Australia’s Leading Sewer Vent Shaft Design, Fabrication & Installation Company
Duncan Reynolds has been with SVSR since the beginning… he started at the age of 15 as a scaffolder, working on the tools after his dad, Len, founded the business. These days Duncan works on the R&D side of the business.
“My role is to keep SVSR punching above our weight in terms of knowing what is going on in our industry both nationally and globally.
In construction, there are always new materials, equipment and better ways of doing things. If you are stuck on the coal face you will never see any of that. My role was created to step back from the coal face and see what is happening in universities and internationally, and to be across the research that is going on and put SVSR and our clients’ needs at the forefront.”
Duncan did spend some time at university studying business management, social sciences and engineering… but after being diagnosed with a brain tumour at 19, his focus shifted.
“School careers counsellors won’t ever tell you to get a job painting poo pipes… but the one constant in my life has been the family business.”
While his interests may be seemingly unrelated, Duncan has found a unique way to combine them to create different and smarter ways of doing things.
“I’m interested in finding ways to manage sewerage infrastructure better. I’m really interested in the crossover between engineering, sustainability and helping communities through social responsibility. I just want to create innovative solutions to wastewater problems.”
Since 2017, SVSR – under Duncan’s leadership – has been involved in the UNSW Maker Games.
“We welcome engineering students into our business and present them with a real-life challenge. Their role is to design a prototype in response to that challenge.
Not only do we develop our contacts and relationships within the university but we’ve also worked with interns from the Faculty of Engineering. I really enjoy the mentoring element involved.”
Duncan has seen the SVSR business – and the industry more broadly – evolve over the years, calling it “unrecognisable” from when the family business first started. He now enjoys working with his sister, SVSR Managing Director, Kylie Ridding.
“Our strengths and weaknesses are really complementary. She is great with people and my strengths lie in the technical side. We work really well together.”
Duncan also has a young son, so spare time is rare. His wife works in the travel industry so they travel regularly as a family. Although, as he points out, travelling with young kids isn’t so much of a holiday…
While we’ve long specialised in leading sewer vent solutions for regional councils in New South Wales and Victoria, sewer vents aren’t our only service. Chris Antoun, SVSR Operations & Compliance Manager, recently oversaw a project for a Townsville sewer pump station, that involved customising our induct vent cowls to meet local council specifications. The result was a quality vent cowl solution… and a very satisfied client.
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While long-standing experience and a commitment to quality are at the core of all of our sewer vent solutions, SVSR has remained a leader in sewer vent shaft design, fabrication and installation, thanks to ongoing innovation. Our recent solution for a City West Water project included an innovative – and future-proofed – valve design.
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As a second-generation family business, SVSR has the capability and dedication to get the job done, even on the trickiest projects. We recently completed work on a new development in Burwood, which wasn’t always smooth sailing, but eventually successful. What we came up with was a smart solution – and a unique new design for an Odour Control Unit (OCR).
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