Walpett Engineering | 7 tinue with me and our other General Manager, Tony McCallum.” Most of the big commercial builders in the area – such as Lend Lease, Leighton Contractors and Hindmarsh Constructions – have been working with Walpett Engineering for decades. Lawson credits the strength of those relationships to the strength of Walpett’s internal team. “Walpett has many longstanding employees,” he says. “At least half-a-dozen of our guys that have been with us for 20 years or more. What it comes down to is that we provide a nice, safe working environment that promotes quality – which makes our employees take pride in the work they produce.” “The skill and knowledge of our team is vital to our success,” he adds. “And having longstanding employees means they have developed considerable skills within their own trades, and those can be passed on to our younger generation and apprentices coming through.” Walpett Engineering also fosters positive relationships with the men and women on their supply chain, Lawson explains. Those relationships are also vital to the company’s success, as Walpett has to rely on them to deliver their high quality products in a timely fashion, for an affordable price. “We have a wide variety of suppliers from not only Canberra, but we’re involved heavily with suppliers Sydney as well,” he says. “Our relationships are strong, and that counts for our subcontractors as well.” Walpett subcontracts their cranes and rigging work, for example, and Lawson says they’ve been working with the same contractors there for 18 continuous years. Those are the types of relationships they like to establish and maintain at all levels, he explains. LEADERS IN STEEL Over the years, Walpett Engineering has been involved in numerous high profile projects throughout Canberra and the surrounding areas. Lawson points to the city’s National Convention Centre as a particularly significant one – “That’s got some really nice exposed steel work that we did,” he says. Lawson also cites the Australian National University’s College of Scienceand the John Curtin School of Medical Research as two more jobsWalpett takes a lot of pride in. “Those projects were quite architecturally difficult,” he explains, “But we completed them in a high quality and efficient way. Those facilities serve important purposes too, so we are proud to have contributed.” According to Lawson, it is Walpett’s experience that enables them to successfully execute such complex projects. He gives particular credit to his fellow General Manager Tony McCallum, who has been with the company for 26 years and “knows the ins and outs of what we’re capable of, and knows how to deliver on it.” Moving forward, Walpett Engineering aims to continue proving themselves on those important and complex jobs. They also aim to expand their level of architectural metalwork, as Lawson says they have the skills, the experience, and the capabilities to deliver more and bigger items. In general, Lawson says that the company’s main goal is to become the “leading structural steel and architectural metal fabricator in the ACT and surrounding region.”
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