Kubota clears the way to build The Block in the first-ever rural renovation
Kubota Australia has partnered with Australian ratings juggernaut, The Block for its 18th season in a never-seen-before rural renovation.
The Block: Tree Change brings contestants to regional Victoria to renovate five family homes on 10-acre lots in just 12 weeks.
Co-creator and Producer Julian Cress said they purchased the land in Gisborne last August to reflect the urban exodus brought on by COVID-19, with Kubota being the first call they made.
“We knew from the start that there was no way we were going to be able to make this show on the geography of this location without Kubota,” Mr Crest said.
“We needed to cut 70-acre pastureland of waist high grass before we could even break ground. This is where the Kubota tractor and mulcher came in allowing us to prepare for the building team.”
Prior to the contestants’ arrival onsite, the footings for each house were constructed using Kubota excavators.
“We've never made a series of The Block where we've needed a fleet of excavators. It was the busiest day in The Block’s history, we had 350 people working onsite and at least a dozen excavators operating activities.
Directors of Nine in Six Builders and The Block veterans, Andrew Simmons and Aiden O’Shannessy, said the sheer logistics of setting up the site was immense, even for The Block.
“We had six weeks to get the houses up and ready before the interior building began. Just getting things from A to B, and the amount of machinery we needed as well has been massive,” Andrew said.
Completing his 12th season to date, Aiden O’Shannessy said this year has been different to any of his work on The Block before.
“The sheer scale and size, along with the rural nature of the land, added a whole layer of complexity for us – and the partnership with Kubota has been vital to us executing the project,” he said.
“We’ve had a wide variety of machinery on-site at our disposal, including RTVs, and the quality and reliability have been second to none. The SVL5 was so efficient, I’m planning on buying one for myself.”
Easy-to-use Kubota equipment has been a much-needed time-saver, with several workers easily obtaining their license on-site to tackle one of the most challenging seasons in The Block history. As filming went on, the contestants also received equipment training and were officially ticketed into operation.
“They were able to get in there and help their landscape teams to save money and do some of the work themselves. The contestants were on excavators moving rocks and mulch where it needed to go, it was a huge success,” Julian said.
Kubota ANZ Senior General Manager Malcolm Owens said the business was thrilled to join The Block for its 2022 Tree Change season.
“Kubota has reliable machinery to get any job done. It was a no brainer for us to partner with The Block to provide equipment for the biggest season in history,” he said.
“Kubota is known for delivering easy to use machinery, so it was great seeing this come to life for the contestants who were able to do some of the work themselves and save on costs in the landscaping challenge."
“We are excited to see who will win this year and the finished product of the rural renovation,” Owens said.