InfraBuild wins first 2032 Games-related steel contract as Queensland expansion continues

Wednesday, 2 September – InfraBuild has secured the first steel contract for a 2032 Games-related project, marking an important milestone as Australia’s only manufacturer of Australian-made recycled steel continues its expansion across Queensland.

InfraBuild will supply reinforcing steel to the $287.5m revitalisation of the RNA Showgrounds, part of a $3.5 billion investment into the Athlete Villages, which will include a new 20,000 seat main arena, grandstands and horse pavilion.

The contract, awarded by Hutchinson Builders, will see Australian-made steel used in an Olympics-related project, made from Australian scrap in InfraBuild’s electric arc furnaces and processed into rebar at its state-of-the-art Eagle Farm facility in Queensland.

The contract win comes as InfraBuild continues expanding across Queensland to support the state’s $119 billion construction boom. InfraBuild will open a brand-new 2,070 square-metre steel processing and distribution facility in Toowoomba in late 2027, capable of supplying 9,000 tonnes of reinforcing steel into the market each year.

Francisco Irazusta, Chief Executive Officer of InfraBuild, said the contract was an important milestone for Queensland as construction on Games-related projects gets underway, and demonstrated the critical role Australia’s only reinforcing steel manufacturer would play in delivering Brisbane 2032.

“We’re proud to have secured the first steel contract for a 2032 Games-related project and to see Australian-made reinforcing steel going into infrastructure that will showcase Queensland to the world.

“But the Olympics are only part of the challenge. Queensland has to build the Games while also delivering new hospitals, roads, rail, energy infrastructure and hundreds of thousands of new homes.

“You can’t switch steelmaking capacity on overnight. If Queensland wants Australian steel for the infrastructure it is building tomorrow, we need to invest in that capacity today.

“And Queensland shouldn’t be building the 2032 Games with cheap steel imported from Asia. Chinese long steel exports have increased more than fourfold since early 2022. As a result, cheap Asian steel is flooding the market at the very time we should be backing Australian steelmaking, Australian jobs and more resilient local supply chains.

“We already employ almost 1,000 Queenslanders and supply more than 450,000 tonnes of steel into the state each year. Our steel is holding up Queensland’s homes, hospitals, schools, roads and stadiums, and as Queensland grows, we’re investing to grow with it.

“That’s why we’re expanding our Queensland operations and increasing capacity across our two electric arc furnaces from 1.4 million to 1.8 million tonnes a year by 2030. Queensland is building at a scale we haven’t seen before, and we want more of that growth to be built with Australian steel.”

The new Toowoomba facility will be operated by the Australian Reinforcement Company (ARC), a brand of InfraBuild, and will include new high-speed off-coil processing as well as upgraded heavy bar cutting and bending equipment. Construction will commence in late 2026 and the facility is expected to become operational in Q3 2027.

The investment builds on InfraBuild’s existing program to expand its Hemmant and Eagle Farm facilities. Together, these three investments will increase InfraBuild’s local manufacturing capability by almost 60,000 tonnes per year and create 90 new local jobs.

InfraBuild recently completed Stage 1 of its expansion at the ARC facility in Hemmant, seeing the facility expand by 3,000 square metres and increase capacity by 15,000 tonnes per annum. Stage 2 expansion plans are now underway.

InfraBuild has supplied steel for some of Queensland’s most significant projects, including Cross River Rail, Queen’s Wharf Brisbane, Waterfront Brisbane, Brisbane Ferry Terminals, Gold Coast University Hospital and the MacIntyre Wind Farm.

InfraBuild is Australia’s only domestic manufacturer of reinforcing steel. It operates 37 sites across Queensland and employs more than 930 people in the state.

-ENDS-

Media contact

Jessica Puz, Media and External Communications Manager

0416 449 347

media@infrabuild.com