Kepal Building Services Partners with Kinaway!

Overview of the Partner’s business

Located in Bendigo (Dja Dja Wurrung Country), and having operated for over 20 years Kepal Building Services’ purpose is to maintain public infrastructure and housing, ensuring high-quality living environments for our community. We do this by providing social housing maintenance, make-safe and emergency repairs; insurance works, local government asset renewal and NDIS upgrades across our service area of Regional Victoria.

We have a strong team of project coordinators supported by in-house trades and a network of over 300 subcontractors.

How has the Partner engaged with the Indigenous sector?

For a long time, Kepal has sought to engage and support the Indigenous community, including employing First Nations individuals and businesses in our service area, sponsoring local community groups, and providing school fees, books, and uniforms for local families. We also support Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, where our owner Paul Holmes spends time each year at Uminyuluk Outstation with the Marritheyal Clan.

For several years, we have completed work for Aboriginal Housing Victoria. Wherever possible, we like to employ people who come from the communities we serve. We are early on our formal reconciliation and social procurement journey and hence we have partnered with Kinaway to assist us in this process.

Why did the Partner sign up with Kinaway? What was the driving factor?

We have partnered with Kinaway to assist us in our social procurement objectives, particularly as we tender for large projects with government bodies. We chose Kinaway for their Victorian focus which is in line with our own approach of working in Victoria only.

What is the Partner’s mission or aim in supporting the Indigenous economy? How will Kinaway member businesses benefit from this partnership?

We would like to ensure that individuals and organisations in the Indigenous community see Kepal Building Services not only as a place where they are welcome but as a partner of choice. We are committed to joining with the community as we undertake our projects and as we engage subcontractors and other businesses to complete work where available we would like to use members of Kinaway.

How does the partner hope to benefit from the partnership with Kinaway?

We hope that our partnership assists us in both formalising our approach to social procurement and measure our progress towards meeting our targets.