Est. 1994 // Brooklyn VIC

Thirty-two years, first pour right.

Coldset started with one ute, a cement mixer and a crew of four formworkers in Melbourne's west. Today we are 140 people with our own yard, our own pumps and our own engineers — still family-owned, still on the tools.

Direct crew140

Apprentices18

OfficesMelbourne · Brisbane

Repeat clients78%

Pour 02 // Story

We still build the forms ourselves.

Most concrete subcontractors hire in the formwork, the steel fixers and the pump. We never have. Keeping every trade on our own payroll is slower to grow, but it means the person who designed the form is on site when it's stripped.

That is why architects bring us their hardest walls, and why builders keep calling us back for basements nobody else wants to price.

1994
Four formworkers, one ute
Ray Castellano starts Coldset in Footscray, pouring house slabs and driveways.
2003
First post-tensioned slab
Our own stressing crew is trained and certified; PT becomes half of our work.
2011
The Brooklyn yard
A 1.4 ha yard with a carpentry shop, rebar cage bay and sample-panel pad.
2017
Brisbane office opens
Following two civil clients north; 38 crew based in Queensland today.
2026
1.86 million m³
Placed since day one — and still no structural failure on our record.

64Formwork carpenters

28Steel fixers

22Concrete finishers

12Pump & plant operators

14Engineers & estimators

Pour 03 // Leadership

People who've stripped a form.

Every member of the leadership team started on site. You'll meet at least two of them before we sign a contract.

Danielle Okoro

Managing director

Joined in 2003 as a site engineer; ran the Brooklyn yard for six years before taking over the business.

Ray Castellano

Founder & chair

Formworker since 1979. Still walks every architectural pour and signs the sample panels himself.

Mei-Lin Tran

Engineering manager

Leads temporary works, PT design and the shop-drawing team of nine. Chartered structural engineer.

Tomasz Kowal

Operations, Melbourne

Runs the yard, plant and crew allocation across seven Victorian sites. Ex-pump operator.

Hemi Walker

Safety & training lead

Owns the safety system, the toolbox programme and the apprentice pathway. 22 years on site.

Priya Raman

Branch manager, Brisbane

Built the Queensland civil book from zero to 38 crew; previously a bridge site manager.

Pour 04 // Yard & plant

Our own kit, our own yard.

Unit	Plant	Spec	Qty
BP-01–03	Truck-mounted boom pumps	36, 42 and 52 m reach	3
LP-01–02	Line pumps	To 120 m horizontal, 90 m³/h	2
SF-WALL	System wall & column formwork	Steel-framed panels, 80 kN/m² pour pressure	6,000 m²
TF-DECK	Table forms & slab props	Crane-lifted, 3.0 × 6.0 m tables	2,400 m²
TC-01–02	Tower cranes	Flat-top, 50 m jib, 2.1 t at tip	2
ST-01–04	PT stressing rams	Mono-strand + multi-strand, calibrated monthly	4

Axonometric of the Brooklyn yard with carpentry shop, rebar bay and sample-panel pad — **Yard 7 · Brooklyn**1.4 ha · carpentry · rebar · samples

Pour 05 // Safety

Audited, certified, signed every shift.

Our integrated management system is externally audited twice a year. The numbers below are reported to every client monthly — the good ones and the bad ones.

QMSISO 9001

Quality management — inspection and test plans for every element, certified since 2006.

EMSISO 14001

Environmental management — washout recovery, 30% SCM mixes as standard, recycled form timber.

OHSISO 45001

Occupational health & safety — pre-pour permits, exclusion zones and fatigue rules.

LTI-free days: 1,214
TRIFR · 12 months: 1.1
Hours worked FY26: 298k
Toolbox talks FY26: 7,420

Pour 06 // Apprentices

Learning the trade on real pours.

Our apprentices spend their first month in the yard building sample panels, then join a site crew with a dedicated mentor. Formwork carpentry and steel fixing, four-year programme, paid trade school days.

Apply for 2027 intake

18Apprentices on the tools

1 in 8Crew came through the program

94%Completion rate since 2010

6Now foremen or supervisors