More than a decade before the famous pyramid at the Louvre Museum was designed, Sydney had its own modernist glass pyramid in the Royal Botanic Gardens.

The pyramid at the Sydney Tropical Centre was built in 1971 on the lower terrace of the Garden Palace grounds. Today it displays a large collection of Australian tropical rainforest plants, while the adjoining Arc built in 1990 displays tropical plants from around the world.

Recently, the Thinc team was appointed to lead a $17M upgrade of the Sydney Tropical Centre. It is designed to turn the facility into a sustainable attraction, incorporating new educational displays with conservation messages presented in an innovative way.

The project is Thinc’s second commission for the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust following the $20M PlantBank, which is currently under construction.

“This is a job which grew out of a close working relationship with a valued client,” says Chris Wassef, NSW/ACT Regional Manager at Thinc. “The landmark nature of the Botanic Gardens site, which dates back to 1816 and is next to the Opera House, demands a world-class product. It’s great to be able to deliver that.”

Chris, together with consultants Michael Dunn and Tom Keeler, will front the Thinc team on the project.

The ThincHealth team in Canberra has said goodbye to the holiday season and turned to the serious business of fundraising.

Members of the office are taking part in next month’s FebFast 2012, a nationwide initiative to raise funds for youth drug and alcohol programs. Participants agree to abstain from alcohol throughout the month of February, with the proceeds going to community services throughout Australia that provide mentoring, counselling and training.

“It’s great to give yourself a break after the party season, but much more importantly, FebFast is about supporting vital youth alcohol and drug services,” explains Fiona Doherty, Assistant Project Director with Thinc Health, who organised the entry into this year’s event.

Fiona has taken part in FebFast for the past two years and, when she joined Thinc, brought her passion for the program along with her. Mitchell Cadden, Kristy Carswell, Penny Crawford and John Pollock from Thinc, as well as partners and friends, have joined in the fundraising effort.

Organisations benefiting from the drive include the Australian Drug Foundation and state-based groupssuch as the Ted Noffs Foundation in NSW and the ACT, and Mission Australia in South Australia and Tasmania.

You can support the Thinc team’s efforts at www.febfastfundraising.com.au/thincle_before_you_drincle.

Tim Turpin has been appointed as Managing Director of Thinc and is set to steer the company into its 25th anniversary year.

In his new role at the helm, Tim says he’s keen to increase Thinc’s engagement with emerging trends affecting the future of the firm and its clients. 

“I’m excited by the challenge and looking forward to shaping Thinc’s future over the coming year, as we evolve in line with the wider industry,” he said.

Tim said his priorities include implementing new advisory services for clientsas well as investing in Thinc’s people.

“A key focus will be renewing our commitment to training and recruitment,” he said.“We need to attract and nurture the best minds in the business to be able to respond with agility to markets and the needs of our clients.”

A highly experienced project manager and management consultant who was a co-founder of Thinc, Tim has delivered a long list of major developments throughout his career, especially in the mixed useresidential, aged care and commercial market sectors.

He’s a member of the NSW Urban Task Force, the Property Council of Australia and the UDIA, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Building from UNSW as well as a Graduate Management Qualification from the AGSM.

It’s a sign of our nation’s growing ties with its northerly neighbour: Australia’s largest ever diplomatic mission overseas is to be built in Indonesia.

When completed, the new Australian Embassy in Jakarta will incorporate a chancery, a head of mission residence, accommodation and recreational facilities as well as support services, all set over four hectares.

Recently, Thinc was awarded the role of project manager for the landmark complex. Our team will manage delivery through the construction, commissioning and handover period and provide post-contract services to the Embassy when it occupies the new facility.

The role was awarded by the Overseas Property Office in the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT). It strengthens our close relationship with DFAT, which dates back to 2001 and includes other projects in Jakarta, Beijing, Amman and Abu Dhabi.

“I’m looking forward to working with DFAT in helping to deliver this truly iconic project, designed by leading Melbourne-based architects Denton Corker Marshall,” said Sumit Mukherjee, a senior consultant with Thinc.

“We’re all very proud to be given this exciting commission.”

It’s crunch time for many of Australia’s health facilities, which face an increasing need to house sophisticated new hardware in ageing infrastructure.

Now Mitchell Cadden, a member of Thinc’s ACT team based at Canberra Hospital, will help facility managers in hospitals across Australia take on the challenges of adapting to the information age.

Mitch has just been elected national president of the Institute of Hospital Engineering, Australia. The IHEA represents hospital engineers, facility managers, architects and builders working in public and private health care across the nation.

“My priority as president is to help our Institute consolidate after a period of significant growth,” said Mitch. “I’m also keen to develop new strategies for meeting the technological challenges of the Australian health care sector.”

He gave the example of the introduction of technology which is unserviceable by traditional maintenance methods.

“It’s an era of ‘electronic everything’,” he said. “That offers enormous benefits but it also requires the careful management of change in workplaces affected by new technologies.”

Before taking on his role as national president, Mitch had served on the national board of the IHEA since 2007 and was Vice President from 2009 to 2011. He also served as state president in NSW from 2008 to 2011.

His stint at the head of the IHEA will last two years.

For Richard Washington, project manager of the RAAF Edinburgh Stage 2 redevelopment, regular riding with his seven mates on Adelaide’s roads is all part of the business cycle.

The construction consultant with the Thinc Group, along with three colleagues, started cycling 24 months ago, for fitness and fun in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis.

They were soon joined by four other colleagues and now the eight men regularly ride their bikes on coastal or Adelaide Hills routes on weekends, training two or three times a week.

“Not only have we improved our fitness, we’ve also boosted morale and strengthened our relationships outside of work”, he said.

In late January the eight men rode in the Tour Down Under Mutual Community Challenge Stage, finished second in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Barossa Valley charity ride, contributing $9000 to the  event . Thinc4Others (the Thinc Group’s corporate social responsibility initiative) matched the Adelaide teams fund raising efforts and supported the group of cyclists by providing team uniforms. The members of the cycling team, aged between 21 and 58, are: Mark Goudge, Mark Utting, Craig Nicholls, Fred Porter, Matthew Kaempf, Petr Mandel, Daniel Rosato, Richard Washington.

The cycling team plans to join other charity rides and have formed a team  with other corporate companies to ride and again raise funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and are closing in on their target to raise $30,000 in support of this charity. This initiative by Daniel Rosato of the Adelaide office has encouraged healthy interaction with our consultant and contractor colleagues in the industry whilst raising money for a very worthy cause.