FBR Quarterly Report | September 2019
FBR is pleased to provide its quarterly update for the three months ending September 30, 2019.
Fastbrick Australia Building Pilot Program Update
Summit Homes Group
On 11 October 2019, FBR announced that Fastbrick Australia, the Wall as a Service® joint venture established with Brickworks, entered into a Building Pilot Program Agreement with Summit Homes Group, one of WA’s most well-known builders.
The Summit Agreement consists of three stages. The first stage is a Demonstration Stage under which Fastbrick Australia will supply WaaS® for three house structures on FBR premises using a range of designs supplied by Summit. Each of these structures will be subject to inspection, assessment and reporting by both Summit and independent consultants to ensure they meet the relevant building standards.
The Demonstration Stage of the Summit Agreement has now commenced on FBR premises and Work Orders for the first two builds of this stage have been issued and accepted in accordance with the Agreement. Fastbrick Australia will be paid for each of the structures built under the Summit Agreement at the prevailing market rate for bricklaying services in Western Australia and the various designs for the structures have been provided by Summit.
The second stage of the Summit Agreement is the Display Home Stage, in which Summit will engage Fastbrick Australia to supply WaaS® for a single storey residential structure, to be purchased by FBR to demonstrate to the public and international partners the benefits and quality of its robotic construction technology. Summit and FBR are working together to agree an appropriate site for the demonstration home. If the parties do not enter into this agreement within three months, the remainder of the Building Pilot Program Agreement may be terminated.
The third stage of the Summit Agreement is the Builder’s Project Stage, in which Summit will engage Fastbrick Australia to supply WaaS® for a single storey residential structure for a Summit customer/homebuyer within six months of issuance of a certificate for the final house structure in the Demonstration Stage.
Archistruct
On 16 September 2019, FBR announced that Fastbrick Australia had entered into a Building Pilot Program Agreement with Western Australian-based builder Archistruct Builders & Designers, in the same three-stage format as the Summit Agreement, building upon the Framework Agreement between FBR and Archistruct announced to the ASX on 6 September 2016.
The Demonstration Stage of the Archistruct Agreement is nearing completion, with a series of house structures (based on designs provided by Archistruct) having now been successfully built on FBR premises. This stage provided for between five and 12 structures to be built. These structures have been signed off by an independent building engineer, accepted by Archistruct (as the customer) and the majority of the associated invoices for these structures have been issued and paid for by Archistruct.
FBR and Archistruct have also been progressing the Display Home Stage of the Archistruct Agreement. To this end, FBR has entered into a contract to purchase a block of land, on which the Display Home will be constructed by Archistruct (at FBR’s cost), and FBR and Archistruct have entered into a residential building contract under which Archistruct will build a display home using Fastbrick Australia’s blocklaying services.
Global commercialisation update
Mexico
On 26 September 2019, FBR announced that it had entered into a Building Pilot Program Agreement with GP Vivienda, the housing division of Mexican construction giant Grupo GP. This Agreement represents the next stage of the Strategic Collaboration Agreement between FBR and GP Vivienda announced to the ASX on 20 June 2018.
The Vivienda Agreement is also a three-stage agreement. In the Pilot Program Stage, FBR will supply WaaS® for between one and five house structures on FBR premises using a range of common Mexican designs supplied by GP Vivienda.
In the Block Testing Stage, GP Vivienda and FBR will work together to test the performance of FBR’s adhesive with concrete blocks that are commonly used in Mexico. FBR and GP Vivienda have engaged a structural engineer to work with the University of Monterrey to complete the Block Testing Stage.
In the Collaboration Stage, GP Vivienda and FBR will consult to collate and assess the learnings from the Pilot Program Stage and the Block Testing Stage and identify, scope and schedule the next steps in the Strategic Collaboration Agreement.
Europe
FBR recently received a large shipment of a variety of clay blocks from Wienerberger AG (https://www.wienerberger.com/en/about.html) in accordance with the initiatives contemplated in the Partnership Agreement between FBR and Wienerberger, so that FBR can commence testing the existing Wienerberger product range with the Hadrian X® to determine the optimal clay block design. FBR will be building a variety of structures with the Wienerberger blocks, including structures that reflect common European residential house designs, as part of its European pilot building activities.
FBR announced on 5 September 2018 that it had entered into a Global Partnership Agreement with Wienerberger (https://www.fbr.com.au/view/asx-articles/20180905190107), under which FBR and Wienerberger would collaborate to develop, manufacture and test clay blocks optimised for the Hadrian X construction robot, for introduction into global markets where Wienerberger is active.
Middle East
FBR is also progressing discussions with a number of parties in the Middle East and expects to be implementing and activating one or more pilot building programs associated with the region in the very near term. These programs are being designed to build structures that reflect common local residential house designs and to demonstrate a pathway for FBR technology to the markets in this region.
R&D tax incentive cash refund received
As announced on 11 September 2019, FBR received a research and development tax incentive cash refund of $9,449,954 for the 12 month period ended 30 June 2019. The R&D tax incentive program is jointly administered by the Australian Tax Office and the Department of Innovation, Industry and Science on behalf of Innovation and Science Australia.
Change to Board and Executive Team
Subsequent to the end of the period, FBR announced the appointment of Mr Grant Anderson to its Board as a Non-Executive Director, and the retirement of Mr Andrew Bloore from the position of Non-Executive Director. Mr Anderson brings over 40 years of experience in the design and manufacturing sectors and has extensive Board experience across multiple industries and countries in both ASX listed and private companies.
Also, subsequent to the end of the period, FBR appointed Mr David Richardson to the position of Chief Financial Officer, with Mr Aidan Flynn moving into a role in the newly established Global Commercialisation Team. Mr Richardson is a highly experienced Chief Financial Officer in both large multinational corporations and smaller private businesses, having served as CFO of Schaffer Corporation, Gindalbie Metals, Doric Group and, most recently, Enviropacific Services. David has a Bachelor of Science, Accounting from the University of South Africa (UNISA), a Post Graduate Diploma, Finance & Investment from the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, and has completed the Strategic Management Program at Macquarie Graduate School of Management.