ATCO
Not long after founding BizRebuild, the Business Council’s coordinated response to the Australian bushfire catastrophe, they reached out to ATCO for help to get the bushfire ravaged village of Mogo back in business.
In just two weeks, ATCO’s Sydney team designed, sourced, dispatched and installed 13 demountable structures in Mogo – worth around $200,000.
The Mogo pop-up mall provided a tangible, immediate way for the community to rebuild. It has provided temporary accommodation for local businesses who lost their premises, equipment and merchandise when the village was hit hard by bushfires on New Year’s Eve, as well as new accommodation for the Mogo Local Aboriginal Land Council.
As the Mogo business community have since said, these modular buildings enabled them to get back to work and get their lives back together again.
Global CEO Nancy Southern said: “I am so proud of the people of ATCO. Their hard work, determination and courage have truly made a difference in the communities we serve.’’ At the launch of the Mogo pop-up mall, Ms Southern donated an additional $1 million to BizRebuild.
After the disastrous fires of 2019/20 the Business Council of Australia reached out to our community to assist, and ATCO then immediately reached out with the generous offer of supplying temporary buildings.
In 4 weeks a plan was implemented and the buildings were on their way. During this planning stage there was a shortfall in installation, ATCO then supplied the resources for installation. During installation the weather had shifted from hot and dry to wet and cold, and the ATCO team continued to install the foundation in torrential rain and ankle deep mud. The staff continued working in these conditions to help our community and will always be in my gratitude.
To date this kind and generous offer have enabled:
- Fire effected business to continue trading and serving the community through employing local community members
- Charities to utilize the buildings to give support for local residents who have lost all their personal belongings including their homes
- A mental health worker to set up office one day per week since the installation
- A meeting place for Mogo Village Chamber meetings to help our community.
Our community thank ATCO for their generous support in helping our entire community.
As a longstanding member of the Australian community (60 years!) we saw it as our responsibility and privilege to support the Australian bushfire recovery efforts. I am proud to work with people and for a company which cares about and wants to help communities in need and so pleased to partner with the BCA and local trades to make it happen with appropriate urgency. The fundraising efforts from across our company demonstrate that we are part of a global family and that's one of the things that make ATCO such a wonderful organisation to be a part of.
“The size and scale of these fires in many parts of Australia was unprecedented. But so was the incredible wave of support we saw from people and businesses around the country and overseas. Your donation will ensure our trained staff and volunteers can continue to be there for the long-haul, helping people slowly but surely get back on their feet. We are also giving out emergency grants to help people cover essential costs as they start to rebuild."
"We’d like to thank ATCO Employees for leading this incredible initiative and showing such generosity to our emergency teams and the people we help”
Pop-up shopping mall saved Mogo traders
This article first appeared in The Australian newspaper on Monday 15 March 2021.
When fire tore through Mogo on NSW’s south coast last year, homes and businesses were reduced to ash and traders found themselves without a space to conduct their businesses.
Within weeks, structures and logistics company ATCO had erected a pop-up shopping mall, allowing small businesses to trade through the crisis.
ATCO’s donation of 13 modular buildings to the town earned it a place among the finalists in the Business Council of Australia’s awards, The Biggies. The awards recognise people and companies that made a significant contribution during 2020, with the winners to be announced next month.
of business in the community