2 | Gunther Civil Gunther Civil is a civil engineering contractor with an unrivalled commitment to clients. For every organisation they work with, they strive to understand their culture, goals, objectives and pressures. And with every project they take on, they strive to deliver a high quality result – on time, on budget, and most of all with zero safety incidents. “We bring the highest level of commitment, management skills, and engineering techniques to every project we are involved with,” says Anthony Gunther, Managing Director of the company. Anthony comes from an extensive background in the construction field. His father was a builder by trade and turned to industrial development not long after migrating to Australia from Germany, so he’d been around the industry from a young age. Once Anthony finished high school, he went to university and studied civil engineering, and after graduating earned a position with a top tier civil contractor. At that company, he worked as a project engineer on many significant sites in the resource and infrastructure sector where he also completed a Master’s of engineering project management.
Gunther Civil | 3 After earning a lot of valuable experience in that role, Anthony had the opportunity to establish Gunther Civil in 2011. Striking out on his own was something he always wanted to do – he preferred working amongst a small group of talented, multi-skilled and like-minded people to the bureaucracy of a larger company. So he gladly seized that chance, and started the company in the northwest of WA. Early on, Gunther Civil proved their capabilities on several large scale iron-ore infrastructure projects in the region. From there, they grew from a one-man operation in 2011 to a company with an experienced yet small management team, a multi-skilled workforce, late model plant and equipment and a turnover of around $7 million for the last financial year. SETTING THEMSELVES APART Today, Gunther Civil has offices in Newcastle, Perth and Karratha. They have the ability to mobilise throughout the country, and regularly work in remote, regional or metropolitan locations across Australia. As a company, they have the capacity and experience to engage in almost all sec-
4 | Gunther Civil tors of civil engineering construction. Some of Gunther Civil’s key specialty areas include: bulk and detailed earthworks; concreting; land clearing; powerline access and foundations; retaining structures, bridge abutments; roadworks, rail and conveyor alignments; marine and port works; subdivisions; and in-house design and management. In all of those areas, Anthony says the company is set apart by their dedication to keeping customers satisfied – from inception of a project all the way through to its successful completion. “We have a rapid response time,” he says. “Our clients are dealing with myself, so they don’t have to struggle with any internal communication breakdowns or delays. If they have an issue, or a crew needs to be mobilised straight away, I can address it there and then.” Gunther Civil also acts as a “one-stop-shop,” Anthony adds, which also sets them apart. “We can offer a broad range of civil services, and we do in-house (including Early Contractor Involvement) design as well as construct,” he explains. “If the mobilisation period is tight, and the design’s being done on the fly, we can work with our internal engineers on-site, during the project. We won’t have to delay the actual construction stage of the project lifecycle. We can work with our client throughout the construction phase and get the project done.” When combined, the company’s response time, clear communication, and broad range of services come together to equal adaptability. Those qualities mean they can react quickly to change and work in all sorts of different environments. It means they can handle logistical chal-
Gunther Civil | 5 lenges with ease – which is unique for contractors of Gunther’s streamlined and efficient size. “We’ve got the understanding, the experience and the know-how,” Anthony says. “That’s our advantage.” DYNAMIC STAFF Gunther Civil is also set apart by the high calibre of their staff, says Anthony. Throughout their ranks, the company employs a diverse team of highly skilled and motivated people – including project managers, engineers, HSE advisors and clerical staff. They also offer a multi-skilled labour force for long or short term durations – where the contingent includes plant operators, drillers, concreters, steel-fixers, carpenters, pipe-layers and welders. “We like to employ a small crew of multiWestern Australian owned and operated, Energy Enterprises Group is a national equipment hire company. Based in Welshpool, Energy Enterprises predominately focuses on the hire of Articulated Dump Trucks, Loaders, Graders, Excavators, and Articulated Water Carts. A broadening of the number of plant on our books in the past two years has enabled us to better service our clients varied requirements. Behind the fleet, lies a firm commitment to quality, maintenance and repair policies and procedures implemented at Energy Enterprises to ensure machines are safe and reliable. www.energyenterprises.com.au
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Gunther Civil | 7 skilled guys, rather than a large crew of employees focused on only one or two trades,” Anthony explains. “We spend a lot of time in-house doing training and development, and when we’re screening our guys for employment, we look for people who are after that.” “We recruit and train people who enjoy a dynamic role with a ‘can do’ attitude – people who want responsibility and accountability, like a challenge, are willing to push boundaries, and who want to learn,” he adds. “That’s the culture within Gunther Civil, and I believe it is a driving force behind our success and rapid growth to date.” “Everyone knows everyone by their first name,” he continues. “Our guys are free to talk to me anytime, and I talk to them. Everything is open door. That creates trust, and it gives us all a greater sense of pride in our work. And that helps us achieve our objectives and targets.” BEST PRACTICE Throughout their short history, Gunther Civil has already been involved in a number of blue chip resource and civil infrastructure projects, with principals including Rio Tinto, FMG, Woodside and Chevron. They have also worked alongside many high profile contractors and EPCM’s such as Leighton, Macmahon, Georgiou, SCEE, SKM, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Aurecon – to name just a few. One of the jobs Anthony is most proud of is the work he did on behalf of Rio Tinto on the Robe River Crossing – where Gunther Civil provided concrete, piling, earthworks and land clearing services. “Our scope was to assist with design, and then construct a series of transmission line foundations throughout a wide river crossing,” Anthony
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Gunther Civil | 9 recalls. “We’re entering the project into the CCF Earth Awards this year as it is a job that both ourselves and the client are proud of. The submission process has been exciting and we look forward to the judge’s verdict over the coming months.” “That project is, in a nutshell, what Gunther Civil is all about,” he says. “There was design involved, it required rapid deployment, it was in a remote location, and it was a highly technical project that could only be completed by a small yet multi-skilled crew due to its remoteness and accommodation restrictions. We completed it on time and on budget and most of all with zero LTI’s, environmental or heritage incidents – with 13,000 man hours recorded.” Gunther Civil is actually still working on different areas of the project, almost a year later. Though the initial scope of their work took less than 60 days, Rio Tinto, SKM and the two head contractors – SCEE and Monadelphous – were impressed by their efforts and have given them continuous work since. “They know how we operate, and they know what we’re capable of,” Anthony says. “So they keep coming back.” Moving forward, those are the kinds of relationships Gunther Civil wants to continue to forge. They also want to keep evolving – in five years’ time, Anthony hopes to grow the company’s turnover by at least five times the turnover of the last calendar year. He says they will do that by diversifying further into the oil and gas market as well as metropolitan infrastructure and development, and continuing to meet client needs wherever and whenever they can. “We want to back up what we say we can do with what we actually can do,” he concludes. “We want to have the right guys and the latest equipment to allow us to do that. And we want to be well knownAustralia-wide as a reputable resource infrastructure contractor working to industry’s best practice.”
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