Recopak Machinery

<p class="rteBlock">Recopak is a family-owned company based in Cobram, Victoria, with a thriving business designing and manufacturing innovative packaging machinery.</p><br><p class="rteBlock">Specialising in the dairy, wine, beverage and water processing industries, they provide custom-made packaging solutions to satisfy their customer’s requirements.</p>

<p class="rteBlock">Due to Recopak’s rapid growth, specifically within the supply and manufacturing of their packaging machinery, they had outgrown their previous facility. In order to future-proof their business and expand their operation, Recopak required a larger facility that could be purpose-built for their requirements.</p><br><p class="rteBlock">The management team approached Steelcorp to get involved with the design and construction of a new facility.</p>

<p class="rteBlock">Owner builder Luke Dopper (Director at Recopak) engaged Steelcorp to bring together the main 4,000m2 structure, double-storey office framing and a rear storage shed. The build needed to be completed by the end of May 2022: a tight timeline but one that we ultimately delivered on.</p><br><p class="rteBlock">Our scope included a fabricated hot-dipped galvanised steel package, including purlins and girts, plus external steel cladding and internal structural partition walls.</p><br><p class="rteBlock">Steelcorp looked after the structural steel drawings, engineering certificate and computations, and provided 3D structural steel drawings to ensure the building was strong, soundly designed, and met regulatory requirements.</p><br><p class="rteBlock">Aside from the structural elements, we also delivered industrial roller shutters, industrial fire egress compliant access doors, and a cantilevered canopy to extend the usage of the structure in rainy weather.</p><br><p class="rteBlock">“For this new building, we really wanted to set up the layout to make sure it flowed efficiently,” says Luke Dopper, Director at Recopak.</p><br><p class="rteBlock">“Our business has grown and changed over the years so it was important to have the workshop laid out for the way we do business. We’ve added an awning for our staff car park to keep our team’s vehicles undercover, and another big awning at the side of the building so that we can load our machinery undercover in any weather.”</p><br><p class="rteBlock">“Now we can have trucks drive through and load equipment on a flat surface, without getting our equipment wet in the rain.”</p><br><p class="rteBlock">The roof included insulation, guttering and above-ground rainwater systems and the inclusion of skylights for adequate natural light. Structural glazing support beams were included in the walls to support all windows.</p><br><p class="rteBlock">The building design included a large new office area, so Steelcorp designed a customised office mezzanine floor with architectural bulkheads, and constructed the attached office complex package including steel and roof.</p>

<p class="rteBlock">This project presented several challenges, including the front office frame which needed to be incorporated once the main structure was already underway. This required working with the engineer to overcome this challenge. </p><br><p class="rteBlock">Additionally, the internal partition wall needed to be customised during the build, which the Steelcorp team overcame by cladding the wall after the build was complete.</p>

<p class="rteBlock">This project presented several challenges, including the front office frame which needed to be incorporated once the main structure was already underway. This required working with the engineer to overcome this challenge.</p><br><p class="rteBlock">Additionally, the internal partition wall needed to be customised during the build, which the Steelcorp team overcame by cladding the wall after the build was complete.</p><br><p class="rteBlock">“We’ve pretty much tripled the size of the facility we were in previously, and the experience with Steelcorp has been really good,” adds Luke.</p><br><p class="rteBlock">“The guys were good to get along with, and more than willing to help us out. The experience has been fantastic and I’ve already recommended Steelcorp to a few people.”</p>