Heavy vehicle repair group Royans Coachworks won two QBIC awards
It’s only been a year and a half since Royans acquired the Brisbane-based Coachworks, but it’s already proving to be a fruitful decision. The bus and coach repair group recently took home two awards at the Queensland Bus Industry Council (QBIC) conference in April.
As part of the QBIC’s 2022 conference held in Brisbane on April 8 and 9, the annual industry awards were presented, with Royans Coachworks claiming two gongs for its work with Queensland buses.
Royans Coachworks won the supplier of the year award for 2021/22, while Coachworks founder Evan Isaacs received QBIC’s industry outstanding contribution prize.
Royans CEO David Church says being recognised by QBIC at the annual conference was a reward for the company’s hard work it has put in to serve customers in Queensland.
“It’s great to get the supplier of the year award as a company,” Church told ABC. “It’s a great acknowledgement of what the team has done up in Queensland. They’ve done a lot of work and serviced a lot of different customers over the past year.”
Although Church was aware his Queensland team had been nominated for this year’s award, he says winning it was a nice surprise. After Royans acquired Coachworks in 2020, Church says he was excited to work with both Evan and Scott Isaacs in Queensland.
Church also praised Evan Isaacs for the way he has helped Coachworks become a valuable part of Royans in the past year and a half. After winning the outstanding contribution award for the past year, Isaacs is set to retire.
“It’s a big thing for us whenever we do acquisitions and we care deeply about who we partner with,” Church said. “Evan is a great person and it’s sad he is going to retire. When we acquired Coachworks, we heard all the stories about the work he has done over the years, so this is a great acknowledgement of him.”
After taking out the two honours at the QBIC conference awards for 2022, Church says Royans Coachworks will continue to combine its various services to provide customers with great bus care in Queensland. From mini buses to local bus and coaches, Church says Royans Coachworks will continue to use the knowledge from its acquisitions to expand its offerings.
“Everything we’ve acquired we’ve gained something from them,” Church said. “We’ve gotten experience. Even if it’s one little thing it’s been a great asset for the business.”
In the other awards handed out at the QBIC conference, Kylie Pert from Brisbane Mini Bus Charter won the achiever of the year award while Kinetic took home the environmental innovation award.
The Manmeet Sharma perpetual professional driver of the year award went to CDC Queensland’s Renee Zeestraten and Aaron Pitt from the same CDC branch won the apprentice of the year award.
Volvo Bus Australia also won the outstanding employer award, while a variety of operators were recognised for industry long service awards over 20, 40 and 60 years.