b'1984 Meanwhile, a new era of modernisation kicked into gear, as did a friendly rivalry between what were now sibling contracting businesses under Leighton Holdings First waste umbrella. Leighton and Thiess Contractors had been kept separate, and were fiercely management contract competitive. At this stage, Thiess was only managing twelve projects and running close to the wind. Martin Albrecht became Managing Director in 1985. I was acutely aware The company wins its first waste-that there was no magic wand or quick fix to restore the company to good health, management services contract withMartin remembers. You can wish and hope for it, but thats not enough. You have Brisbane City Council. to act. We had equipment that had outlived its use-by date by twenty years. So we started liquidating three to four machines for every [new] one we purchased. Don Argent held senior finance positions at Thiess during this time. In 1985, we had $139 First remediation contract million of work in hand and tabled a $5.5-million loss, he remembers. In 1986, we made a profit of $250,000; in 1987, it was a little more. And in 1988, we made $5 million. The clean-up of the Northern TerritorysThe famous old name was flying high again, including in non-traditional areas suchRum Jungle Uranium Mine becomesas environmental services and waste management.Thiess Contractors first remediation project. It would not be its last. Thiess Contractors remained the companys name until it was renamed Thiessin 2000 in recognition of the broad scope of works it had started providing outsideRAAF Base Tindal of construction.Thiess Contractors successfully completes the initial Stage 1 development of the RAAF Base Tindal in the Northern Territory, home to the 75th Squadron.Ten years later, the company is awardeda contract to construct more than3 kilometres of new aircraft roadways.One-man waste trucks were a first for Australia, introduced by Thiess as an innovation in the 1980s. While they only required one driver, they often needed a mechanic following close behindsuch was their reliability in the early days, c. 1980s.58'