Fyfe Engineers & Surveyors

National engineering and surveying firm Fyfe is in the midst of an employment boom in Queensland as it grows its oil and gas operations across the State.

Fyfe has expanded its presence in Queensland with the purchase of Coolum-based surveying and town planning practice, Colston Surveyors and Planners. The purchase includes an office in Dalby, close to the rapidly developing coal seam gas industry near Roma.This is in line with the expansion of the firm’s Queensland operations, which has more than tripled in size in the past five years to almost 60 staff with offices in Brisbane, Roma, Coolum and now Dalby.

“Queensland is the fastest growing State within our national operations and now accounts for around 30% of our total group revenue,” Fyfe Managing Director Mark Dayman said. “The surge in activity in Queensland, particularly within the oil and gas sector, is fuelling our optimism for the year ahead. We are forecasting our turnover will reach $36 million this financial year, up from $32 million last year.

“With the large amount of work coming through, we are now looking to take on an additional 25 staff across Australia, including 10 in Queensland. These positions are for engineers and surveyors through to senior managers.”

Mr Dayman said Colston was a well regarded practice with four staff, who would all be retained. “Colston has a strong reputation in consulting, surveying and town planning throughout South East Queensland and excellent growth potential,” he said. “Much of its work is on the Sunshine Coast, where the population continues to grow as increasing numbers of people choose to relocate to the region because of its lifestyle and climate.

“We believe there is strong potential to grow this business in the future, in conjunction with Fyfe’s existing business at Springwood. “Colston has also undertaken a considerable amount of surveying work for land divisions in the Surat Basin, which is at the heart of the rapidly expanding Coal Seam Gas (CSG) industry.

“It has been estimated that the population in these areas will grow from around 30,000 to 75,000 in coming years as new gas projects in the region are developed.” Mr Dayman said this work in the Surat Basin complemented the gas engineering work being conducted by Fyfe.

“Fyfe already has an office in Roma from which it has been servicing companies involved in Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) and CSG developments,” he said. “We have worked on CSG projects since 2003 and have extensive experience in this field with a rapidly growing client base. “We are also looking to open a new office at Chinchilla to streamline our operations between Roma and Brisbane and provide additional support for our staff. “The purchase of Colston means we now also have offices at Dalby.” The purchase price has not been disclosed.

Fyfe’s head office is in Adelaide and has offices in Brisbane, Darwin, and AliceSprings as well as remote offices across South Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland. It has around 250 employees nationally and is continuing to expand.