Published on June 24, 2005

An Australian construction firm will invest in a pre-engineered building project in Thailand that will allow for the faster construction of industrial plants and warehouses.

BlueScope Steel Ltd expects to start operations at the plant, the first of its kind in Thailand, in the third quarter of next year.

“Our investment will primarily support growing construction demand among industrial plants and warehouses,” said Andrew Heycott, president of BlueScope Lysaght (Thailand) Ltd, the Thai subsidiary of the Australian company.

With an investment of 17.8 million Australian dollars (about Bt500 million), the plant will be able to manufacture about 12,000 tonnes of building structures each year.

The plant will be located in Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in Rayong province, where a Bt3billion metallic coating and painting plant will also be located and operational next year.

The technology is estimated to help save construction time by two to three months, he said.

The plant will be tailor-made to customers’ specifications to make hi-tech steel building structures.

He said steel will be manufactured piece by piece and assembled at the plant. The knocked-down structure will then be ready for installation at customers’ sites.

Heycott said the time and labour-saving technology is highly popular in the United States.

“We have tested the market for over three years and found that it yields satisfactory results, so we decided to invest in the plant here,” he said.

Most raw materials will be supplied by the metallic coating and painting plant.

The company’s main targets are firms that build industrial plants, warehouses, workshops, hangars, cold storage facilities, showrooms, stadiums as well as convention halls.

It also hopes to export products to other Asean countries.

“I can’t reveal the expected returns from this project, but we’re confident that it will be good on the back of continued economic growth,” he said.

BlueScope Steel is a major steel maker with steel plants in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

It also has coating and painting plants in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Vietnam.

The company first came to Thailand in 1988 under BlueScope Lysaght, which is a joint venture with Loxley Plc.

Watcharapong Thongrung

The Nation

Post your comment to this story here