Peter Hilary Coffey

Peter Hilary Coffey
(1933 - )

Peter Hilary Coffey was born on 31st March, 1933. He married Noela and they had one daughter and three sons.

He attended the University of Sydney and graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) in 1958.

From December 1957 to December 1959, he was employed by the Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board, Sydney as an Assistant Engineer C-Grade. During this time he spent six months in design office working on reinforced concrete design including elevated pipelines and other structures in the sewerage system and eighteen months supervising the construction of minor sewer extensions. This work involved surveying for construction purposes and the responsibility for control of costs.

From December 1959 to September 1960, he was with the Department of Main Roads, NSW ad an Assistant Engineer in the Bridge Section working on the design and drawing of bridges and other structures in both steel and reinforced concrete.

For a year from September 1960, he was employed by Thiess Bros as Assistant Site Engineer for the construction of the concrete lined cooling water tunnel at Wangi Power Station. This position involved responsibility for control survey and supervision of the work force. The tunnel was about 1km in length and about 4 metres in height with a reinforced concrete screen house at the power station end and a reinforced concrete intake structure at the lake end which was constructed inside a sheet piled cofferdam.

The contract was completed by September, 1961 and over the last 2 months he had supervised the earthworks for the coal handling area at Vales Point Power Station.

At the conclusion of this project and until July 1964 he worked with Dowsett Engineering (Aust) Pty. Ltd as Assistant Manager in the Newcastle area. This position involved the preparation of tenders for and supervision of civil works. The majority of the work was carried out on the site of the BHP Steelworks where the firm built the foundations for the No.4 Blast Furnace and Basic Oxygen Steel Plant. Both of these jobs required the design and construction of sheet piled excavations in water-charged ground for 10- to 12-metre-deep concrete foundations. The work was carried out by Dowsett's direct labour force of carpenters and labourers and making use of Dowsett's Ruston Bucyrus excavators and cranes.

A major job which we secured by tender was the Tomago Water Treatment Plant for the Hunter District Water Board. This project called for the preparation of the sand foundation and the construction of a series of concrete tanks which required accurate placement for the installation of mechanical equipment.

The following year until April 1965 was with Humes Limited as Project Engineer for the Captain Cook Bridge. The task for Humes Limited was to complete the manufacture of the precast concrete segments to be supplied to John Holland for the construction of the Captain Cook Bridge. The project had encountered some problems prior to Coffey’s commencement and in order to meet contractual obligations it was necessary to ensure that the precast segments were cast to an extremely high standard of finish and in accordance with a rigid delivery programme. After successful completion on time of this project he stayed on to cast a series of prestressed concrete beams and columns for the roof of the Maroubra Reservoir.

From April 1965 to June 1968 Coffey was with Ray Fitzpatrick Quarries Pty Ltd as Construction Engineer and progressed to Chief Estimator and then to Construction Manager responsible for the preparation of tenders and the construction of civil works with an emphasis on roadwork.

The work load was about 20 subdivisions in the Sydney area under construction at one time. This level of work necessarily required the submission of tenders sufficient to maintain this workload. The earthworks and pavement construction were carried out by direct labour while concrete and drainage were carried out by subcontractors.

Some notable projects were the construction of one mile of the Hawkesbury to Mount White Toll Way and the Seaham Weir for the Hunter District Water Board. The Toll Way was carried out as a subcontract to KD Morris who was the head contractor. His first task on joining Fitzpatrick was to complete this contract which was losing money and diverting resources from profitable work in the metropolitan area. The Seaham Weir was secured as a result of a successful tender submitted to the Hunter District Water Board for the construction of a rock fill weir across the Williams River. The project was secured at a favourable price by quarrying rock adjacent to the site and saving a haul of about 15km from Frost's Quarry, the nominated supplier.

Prior to the placing of rock for the weir the river bed required dredging to a depth of about 25 metres carried out by cutter suction dredge. In addition, the site quarry was opened, and rock was delivered and placed in the weir and ancillary concrete structures were built.

