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Australian-owned defence company NIOA is preparing to break ground on an $11 million expansion of its Brisbane headquarters, creating 40 local jobs at the peak of construction.
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The Eagle Farm facility – home to NIOA’s corporate headquarters, warehouse and distribution centre – will accommodate a 90 full-time equivalent increase in project managers, engineering, administration and operational personnel within the new building.
The company has entered a significant growth phase with a $130 million capital investment in domestic munitions and explosives manufacturing including a $60 million artillery shell forging plant in Maryborough with joint-venture partner Rheinmetall Waffe Munitions GmbH, as well a co-tenancy at the Australian government-owned munitions plant at Benalla in Victoria.
NIOA CEO Robert Nioa said the new building would add a 1,445 square metres of space, adjacent and connected to the existing 8,000-square-metre state-of-the-art facility in the Brisbane Airport precinct, which opened in 2014.
"It’s going to be a great building and will provide a wonderful working environment for our team. NIOA is committed to projects that strengthen and grow Australia’s sovereign industrial capability," Nioa said.
NIOA recently secured Stage 1 of Tranche 1 of the LAND 159 program to modernise the Army’s weapons systems and in 2018 was awarded the $100 million LAND 17 – 1C.2 future artillery ammunition contract. The company has additional offices in Melbourne, Canberra and the United States and is well positioned to become a global exporter in the weapons and munitions sector.
Munitions and small arms research, design, development and manufacture has been identified as one of the federal government’s top 10 Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities
Nioa added, "It’s going to be a great building and will provide a wonderful working environment for our team. NIOA is committed to projects that strengthen and grow Australia’s sovereign industrial capability. This expansion will offer us the ability to innovate and grow long into the future, so we can pass on even greater service to all of our customers who have supported us for decades, as well as keeping skills, knowledge and jobs here in Australia."
BESIX Watpac will lead a six-month construction phase of the five-storey building designed by award-winning architects KIRK using Glued Laminated Timber (Glulam) and Cross Laminated Timber products from Maryborough-based Hyne Timber as key features of the structure.
BESIX Watpac general manager for Queensland and the Northern Territory, Drew Brockhurst, said his team was pleased to be awarded such a unique project for a great Queensland company.
"BESIX Watpac is excited to partner with NIOA to deliver this innovative superior quality project within a sensitive secure operational environment," Brockhurst said.
NIOA is a 100 per cent Australian prime contractor specialising in the provision and support of weapon systems and integrated soldier systems focusing on close combat, special operations, direct fire, in-direct fire, target recognition/identification, suppression and neutralisation, training and force protection.
The company supplies and supports a wide array of small arms, medium calibre and large calibre munitions, special function grenades and pyrotechnics, and leading-edge pistol systems, small arms, sighting systems and carriage solutions. NIOA prides itself on providing complete system solutions inclusive of through life support to its defence and law enforcement customers.
NIOA maintains and exercises reach-back arrangements with its engineering and technical support partners to provide specialised design, analysis and test services for the weapons systems we supply and support. The company's facilities are unique in Australia and provide specialised services and products to defence and law enforcement agencies across Australia and New Zealand. With an extensive range of capabilities, the new NIOA facility has been purpose built in collaboration with the Defence Security Agency to meet the needs of its customers.
