Thiess Pty Ltd

This article is about the international mining services company. For other uses, see Thiess.

Thiess Pty Ltd

Formerly	Thiess Bros
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Mining services
Founded	1933; 91 years ago (1933)
Founder	Henry Horn and Leslie Thiess
Headquarters	Brisbane , Australia
Area served	Australia Canada Chile India Indonesia Mongolia South Africa
Number of employees	12,000 (2021)[1]
Parent	CIMIC Group (50%) Elliott Advisors (50%)
Subsidiaries	Thiess Contractors Indonesia
Website	thiess.com

Thiess Pty Ltd is an international mining services company based in Brisbane, Australia. Established in the 1930s as Horn & Thiess, the company later became Thiess Bros and Thiess Contractors before being bought by Leighton Holdings in 1983 to become part of the CIMIC Group.^[2][3][4] Thiess' headquarters are located in the Thiess Centre in South Bank in the Brisbane CBD near the TAFE Brisbane City campus.^[5]

Following restructuring within CIMIC in 2014 and the merger of several international Leighton businesses into Thiess, the company claims to have become the largest contract mining services provider in the world.^[6]

History

Thiess was founded as Horn & Thiess in 1933 by Henry Horn and Leslie Thiess with headquarters in Toowoomba. Initially the business focused on road-building and earth moving but subsequently expanded into dam construction, open cut mining and other forms of civil engineering. After other members of the Thiess family bought Horn out, it was renamed Thiess Bros.^[7][8][9]

In 1951 Thiess was listed on the Sydney and Brisbane stock exchanges.^[10]

After importing Toyota Land Cruisers into Australia for the Snowy Mountains Scheme in 1959, Thiess became the Toyota commercial vehicle franchisee in Australia.^[11][12] A 40% shareholding in Thiess Toyota was sold to Toyota Australia in 1968, with the remaining stake being sold in 1980.^[13][14][15] From 1967 until 1970, Thiess was also the distributor of White Motor Company products in Australia.^[16][17]

In February 1980, Thiess was taken over by CSR in a hostile takeover.^[18][19][20] In April 1981, the construction division was sold to a consortium of Hochtief (50%), Westfield Group (25%) and Leslie Thiess (25%).^[21] In July 1983 Thiess was acquired by Leighton Holdings, with Hochtief becoming the majority shareholder in Leighton Holdings.^[22][23][3]

In 1987 Thiess diversified into waste collection establishing Thiess Waste Management Services.^[3] This was sold in July 2012 to Remondis.^[24]

In 2011, the business was inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame.^[25]

In 2014, the mining operations of Leighton Africa, Leighton Asia and Leighton Contractors were merged into.^[6] In 2016 Thiess's civil engineering business was merged into Leighton Contractors which was renamed CPB Contractors.^[26] Since then Thiess has been entirely focused on mining projects.^[27]

In 2021, CIMIC agreed to joint ownership (50/50) of Thiess with Elliott Advisors.^[28]

Major projects

Major projects undertaken by Thiess include:

• Leichhardt Dam, Queensland, completed in 1958^[29]
• Tooma Dam, Snowy Mountains, completed in 1961^[9]
• Geehi Dam, Snowy Mountains, completed in 1966^[9]
• Murray Two Dam, Snowy Mountains, completed in 1968^[9]
• Corin Dam, Australian Capital Territory, completed in 1968^[30]
• Talbingo Dam, Snowy Mountains, completed in 1971^[9]
• Dartmouth Dam, Victoria, completed in 1979^[31]
• Googong Dam, New South Wales, completed in 1979^[32]
• Splityard Creek Dam, Queensland, completed in 1980^[33]
• Sugarloaf Dam, Christmas Hills, completed in 1981^[34]
• Wivenhoe Dam, Queensland, completed in 1985^[35]
• Lake Awoonga Dam, Queensland, completed 1985^[36]
• Hayman Island Resort, Queensland, completed in 1987^[37]
• Chimneys at Loy Yang Power Station, Victoria, completed in 1988^[38]
• Redcliffe Bridge, Western Australia, completed in 1988^[39]
• HM Prison Barwon, Victoria, completed in 1989^[40]
• Newman to Port Hedland section of the Great Northern Highway, completed in 1990^[41]
• Junee Correctional Centre, New South Wales, completed in 1991^[42]
• Sydney Harbour Tunnel, completed in 1992^[37]
• Fulham Correctional Centre, Victoria, completed in 1997^[43]
• Windan Bridge, Western Australia, completed in 2000^[44]
• Lane Cove Tunnel, Sydney, completed in 2007^[45]
• EastLink, Melbourne, completed in 2008^[46]
• 400 George Street, Brisbane, completed in 2009^[47]
• Epping to Chatswood rail link, Sydney, completed in 2009^[48]
• UQ Lakes to Buranda section of the Eastern Busway, Queensland, completed in 2009^[49]
• Airport Flyover, Brisbane, completed in 2011^[50]
• Stage 3 of the Hinze Dam, Queensland, completed in 2011^[51]
• Redevelopment of Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, completed in 2011^[52]
• King George Central, Brisbane, completed in 2012^[53]
• Windsor to Kedron section of the Northern Busway, Brisbane, completed in 2012^[54]
• Airport Link, Brisbane, completed in 2012^[55]
• Victorian Desalination Plant, Wonthaggi, completed in 2012^[56]
• Hunter Expressway, New South Wales, completed in 2014^[57]
• Footscray to Deer Park, Regional Rail Link, Melbourne, completed in 2015^[58]

