“It’s just a wonderful place,” says Simon Hackett, Australian technology entrepreneur who owns the 200-acre property.

It also provides access to the sky, thanks to a grass runway that cuts a 1,300-meter (4,265 feet) swath across the property.

“We have the largest private runway in Tasmania on our property, which is just heaven on a stick for me, as a keen, long-term pilot of both gliders and powered aircraft,” Hackett says.

The runway has been part of the Vale for over 50 years and when Hackett purchased the property it came with two small hangars. However, the hangars weren’t big enough to house the fleet of planes Hackett owns, including multiple motor gliders and a Pilatus PC-12 NGX. A larger structure was needed.

The new Vale hangar, built by Bison Constructions of Scottsdale, TAS, is 32 meters wide and 24 meters deep (approximately 105 feet by 78 feet). The steel hangar is covered in a shiny steel cladding on the exterior, has a white epoxy-coated floor and includes a single window looking out to Mount Roland and the surrounding landscape.

“The whole environment is really ‘clean,’” says Hackett. “It is a wonderful space.”

The hangar also needed a large door and Hackett turned to Schweiss Doors to provide it. He was familiar with Schweiss Doors thanks to seeing the company’s doors on various hangars as he traveled the United States.

“I had been impressed with Schweiss Doors’ obvious strength and ease of operation,” Hackett says.

He decided on a Schweiss hydraulic door, 20 meters wide and six meters tall (approximately 65 feet, 7 inches by 19 feet, 8 inches). The door was installed offset across the front of the hangar, without blocking the door, so the larger plane could be moved in and out easily.

“The Schweiss door is huge and it always impresses anyone who sees it,” Hackett says.

Ease of use was the main reason Hackett when with the hydraulic door. Over the years he had struggled with many hangar doors and wanted to avoid such issues with his own hangar at the Vale.

“I wanted something that let me just press a button and have the door open, no effort on my part and with no issues about maintaining door tracks on sliding doors,” Hackett says. “Schweiss Doors’ product line easily fit the bill.”

Bison Constructions worked directly with Schweiss Doors to order the hydraulic door and make sure it would meet Hackett’s specifications. He wanted a door that was easy to use, one that was strong and secure, tall and wide enough for his planes, and would seal tightly when closed to keep rodents and birds out of the hangar. The Vale project was the first time Bison had worked with Schweiss and Hackett says the ordering process went well.

“Bison and I agreed that if the Schweiss Door worked as well as it looked like it could, that it would meet my specifications brilliantly for a big, single-panel, low-effort door,” Hackett says.

The door was manufactured at the Schweiss Doors factory in Hector, Minn., and set off on its long journey to Tasmania, which included a long ship ride in a container. The door arrived at the Vale with all its instructions and pieces intact. That just left installation. Despite some nerves, it all worked out just fine.

“The builders were initially a bit daunted by the contents of the container because there was so much stuff in there,” Hackett says. “But they followed the instructions and at the end of it all, they said they were super impressed with the Schweiss door and with the details provided on how to install it. They said it went together like a ‘Meccano set’ (similar to an erector set) and everything just worked out.”

Since its installation, the door has worked beautifully and there have been no problems.

“The Schweiss hydraulic door has been just fantastic and it has met expectations brilliantly.”

A piece of advice Hacket has for those planning to order a door from Schweiss Doors is to consult closely with the team at Schweiss and make sure expectations are clear so they can be met.

“We did so and the outcome was excellent,” Hackett says.

With his expectations having been met so well, Hackett says he would recommend Schweiss Doors to others without hesitation. He says his entire experience with Schweiss was great.

It was quite brilliant,” Hackett says. “The door has done just what we wanted. It is outrageously big and yet operating it is just super easy. It transforms the utility of our hangar.”

Someday, Hackett hopes to use the hangar for more than just aircraft storage. The hangar could also become a great events space.

