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Fred Cooper has a knack for spotting a project that’s going to be special. It might just be a set of drawings on a desk, but something clicks. “Sometimes you see a set of plans and you go, I know how I could build this,” he says. “And we get so amped up about it that I think we end up getting jobs just because we’re so excited. We know how we want to do it and we’ve got ideas.”
That enthusiasm is the heartbeat of Fenestrate, the business Fred leads. Their projects aren’t quick in-and-out jobs – they’re often six months to a year in the making. Big, complex, full-scale undertakings that go from concept to fully installed windows and façades. “It’s not just like a window,” Fred says with a grin. “It’s generally something big – like it’s a full project. Watching it go through here and then go to site, seeing a finished product – it’s really cool to see.”
It’s been a journey to get here. Fenestrate didn’t start life as a manufacturer. In the early days, Fred and the team were installers, fitting windows made by other people. Later they began designing their own, working with various suppliers. “We would draw windows and send them to different suppliers. When a job would land, we were in control of the design,” Fred recalls. “Eventually we just bit the bullet and thought, we’ll manufacture ourselves.”
That decision was a turning point – and it’s when Fenestrate crossed paths with Capral Aluminium. “We do house lots of Urban Plus, which is your revealed windows… all the way up to 250mm deep Flushline sections. We’re doing curtain walls. We’re doing all sorts of different extrusions and suites. It’s all Capral for all different types of projects from office buildings that are ten stories tall to house lots.”
What Fred loves most is being part of the creative process. “The most enjoyable projects for me are ones that we get input into the design and people care about the project,” he says. It’s not unusual for Fenestrate to step in and fill the gap when clients don’t get what they expected from a façade consultant. “We know how to tell them how to set up their concrete, and their walls and what they need to do.”
The variety keeps things fresh. “I don’t think we’ve done two jobs the same in a row,” Fred says. “We’re always pivoting and I don’t think we’ve ever fabricated a job the same.” That adaptability is backed by a team of long-term staff who “just know everything back to front” and understand exactly how Fred likes things done.
Working with Capral makes the job easier. “Everything that you could possibly need to do, they’ve got a solution. It’s a one-stop shop for us.” But it’s not just about product – it’s about partnership. Fred values Capral’s constant innovation, especially in thermal systems. “It’s not just the spans and the structural performance, it’s the thermal performance. They’re constantly developing their thermal broken range so we can meet those performance values that are just getting harder and harder to reach.”
One of the big benefits is having direct contact with Capral’s technical team. “They’re the people designing the windows. We appreciate that they’re asking us. We work together on designs – like they’ll approach us or we’ll approach them. And the fact that we get to deal with those technical people is because I think we’re trusted by Capral. We’ve backed them and they’ve backed us.”
Fred also appreciates Capral’s commitment to local manufacturing. “They’ve got testing for everything… and they’re Australian – like actually Australian. When you go to Campbellfield, you’ll see all the billets of aluminium they’re going to push through a press right in front of you. The people in there have been there for a long time and there’s people that come from all over the world to work on those dies. It’s pretty important to us that sort of industry exists.”
Technology plays its part too. LogiKal, a production software introduced to Fenestrate by Capral, has become a game-changer. “If you draw a window for estimating and it’s approved, we can just click a button and it goes to the saw, print a barcode, all the machining’s done straight off barcode,” Fred says. “The guys don’t have to think about all the little holes – they can focus on more important things like putting them together and making sure they’re ready for deliveries.”
Over the years, some projects have left their mark. “The first really challenging project I think we did was NEXTDC – the engineering behind that was pretty intense,” Fred remembers. “And Rockabee was a really nice one – it was really simple when you look at it from the outside, but there was a lot that went into it for a simple looking rectangle.”
Every job is different, but the formula is the same: passion, precision, and the right people. With Capral’s products, expertise and support, Fenestrate has the confidence to take on anything – from towering commercial buildings to finely detailed architectural homes. “We’ve backed them and they’ve backed us,” Fred says. “That’s the way we like to work.