References

1. "People and careers". Thiess. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
2. "The beginning". Thiess. Archived from the original on 22 March 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
3. "Into the 1980s". Thiess. Archived from the original on 3 January 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
4. "Into the 21st century". Thiess. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
5. "Contact us". Thiess. Archived from the original on 2 October 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
6. "Powering towards 2020". Thiess. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
7. Thiess Bros' contracts Queensland Country Life 9 June 1949 page 16
8. The Story of Thiess Brothers The Courier-Mail 30 March 1953 page 7
9. "Sir Leslie Charles (Les) Thiess (1909–1992)". Thiess, Sir Leslie Charles (Les) (1909–1992). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
10. Shaping a bigger future Thiess
11. Shaping a bigger future Thiess
12. New Thiess Toyota link Canberra Times 6 May 1971 page 33
13. Toyota History Phil Gilbert Toyota
14. Thiess to sells its interest in Thiess Toyota Canberra Times 30 January 1980 page 27
15. Toyota acquires distributor company Truck & Bus Transportation June 1980 page 130
16. White Trucks distributorship Freight & Container Transportation December 1967 page 17
17. Thiess drops out of White operations; changes planned Truck & Bus Transportation September 1970 page 144
18. Plans for Thiess Canberra Times 1 December 1979 page 20
19. CSR Offer Accepted - Thiess directors give up fight Canberra Times 12 January 1980 page 16
20. Thiess Holdings Limited Delisted Australia
21. Sale to Thiess Canberra Times 3 April 1981 page 16
22. Leighton plans to merge with construction giant Canberra Times 9 June 1983 page 23
23. Chances for profit curbed, Leighton chairman says Canberra Times 25 October 1984 page 21
24. Remondis Expands in Australia with $230m Acquisition Waste Management World 10 July 2012
25. "Thiess Pty Ltd". Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame. 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
26. "Our history". CPB Contractors. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
27. "Our brands". CIMIC. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
28. "Our future – 2021 and beyond". Thiess. Archived from the original on 2 March 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
29. Outram, Stephen (2018). Mates!. What else is possible?. p. 126. ISBN 978-0994332752.
30. "Corin Dam". National Archives. Archived from the original on 2 April 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
31. "Nomination of Dartmouth Dam as a National Engineering Landmark" (PDF). Engineering Heritage Australia (Victoria). 1 June 2004. p. 6. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
32. "Thiess Construction Photographs". Libraries ACT. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
33. "Wivenhoe Power Station: Official Opening" (PDF). Queensland Flood Commission. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
34. "Toyota Celebrates 60 Years of Helping Build Australia". Busch Taxi. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
35. "Thiess Barnard JV to build Queensland dam". Construction Index. 1 December 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
36. Pullar, Ian; Cook, Margaret (2001). Watery Sauces: A People's History of the Water Resources Commission (Queensland) and Its Predecessors, 1881-1995 (PDF). Department of Natural Resources and Mines. p. 224. ISBN 978-0734517876.
37. Dodgson, Mark; Gann, David M. (2018). The Playful Entrepreneur: How to Adapt and Thrive in Uncertain Times. Yale University Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0300233926.
38. "Thiess: a proud history". Australian Mining Review. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
39. "Structurae: Redcliffe Bridge (1988)". Retrieved 6 November 2007.
40. "Correctional services and sentencing in Tasmania" (PDF). Parliament of Tasmania. 1999. p. 39. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
41. "The Dream Becomes Reality". Western Roads. 15 (1). Perth, Western Australia: Main Roads Department: 1. March 1990.
42. Champion, Ronald; Curnow, William (1993). "Corrections contract management in New South Wales: the Junee experience" (PDF). The Issues– Corrections. Australian Institute of Criminology: 93–101. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
43. "Correctional services and sentencing in Tasmania" (PDF). Parliament of Tasmania. 1999. p. 41. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
44. "Transfield Thiess joint venture of the City Northern Bypass". Government of Western Australia. 13 November 1996. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
45. "Workcover blames construction bungles for tunnel collapse". Sydney Morning Herald. 30 March 2006. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
46. "Who's involved?". Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority. Archived from the original on 1 June 2008. Retrieved 26 June 2008.
47. "400 George Street". Skyscraper Center. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
48. "Epping to Chatswood rail line on track". Sydney Morning Herald. 27 June 2002. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
49. "TransLink: Boggo Road Busway". TransLink Transit Authority. 14 July 2009. Archived from the original on 20 July 2009. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
50. "Airport flyover to finish early". Brisbane Times. 27 May 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
51. "Hinze Dam – stage 3 upgrade". Bauer. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
52. "Royal North Shore Hospital Redevelopment" (PDF). Austrian Construction Achievement Awards. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 March 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
53. "CBD building gets Heart Foundation tick". Sydney Morning Herald. 30 November 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
54. "Airport link and Northern Busway" (PDF). ANCR. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
55. CityNorth Infrastructure, Delivering the Projects Archived 2 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
56. "Desal consortium selected". ABC News. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
57. "Hunter Expressway Moving Forward". Minister.infrastructure.gov.au. 17 November 2009. Archived from the original on 27 November 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
58. Footscray - Deer Park Regional Rail Link, Retrieved 4 January 2020

External links

• Thiess Pty Ltd digital story and oral histories, State Library of Queensland