Phil Caldwell    BE (Mech)  

Phil Caldwell commenced his career in 1977 as a Mechanical Engineering Cadet with BHP’s Newcastle Steelworks.  Following graduation Phil was appointed Project Engineer at Muswellbrook Engineering, employing 180 personnel.

Some of the works undertaken by the firm in the Coal Industry, and under Phil's supervision were the Mt. Arthur North 14 km overland cable belt conveyor, the 5.2 km Howick overland conveyor; the Newdell raw coal handling facility, Muswellbrook Coal raw coal handling facility, Bayswater Colliery raw coal handling facility, Mt. Thorley Coal Loader product coal receival facility, Bayswater Colliery product coal handling and Elcom receival facilities upgrades, Drayton Coal Elcom delivery facility, major construction works at Bayswater and Liddell Power Stations, Costain Coal raw coal handling facility and many other construction projects outside the Coal Industry.  

For the above works and many other projects Phil Caldwell was responsible for estimation of man hours and construction costs, preparation of tender submissions, project and construction management, site supervision and commissioning.  During his six years with Muswellbrook Engineering Phil was promoted to Project Manager in 1986, Project and Construction Manager in 1987, and General Manager in 1988.  

In late 1989 Phil formed Unity Engineers Pty Limited.  Unity carried out many successful projects including Vickery's train loading facility, Rix’s Creek train loading facility and major upgrades at Bayswater Colliery, Ulan Coal and Saxonvale Mine.

Other companies continued to use Phil’s tendering services on a consulting basis  and, in 1994 Unity and Thiess formed a Joint Venture which won a major project at Bulga Coal in July 1994 for their rejects handling facility. Unity continued to be successful in carrying out turnkey projects in its own right, while continuing Joint Ventures with Thiess and later Transfield had success with other major projects, routinely bringing them in on time and within budget.

Following successful Joint Ventures, Unity were asked to provide full Management of Thiess’s Muswellbrook plant. This resulted in the successful turnaround of the facility to realise Thiess’s objective to make it a saleable asset. Phil also identified, negotiated and project managed the acquisition of the Ravensworth Washery site and its final development into a major coal rail loading terminal in early 1997.