“One nice aspect of our choice to use a single panel door is that when it opens we get a six-meter-deep shade veranda over the opening, making it ideal for that potential secondary use as a wedding/music venue. We have a glorious view behind the hangar and a lovely open area for crowds to gather to watch a band play inside that door opening as a stage.”

The Vale has many faces and being an events location would be just one more. The Vale is both a family home and a working farm. The family has raised both sheep and cattle on the property for the meat market. Vale-raised lamb and beef can be found at venues across Tasmania.

The runway and its facilities have provided convenient access to the area for family, friends and visitors. Hackett has been a pilot for many years. He started flying gliders in the 1980s and is still a regularly active glider pilot today. He also flies his PC-12 back and forth between the Australian mainland and Tasmania on a regular basis. He has flown much longer journeys as well, including a trip from Switzerland to Tasmania, making various stops along the route. The area around the Vale is a unique flying landscape.

“The runway is in a river valley and it is just super pretty and a very unique experience to fly in and out of,” Hackett says.

The Vale has also become a showcase on how technology can help a property become energy self-sufficient. Hackett has created a microgrid at the Vale to provide electricity to the property, using renewable energy sources. A ground-mounted solar array collects the sun’s power and transfers it into the Vale’s power system, which created the electricity to run the property. That solar electricity is also used to charge the fleet of electric vehicles used at the Vale and connect the farm to high-speed internet.

It’s physically amazing,” Hackett says. “It is like eastern Europe in terms of forests, valleys and mountains. The wildlife and plants are all just beautiful and our local mountain, Mount Roland, is exceptionally pretty.”

About Schweiss Doors

Schweiss Doors is the premier manufacturer of hydraulic and bifold liftstrap doors. Doors are custom made to any size for any type of new or existing building for architects and builders determined to do amazing things with their buildings, including the doors. Schweiss also offers a cable to liftstrap conversion package.

“When it was built, it was the largest indoor football facility in the NCAA, at about 132,000 square feet,” says Craig Valka, Executive Associate Athletic Director for Facilities and Capital Projects at Texas A&M.

The Coolidge Center is comprised of a 160-yard indoor field sheltered within a massive steel fieldhouse and two 140-yard outdoor fields. Connecting the indoor and outdoor fields is a large Schweiss Doors liftstrap bifold door allowing for ease of movement between the fields. And when you’re trying to move 100 college football players in pads and helmets, plus coaching and training staff and small vehicles transporting equipment, having a large door opening is helpful.

“It’s all about speed and efficiency, migrating between the outside practice fields and the inside practice fields,” Valka says. “The door basically creates a nice funnel for the transition between inside and outside.”

The Coolidge Center was named for alumnus David Coolidge, a former football player who made a significant donation towards the center’s construction. It was designed by Populus Architects and built by Manhattan Construction. The design centered on providing the Aggies with the best practice facility. The larger-than-life fields, both inside and out, allow coaches to run multiple drills at one time. The indoor field even has two additional end zones, providing plenty of space to practice red zone situations. The ceiling height is high enough to allow for kicking and punting practice.

The indoor field building also includes a mezzanine viewing area, providing a bird’s eye view of the action on the field; dedicated space for sports medicine, training and conditioning; state-of-the-art lighting; and of course, the Schweiss bifold door.

The liftstrap bifold door mounted at the Coolidge Center is 30 feet, 4 inches wide and 28 feet, 5 inches high. Black liftstraps were requested for the project and the door includes several safety features, including two overrides, photo eye sensors and a safety edge for the door base. It was also engineered to hold the weight of translucent polycarbonate panels that were installed as the cladding.

The polycarbonate panels allow for natural light filter into the field house without creating a greenhouse effect from the hot Texas sun. The panels are also mounted throughout the building. This, along with a robust air conditioning system, creates a very comfortable atmosphere for players, staff and visitors.

