The large industrial property at 60 Office Road stands on the edge of the Rockingham Industry Zone, on former farmland progressively developed for industrial use from the late 1970s.

 

From farmland to industry

East Rockingham was originally a sparsely settled farming district. The land is located on Whadjuk Noongar country, with European settlers beginning to occupy properties along Mandurah Road from the 1850s.

 

The fertile land was used for dairying, livestock grazing, orchards and market gardens for most of the twentieth century.

 

The name Office Road relates to the former Rockingham Roads Board office, built in 1905 at 90 Office Road, near the corner of Mandurah Road. It remained the centre of local government administration until the Roads Board relocated to Rockingham Beach during the 1920s.

 

East Rockingham remained mostly semi-rural well into the 1950s. However, the State Government was already considering land south of Perth for the expansion of the Kwinana Industrial Area.

 

Its large areas of flat land and proximity to road, rail and port facilities made East Rockingham suitable for industrial development. Farms were gradually replaced with vacant industrial lots, workshops, warehouses and access roads.

 

Construction of the industrial complex

The first major development at 60 Office Road occurred in 1979, when a large factory and workshop complex was constructed, possibly by Gardner Perrott Blast Cleaning, who owned the building in 1984 when it was first recorded as being sold on the property databases.

 

The building covered approximately 9,000m² on a property of just over four hectares. It was designed for heavy industrial work, with high roof trusses, large roller doors, overhead cranes, high-voltage power and extensive outdoor storage and work areas.

 

The facility was suitable for fabrication, abrasive blasting, protective coatings and other work associated with the mining, marine and heavy industrial sectors.

 

Brambles, Novacoat and KAEFER

Brambles Industries purchased the property in November 1988 for $750,000. At the time, Brambles was expanding its industrial services operations and had acquired the protective coatings, industrial cleaning and maintenance businesses of Gardner Perrott.

 

The timing suggests that 60 Office Road may have been used for industrial painting, abrasive blasting and protective coatings during this period, although its exact use has not been confirmed.

 

In July 1991, the property was sold for $1.425 million to Novacoat, a newly established Western Australian company specialising in protective coatings and industrial linings. The East Rockingham property became one of its major workshops, where abrasive blasting, painting and other work was carried out for the mining, marine and heavy industrial sectors.

 

Following the appointment of administrators to Novacoat in May 2002, the property was purchased in August that year for $1.8 million by Emmerick Pty Ltd, a related property-holding company. Novacoat continued operating from the workshop as a tenant, with rent paid to Emmerick.

 

The property was purchased by members of the Franco family in December 2006 for $2.44 million.

 

Novacoat was acquired by the international industrial services company KAEFER in 2009 and continued operating as KAEFER Novacoat.

 

The property was advertised for lease in 2014, with the campaign highlighting its overhead cranes, power supply, large workshop areas and access for heavy vehicles. Photographs used at the time continued to show KAEFER Novacoat signs inside the building.

 

KAEFER’s coatings operations appear to have remained at the property until around 2017, when later leasing records showed that the workshop had been vacated.

 

KAEFER Novacoat Pty Ltd was deregistered in 2021. Union reports published around that time stated that the company’s East Rockingham paint and blasting workshop was closing after almost 30 years of operation.

 

Later Ownership

In October 2022, the property was sold for $5.15 million to Lupomar Pty Ltd, a private investment company associated with the Franco family and registered shortly before the sale.

 

Lupomar remains the registered owner, with the property leased to Rio Tinto until 1 February 2030 for its BioIron Pilot Plant Project.