AE Smith

Infobox_Company
company_name = AE Smith
company_
company_type = Mechanical Services Contractor
foundation = Melbourne, Australia 1898
location = Melbourne, Australia
key_people = Brian Pollock (Chairman of the Board)
Andrew Permezel (CEO)
num_employees = 600+ 2008
industry = Construction
services = Air Conditioning
Mechanical Services
Environmental & Energy Management Solutions

homepage = [http://www.aesmith.com.au/ www.aesmith.com.au]

AE Smith & Son Pty Ltd (or AE Smith) is the largest privately owned commercial air-conditioning and mechanical services contractor in Australia focusing on heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, electrical, controls, fire protection, construction and commissioning. As a Business Review Weekly Top 500 Private Company [cite web |url= http://www.brw.com.au/lists/detail/?listId=10 |title= Business Review Weekly (BRW) Top 500 Private Companies |accessdate=2008-01-22] , the company employs over 600 people today and has been family owned for over 100 years since the beginning of the company in 1898.

History

AE Smith was founded in Richmond, Victoria, Australia in 1898 by Albert Edward Smith (1871-1923). Albert Smith was a qualified plumber. The establishment of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) in 1891 and Melbourne’s first underground sewerage system facilitated considerable growth in the plumbing industry and the success off the company itself.

Albert Edward Smith was succeeded by his son, Albert Edward Smith Junior (or Bert Smith). Bert served the company for over forty years, in which time he extended the services of the business to include heating, ventilation and air-conditioning. This significantly expanded the scope of the business and enabled it to take on larger projects including providing mechanical services to the Elizabeth Street Norman Brothers headquarters in Melbourne (a landmark building in the city during the 1950s) and the Caulfield Town Hall with the involvement of Sir Walter Bassett (one of Australia’s best-known engineers).

Bert Smith’s son, Barry Smith, took leadership of the company in 1953, initiating an era which witnessed the expansion of the company across Australia and abroad. By the end of the twentieth century, AE Smith gained significant recognition as a mechanical services company after taking part in many landmark projects involving shopping centres, hotels, universities and hospitals in the city of Melbourne. This success resulted in a new branch being opened in Hobart in 1967, followed by offices in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, Mackay, Townsville, Perth and abroad in Auckland, New Zealand.

Today, headed by CEO Andrew Permezel, AE Smith serves many iconic and well-recognised buildings in Australia such as the Australian Synchrotron (Melbourne), Crown Casino (Melbourne), Melbourne Cricket Ground, Royal Brisbane Hospital, Royal Children's Hospital (Melbourne), Riparian Plaza (Brisbane), Jupiters Casino (Gold Coast), Sheraton Breakwater Casino (Townsville), Sheraton Hotel (Hobart) and Eureka Tower; the tallest residential building in the world (Melbourne) [ Abridged from: cite book |title= Spanning the Centuries: a history of AE Smith & Son Pty Ltd to celebrate their 110th birthday |last= Flesch |first= J |coauthors= Francis R |year= 2007 |publisher= AE Smith & Son Pty Ltd |location= Melbourne |isbn= 978-0-9804325-0-3|pages= 143 ] .

Structure and Service

AE Smith Construction

AE Smith Construction designs and installs commercial air conditioning, heating, ventilation, plumbing, process piping, control systems and all types of mechanical services.

AE Smith Service

AE Smith Service is responsible for the total maintenance of commercial heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. This includes proactive preventative maintenance programs, breakdown repair, retrofit and replacement.

Facility 1st

Facility 1st is an AE Smith company that specialises in the design, installation and maintenance of environmental and energy management systems, access control, CCTV and remote monitoring systems [cite web |url= http://www.aesmith.com.au/Facility1stanAESmithcompany |title= Facility 1st (an AE Smith Company) |accessdate=2008-01-17] .

Community Support

In 2004, the Melbourne AE Smith team established a pro bono relationship with Ronald McDonald House Charities in Monash to provide pro bono air conditioning and mechanical service [cite web |url= http://www.rmhc.org.au/house/news.asp?ID=29&eID=59 |title= Ronald McDonald House Monash - VIC |accessdate=2008-01-25] . During 2007, AE Smith teams located in Auckland (NZ), Perth (WA) and Townsville (Qld) expanded the AE Smith program of community support by providing pro bono air conditioning and mechanical service to respective Ronald McDonald Houses located in each city. Ronald McDonald Houses provide accommodation for families so that they can stay near the hospital whilst their child is bring treated.

Environmental Action

In 2005, AE Smith was the first (and still only) air conditioning company to be a supporter of Greenfleet – an Australian not-for-profit environmental pioneer [cite web |url= http://www.greenfleet.com.au/supporters/fleet.asp |title= Greenfleet - Fleet Members |accessdate=2008-01-25] . AE Smith is combining traditional vehicle offsets with a special tree planting program by committing to plant 10,000 trees by 2010 with Greenfleet. In 2007, AE Smith became a member of both the Green Building Council of Australia and the New Zealand Green Building Council.