In June 1968 and until July 1973 Coffey was employed by White Industries Limited under several corporate structures. He had first joined Birdsall and White Pty Limited when Geoff White asked him to go to Nowra as Project Manager of the Danjera Creek Dam, the first contract secured by his recently formed company. The contract ($2 million) called for the construction of a diamond head buttress concrete dam and spillway together with an earth fill saddle dam. Coffey was responsible for all aspects of construction including:

-Coffer Dams.

-Excavation in rock for foundations and spillway.

-Winning of gravel from the creek.

-Site crushing of aggregate.

-Site mixing of concrete.

-Forming and placing concrete.

-Preparation of payrolls on site.

-Preparation of monthly claims and collection of progress payments.

During the last year of the dam project, the firm secured the site preparation for the Jervis Bay Nuclear Power Station ($1 million), and Coffey acted as Project Manager for this job in conjunction with the dam. In addition to this Birdsall and White carried out site preparation for the International Air Terminal at Kingsford Smith Airport including 100 acres of grassing.

Upon completion of the work in Nowra Coffey returned to Sydney as the Metropolitan or South Area Manager. A number of projects were carried out including the site preparation for the Tactical Trainer Building at South Head which required the blasting of a 12-metre excavation in rock adjacent to buildings.

While he was with the company Geoff White bought out his partners in Birdsall and White Pty Ltd, and traded as GB White Pty Ltd Later, the public company White Industries Limited was formed and Coffey joined the board as an executive director. In addition to this he was a director of Spraygrass Services Pty Ltd, a company jointly owned by GB White Pty Ltd and Hardboards of Australia.

Coffey left White Industries in July 1973 and until January 1983 worked at BMI Limited. He joined the Technical Services Department as Senior Engineer in charge of a number of projects including the rock supply contract to Atkinson - Leighton for the construction of the Botany Bay Port Development.

He progressed to the position of Group Construction Manager responsible for all construction within the BMI Group. In this position he was responsible for the construction of the $4 million Kempsey Brickworks for Clark Brick Limited and the conversion of the Clark Tile Plant in Victoria to manufacture a wider tile.

In January1978 he transferred to BMG Quarries as Operations Manager. In this position he was responsible for all aspects of manufacture of quarry products in the following areas:

Dunmore Quarry. - 300,000 tonnes/year.

Port Kembla Slag Plant. - 600,000 tonnes/year.

Menangle Quarry. - 250,000 tonnes/year.

Prospect Quarry. - 2, 000,000 tonnes/year.

Emu Quarry. - 1,800,000tonnes/year.

Richmond Quarry. - 100,000tonnes/year.

Freemans Reach. - 20,000tonnes/year.

Peats Ridge. - 20,000tonnes/year.

His responsibilities included the production of aggregates and other quarry materials for the minimum cost in accordance with specifications and the development of new extraction areas all in accordance with the terms of the relevant legislation. Annual turn-over in production of quarry products was $26 million.

For the period January 1983 to December 1983 Coffey set himself up as a Consulting Engineer, using his experience in the contracting industry and skills in other fields of his profession, he practised as a private Consulting Engineer. During this period, he undertook the short-term management of a small contracting company and various assignments to prepare tenders for civil engineering works including the Burdekin Falls Dam for the Queensland Water Resources Commission.

In January 1984 Coffey joined Abignano Limited. His activities as a consultant had included a number of assignments for Abignano Limited and this led to his appointment to the staff of the Engineering Services Division of Abignano Limited. In this position he provided technical expertise as required to other sections of the company. An important part of his activities was the preparation of tenders for work in competition with the major contractors in the industry. The position afforded him the opportunity to keep abreast of current planning and construction methods as well as gain valuable insight into the use of computers as an aid to planning and the use of resources.

While in this position his activities were such that he was able to maintain and extend his association with colleagues in contracting fraternity and government departments.

Peter Coffey was a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, a Fellow, Institute of Quarrying and held a Certificate of Service as Manager of an Above Ground Quarry.

To access an oral history interview with Peter Hilary Coffey please use this link:'

https://heritage.engineersaustralia.org.au/wiki/Oral_Histories_Sydney