The Schweiss bifold door was installed by Mex Tech Industrial Service, owned by Gary Valdez. Valka says installation went well and with help from the team at Schweiss Doors, a few glitches during the process were worked out. The door runs smoothly and provides the efficient corridor of travel the football team was hoping for. Valka says he would recommend Schweiss Doors to others, even rival football teams looking to update facilities.

The updated athletic facilities, including the Coolidge Center, have impressed pretty much everyone who has gone through them and are an important recruitment tool for the school when looking at future players. The Schweiss bifold door definitely helps with that.

“The Schweiss bifold door is a ‘Wow’ factor, especially when it opens,” Valka says. “It is just massive and it gathers a lot of attention when it starts to open.”

About Schweiss Doors

Schweiss Doors is the premier manufacturer of hydraulic and bifold liftstrap doors. Doors are custom made to any size for any type of new or existing building for architects and builders determined to do amazing things with their buildings, including the doors. Schweiss also offers a cable to liftstrap conversion package.

Fertilizer is trucked in by CRC employees and contracted drivers to the fertilizer receiving building bay at the southwest corner of the plant and then transferred by towers from the receiving bay building to the fertilizer load-out building, where it can be blended,

impregnated and loaded into farmer’s or company-owned tenders. Plans are in place for the possible addition of a rail spur and rail bay to be connected to the receiving building at some point.

Located on the east side of the campus, apart from these two fertilizer processing and blending buildings, is a larger package and bulk liquid chemical storage building. The north end of this building houses a seed warehouse with another 20-foot by 50-foot addition for seed treatment and bulk seed handling. The anhydrous and liquefied petroleum (LP) site, located about a mile west of Fairfax, will eventually be moved to the new site to keep everything in one location.

“This site will handle all facets of agronomy needs, dry fertilizer, micros, macros, liquid fertilizer, chemicals, various brands and varieties of bagged and bulk seed, pretty much everything you can get from an agronomy center,” says Nate Gieseke, Chief Executive Officer of Central Region Coop. “The new plant will mean much improved and faster service with better quality product and an investment into the community.”

The Fairfax facility employs 40 people in its office, at the plant and out in the field, depending upon the time of year.

“Our dry fertilizer warehouse is capable of holding 17,015 tons of bulk fertilizer and has a 250-ton tower with a 4-ton HIM mixer that is five times faster than our standard towers,” Gieseke says. “The chemical and seed warehouse is approximately 36,000 square feet. The two drive-thru bays have 16-foot by 18-foot doors, where customers can get loaded with bulk or packaged chemicals, with the ability to mix hot loads or liquid fertilizer and any chemical needs the customer may have.”

The load-out area features two of the 16-foot by 18-foot bifold doors that allow tenders to drive through with ease while loading fertilizer.

CRC has an additional branch location in Buffalo Lake that serves about 1,500 patrons or 8,000 customers.

Stueve Construction Company of Algona, Iowa, the general contractor for the Fairfax fertilizer plant, has been a great customer and promotor of Schweiss Doors through the years. Stueve has ordered more than 150 bifold doors ranging in size from 14 feet by 14 feet to 45 feet by 10 feet. The Schweiss bifold doors have been installed not only throughout the agricultural heartland, but from coast-to-coast.

Stueve Construction has earned a reputation as a trusted partner in building solutions for dry fertilizer storage technology since 1958.

“CRC hired our construction department at CHS, Inc., to manage the project and coordinate all the contractors,” says Mike Heinen, project leader. “We are the largest farmer-owned coop, similar to CRC, but on a larger scale. CHS, which previously stood for Cenex Harvest States, does so many projects that they formed a construction department to handle new construction projects, expansions and upgrades. We are six people in a construction department among about 10,000 employees.”

About Schweiss Doors

Schweiss Doors is the premier manufacturer of hydraulic and bifold liftstrap doors. Doors are custom made to any size for any type of new or existing building for architects and builders determined to do amazing things with their buildings, including the doors. Schweiss also offers a cable to liftstrap conversion package.