With considerable experience in design and construction, Kerman Contracting Pty Ltd is delivering cost-effective and innovative facilities for major Australian clients.
DESIGN, CONSTRUCT, DELIVER
It’s October 1981 and Brian Kerman, founder of Kerman Contracting Pty Ltd (Kerman), pulls up at a building site in Kalamunda, a town and eastern suburb of Perth.
As he looks up, he sees the beginnings of one of Kerman’s first big structural projects, the Kalamunda Water Slides.
Over 40 years on from these humble yet fun beginnings, the Kerman name has built a solid reputation for its fully integrated design and construction expertise, both in Western Australia (WA) and across the country.
Now one of the most experienced design and construction firms in WA, Kerman today works on large structures for major clients in the resources, agriculture, processing, and manufacturing sectors.
The company specialises in bulk storage and materials handling facilities, non-process and industrial infrastructure, and the SMP (structural, mechanical, piping) erection of processing plants.
With the ability to leverage more than four decades of experience and knowledge, it means that these client solutions are both cost-effective and innovative.
Indeed, the success of Kerman in retaining a highly skilled, long-term, integrated engineering and hands-on management team over the years has been key in the delivery of high-quality, safe, and timely outcomes for clients, unrivalled by the competition.
Likewise, Kerman’s exceptional level of experience and understanding has helped the company to cement relationships with the very best and most experienced subcontractors, and enabled Kerman to become a highly respected name and formidable partner in the construction industry.
MAJOR CONTRACTS
Exposure to a range of processes and techniques enables Kerman to tailor solutions most suited to the operational functions, design life, durability, environmental or logistical challenges for any particular project.
The company’s resilient systems and processes are designed to be scalable, which enables the required expertise, equipment and resources to be dedicated to projects, no matter where they are located.
Kerman has proven its ability to undertake multiple large projects concurrently, and to deliver them successfully.
Current projects include the design and construction of a bulk and liquid fertiliser import, storage and dispensing facility, following the award of a major contract in September 2021 by CBH Group (CBH), Australia’s largest cooperative and a leader in the country’s grain industry.
Completion of the facility, which will store 55,000 tonnes of bulk fertiliser and 32,000 tonnes of liquid fertiliser, is expected in the first half of 2023.
The project fits perfectly into Kerman’s core business of designing and constructing large bulk storage and materials handling facilities, as well as SMP and installation works.
Another of Kerman’s ongoing contracts, awarded by Blue Phoenix Western Australia in April 2021, is the design and construction of a new incinerator bottom ash (IBA) processing facility at Hope Valley in Kwinana, WA.
It will be Australia’s first IBA processing facility, with Kerman’s scope comprising the structural design as well as the structural, mechanical and electrical installation.
Kerman is proud to play a significant role in how waste will be managed in the future, and how energy and other resources will be recovered from it.
PORT INFRASTRUCTURE
Kerman has been successfully constructing transport and port infrastructure, as well as distribution centres and locomotive (un)loading and maintenance facilities since 1995.
In New South Wales (NSW), Kerman was recently awarded an AUD$30 million contract for a new ship unloading facility at the Port of Newcastle.
This design and construction contract involved the demolition of two existing ship unloaders and associated conveyor structures, replacing them with a new high-capacity unloader, new conveyor structures, wharf upgrades and electrical systems.
The new ship unloader is the first of its type in Australia, and provides multipurpose bulk commodity unloading efficiencies far superior to machines currently operating across the country.
An AUD$60 million contract by Mineral Resources Limited (MRL), meanwhile, was awarded to Kerman in May 2022 for the design and construction of their Port of Ashburton ore storage facility in Onslow, WA.
The design is already well underway and onsite construction works are expected to commence on the 284-metre-long facility in January 2023.
The project will provide employment for about 60 site personnel, as well as opportunities for local businesses, and will also be one of the largest enclosed bulk storage buildings in Australia’s cyclone region once constructed.
Elsewhere, in the lithium market, Kerman has been awarded a design and construction contract by Albemarle Lithium, at the global specialty chemicals company’s new lithium hydroxide production plant in Kemerton, WA.
The scope of this greenfield project comprises two separable portions, one of which includes the design and construction of the pyromet buildings, such as the spodumene storage building, acidified ore handling building, and the tailings building.
The other separable portion includes the sodium sulphate packaging and storage warehouse, sodium sulphate pallet storage building, lithium hydroxide packaging and storage warehouse, lithium hydroxide pallet storage building, as well as the boiler and air compressor buildings.
Recently, Kerman has also completed projects at Talison Lithium’s chemical grade plant, and the lithium hydroxide processing plant of Tianqi Lithium, both in WA.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
The common denominator across Kerman’s diverse project portfolio is a philosophy of continuous improvement, which flows through the company from design to operations and staff development.
Ongoing investment in training, safety management, and workplace relations has reaped significant rewards for both Kerman and its clients.
By providing its people with sensible and practical project management systems, as well as safe, well-maintained equipment, Kerman is able to effectively manage risk on any project.
Zero harm is a core value at Kerman, with the care and wellbeing of its staff and the environment always its first priority.
By ensuring its work activities do not generate negative outcomes, Kerman is committed to safe and sustainable practices, driven by the aim to contain the environmental footprint of its projects, reduce workplace illness and injury, and minimise the negative impact of workplace incidents.
Ongoing inspections and audits are also regularly completed, both internally and externally, to monitor Kerman’s compliance and system implementation.
It is Kerman’s intention to seek health, safety, and environmental excellence, supported by the company’s commitment to meet and, where possible, exceed client, statutory and legislative requirements.
As such, Kerman will continue to design, construct, and deliver tailored solutions, with care for people and planet at the fore.
