KNIGHT’s Syndicate began business just over 30 years ago, undertaking civil works and hourly hire throughout NSW and also winning a reputation for high quality installation, decommissioning and removal of underground storage tanks. The company still offers those services, but its pioneering work with concrete recycling has now grown to be the main activity of this business.
“When we first began recycling concrete, brick and bitumen there wasn’t a whole lot of interest in it,” Jack Knight recalls. “I could see the value of the process and recognised that concrete recycling would grow into a large business, but it took a long while to get anyone to look at it. There were no real specifications for the product and the roadbase it produced was regarded as an inferior product.”
Only when the NSW state government moved to limit the amount of concrete going to landfill and specifications for recycled product as roadbase and aggregates were established did recycling take off. Jack Knight’s efforts to promote recycled concrete, brick and bitumen have kept his company among the top three crushers in a major league which now includes very large construction industry participants. Trucks move in and out of the Knight’s Syndicate Rouse Hill yard as excavators and wheel loaders move around its 7.5 acres, building stockpiles of feed for two large crushing and screening plants. Concrete, brick and bitumen from demolition sites all over Sydney are assembled into stockpiles by the company’s excavators, then fed to crushing equipment.
Range of attachments
“We use the excavators with a range of attachments including, shears, sheet pilers and hammers,” says Knight, before pointing out another area in which claims to be an innovator. “We were the first people in Australia to put hammers on excavators. Nobody wanted to even think about it at first. I saw an old drop hammer in use with the RTA and tried to persuade them to change, but they were not interested.”
The company’s Volvo EC210BLC and EC240BLC excavators are fitted with standard buckets to sort material and feed the crushers. The two crushers and two screens on site include a Nordberg LT1213 machine with a rated capacity of up to 160t of product per hour. “We have expanded our product range and now offer brick and concrete as aggregates and as roadbase. We also crush bitumen and sell it as roadbase. The bigger range also lets us blend materials to suit customers’ specific needs.”
For the past six years Knight’s Syndicate has been contracted as roadbase supplier for Baulkham Hills Shire Council, at the heart of one of Sydney’s fastest growing residential areas. It has also supplied material for major roadbuilding projects throughout Sydney, including the newly opened 40 km M7 Motorway.
Source: Construction Contractor
