion.
One of these local traders was Adam Downes, the owner of Charisma Coffee Vans, who knows how much tradies like their coffee and saw a business opportunity to provide caffeine to those people working on the Bunjil construction in the coming months.
With his business label emblazoned on his polo shirt, Mr Downes attended the information session to introduce himself to the Brookfield representatives and make his pitch.
“It seems like a great opportunity, there’s a lot of demand with workers for coffee,” Mr Downes told Star News.
“Workers need fuel to keep going and I’m sure most people love a coffee.
“So that’s the main reason that I’m here, to meet some new people within the local area as well and generate some business that way.”
As well as the need for coffee, pieces of art were also championed at the information morning.
Miranda Super from Paint a Pot in Narre Warren attended the event to speak to council staff about potentially having art work displayed in Bunjil Place once the facility was completed.
With a number of her mother’s art works in tow, Ms Super spoke about her idea.
“We’d like to do two things, we’d like to put a resin piece in Bunjil, so a large-scale piece that represents the build and the colours around Narre Warren,” she said.
“But we also specialise in community projects so what we’d love to do is get all the local schools involved in a project that could be something like painting tiles of things that they feel represent the local area and this new building that we’re getting.
“And then have a mural put up outside or inside this building.”
Ellis Air Construction Manager Grant Hillman was one of several sub-contractors at the information session who spoke to traders, noting how the project differed to others his company has worked on.
“Ellis has been involved with this since the early days of tendering, which for a job like this it’s probably six months ago,” he said.
“This is probably a mid-size project for us but it’s an interesting one because it’s got a bit of everything, there are not many jobs around like this at the moment.
“Just the fact that it’s got so many different types of spaces, office spaces, council chambers, you’ve got a theatre so it makes it interesting for all the guys that work for us.”
Bunjil Place Project Director Steve Dalton said as the project progresses, he expected Brookfield Multiplex and its sub-contractors to source many materials and services locally.
“One hundred and eighty four businesses registered their interest in the project with us and 131 walked through the doors yesterday,” he said on Tuesday.
“Of these, 38 per cent were from Casey and Cardinia, 22 per cent from Dandenong and about 40 per cent were from a bit further afield, proving that Melbourne’s south-east businesses are eager to provide the equipment, material and or specialist services that builder and sub-contractors may need to get the job done.
“We were thrilled to get such an enthusiastic response towards the project construction from a variety of industries including sustainable energy, furniture, audio visual, plastics, textiles, timber, signage, catering, paint, event management, safety gear and more.”
