A regional family enterprise which prefabricates modular components for concrete bridges has expanded into the US thanks to a couple of chance encounters.
InQuik Bridging Systems president Logan Mullaney said they started building bridges in regional NSW.
“We developed a system for concrete bridges where we prefabricate the formwork and reinforcing steel into modular components,” Logan Mullaney told ABC Radio.
Logan’s father Bruce, a builder for 20 years, adapted a modular system along with his brother-in-law Jim Howell to speed up construction and found it highly effective for bridge construction. They demonstrated the system in 2016 on their farm and then went to market building their first bridge for the Snowy 2.0 project. Other bridge projects followed across the Goulburn region, spreading to right along the eastern seaboard from far north Queensland to Victoria.
InQuik teamed up with engineering company, SMEC and then at a trade show in Canberra, surgeon Dr Phil Aubin took shelter in their tent from the rain and spent 45 minutes discussing the InQuik venture. The Canadian doctor went on to invest and some of his colleagues also invested in the company. InQuik opened its first office in the US in 2022.
Another chance meeting occurred between Logan and an Australian who had been living in the US for nine years who ended up joining the team as the first InQuik person to go out and market the product in the US. He says everyone picked up the Australian accent and product out of Australia and started referring to the system as ‘The Aussie Bridge’.
InQuik now has projects all over the US and has just partnered with steel giant Commercial Metals Company (CMC). At present, they have built over 200 bridges around Australia, the Pacific islands and in the US and are expanding to car parks, data centres, buildings, jetties, in addition to bridges.
About the author
Desi Corbett
Desi is the Editor of Concrete in Australia and at the helm of our magazine for 8 years. She was behind the Institute's weekly news bulletins from 2016-2021 and is now writing our focused news items. Desi has been an engineering news and features journalist/editor across all disciplines since 2013 - part of a 30-year career writing for a wide range of industries.