Notable Associations

* [http://www.amca.com.au Air Conditioning and Mechanical Contractors’ Association of Australia (AMCA)]
* [http://www.airah.org.au Australian Institute of Refrigeration Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH)]
*Building Industry Sub-Contractors’ Organisation of Australia (BISCOA)
* [http://www.cibse.org Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers] (CIBSE)
* [http://www.fma.com.au Facility Management Association of Australia (FMA)]
* [http://www.gbcaus.org Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA)]
* [http://www.greenfleet.com.au Greenfleet]
* [http://www.plumber.com.au Master Plumbers & Mechanical Services Association of Australia (MPA)]
* [http://www.nzgbc.org.nz New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC)]
* [http://www.propertyoz.com.au Property Council of Australia (PCA)]
*Ronald McDonald House Charities

Clientele

Past and present projects in Australia involving AE Smith include:

Aerospace, Defence & Government Buildings:
Australian Synchrotron (Vic), Melbourne Airport (Vic), Qantas Heavy Maintenance Facility (Qld), RAAF College (Vic), State Library of Victoria (Vic), Vic Roads (Vic), Victorian Archives Centre (Vic)

Apartments/Hotels:ANA Lilyvale Hotel (NSW), Grand Hyatt Hotel (Vic), Harbour Lights (Qld), HM@S Apartments (Vic), Hyatt Regency (Qld), Kakadu Hotel (NT), Laguna Quays Resort (Qld), Mariners Apartments (Qld), Menzies at Rialto Hotel (Vic), Ritz-Carlton (NSW), Saville Grand (Vic), Sheraton Hotel (Tas), Willahara Tower Apartments (Qld)

Banking:
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Exhibition Street) (Vic), Suncorp Offices (Qld)

Casinos:
Country Club Casino (Tas), Crown Casino (Vic), Jupiters Casino (Qld), Sheraton Breakwater Casino (Qld), Sky City Tower & Casino (NZ), Treasury Casino (Qld)

Correctional Facilities:
Maryborough Correctional Centre (Qld), Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre (Qld), Warcol Correctional Centre (Qld), Woodford Correctional Centre (Qld)

Food Producers:Ale House at the XXX Brewery (Qld), Buttercup Bakeries (WA), Coca Cola Plant (Qld), Nestle Confectionary (Vic), Peters Foods (Vic), Woolworths Distribution Centre (Qld), Yakult Beverages Company (Vic)

Hospitals:
Austin Hospital (Vic), Cairns Hospital Redevelopment (Qld), Fairfield Hospital (NSW), Hervy Bay Hospital (Qld), Latrobe Valley Hospital (Vic), Launceston General Hospital (Tas), Lismore Base Hospital (NSW), Mater Misericordiae Private Hospital Mackay (Qld), Monash Medical Centre (Vic), Princess Alexandra Hospital (Qld), Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (Qld), Royal Children's Hospital (Vic), Royal Hobart Hospital (Tas), Royal Women's Hospital (Vic), St. Vincent’s Hospital (Tas), Toowoomba Mental Health (Qld), Townsville Hospital (Qld), Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children (NSW)

Industrial:Bosch Testing Facilities (Vic), Ford Geelong (Vic), National Rail – Sportswood (Vic), Orica (Vic)

Information Technology:Quadrant (WA)

Legal:Barristers Chambers (Vic), Supreme and Law Courts (NT)

Media:
ABC Studios (Tas), The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd Production (Vic), Queensland Newspapers (Qld)

Petrochemical:
Esso Headquarters (Vic)

Retail/Business/Residential:
Austar Building (Qld), Centennial Plaza (NSW), Eureka Tower (Vic), ICI Australia (Vic), Neville Bonner Building (Qld), Piccadilly Plaza (NSW), Riparian Plaza (Qld), WTC Base Building Fitout (Vic)

Science, Laboratories & Pharmaceuticals:
Alphapharm (Qld), Antarctic Research Station (Tas), Australian Institute for Bioengineering & Nanotechnology (Qld), Clarke Street Laboratory (Vic), CSIRO (Qld, Vic), Government Chemical Laboratory (Qld), Pacific Pharmaceuticals (NZ), Sullivan & Nicolaides (Qld)

Shopping Centres & Cinemas:Canelands Shopping Centre (Qld), Chadstone Shopping Centre (Vic), Chermside Shopping Centre (Qld), Fountain Gate Shopping Centre (Vic), Greensborough Plaza (Vic), Knox City Shopping Centre (Vic), Laverton Shopping Centre (Vic), Melbourne Central Shopping Centre (Retail Areas) (Vic), Mackay Cinemas (Qld), Northland Shopping Centre (Tas), Orion Shopping Centre (Qld), Sunshine Plaza (Qld)

Sports:Boondal Sports Complex (Qld), Caulfield Racecourse Grand Stand (Vic), Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) (Vic), QEII Sporting Complex (Qld), State Hockey Centre (NSW), Vodafone Arena (Vic)

Telecommunications:Exhibition Telephone Exchange IDC (Vic), Newton Telephone Exchange (NSW), Windsor Telephone Exchange (Vic), Wheelers Hill Telephone Exchange (Vic)

Tertiary Institutions:
Holmesglen Institute of TAFE (Vic), Monash University (Vic), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) (Vic), Swinburne University (Vic), University of Queensland (Qld)

References