JOBS: Toowoomba company recruiting amid COVID-19 crisis

A TOOWOOMBA company is bucking job lay-off trends across the region due to coronavirus by taking on more staff.

Newlands Group director Barry O'Sullivan.

A TOOWOOMBA construction company is bucking job lay-off trends across the region due to coronavirus by announcing it needs more staff to complete new projects.

Newlands Group has will increase its staff by 10 per cent, after taking on several government tenders across the state along with other private jobs.

The new jobs are worth more than $21 million to the Toowoomba and Townsville company, which reported a construction turnover of $55m in 2019.

Company director Barry O’Sullivan said the job vacancies covered a variety of areas in the business.

“We’ve been lucky enough to win a number of projects from the State Government and councils, who are letting a number of tenders out,” he said.

“We’re following all of the guidelines in relation to social distancing, and people are working from home when they can, (but) we’ve assured our staff that it’s business as usual.

“A lot of these jobs are more management jobs, like engineers, surveyors, plumbers, administration, so there are a mix of roles.

“We employ about 110 people full-time, and there are about 10 vacancies.”

The new projects include the new Ergon Energy depot at Airlie Beach ($5.19m), the fit-out of the Toowoomba Housing Support Centre ($800,000), the first stage of the Mount Rascal subdivision ($2m), the expansion of Wagners’ CFT facility at Wellcamp ($2.4m) and new potable and water transfer mains at Prosperpine ($5m).

It comes amid panic from businesses across the Toowoomba region and the country, after restrictions and directions from the Federal and State Governments have kept people indoors to stop the spread of the virus.

Mr O’Sullivan said industries relatively unaffected by the coronavirus outbreak and containment measures had a responsibility to push forward.

“We need to do our bit to keep the economy rolling, so we can support our families that might not be doing as well,” he said.

“I believe anyone in the construction sector who has good strong contracts and they’ve won enough work will be looking to grow and put on people.

“The one sure thing is that we will come out the other end of this.

“Nobody can predict how long it’s going to take, but there will be a return to normalcy. “Leaders need to guide their organisations through this, and industries that can contribute to the economy should do so.”