At the Vale, located in northwest Tasmania at the base of Mount Roland, one can connect with the land while staying connected to the modern world.
"It's just a wonderful place," said Simon Hackett, Australian technology entrepreneur who owns the 200-acre property.
It also provides access to the sky, due to a grass runway that cuts a 4,265 ft. swath across the property.
"We have the largest private runway in Tasmania on our property, which is just heaven on a stick for me, as a keen, long-term pilot of both gliders and powered aircraft," Hackett said.
The runway has been part of the Vale for more than 50 years and when Hackett purchased the property it came with two small hangars. However, the hangars weren't big enough to house the fleet of planes Hackett owns, including multiple motor gliders and a Pilatus PC-12 NGX. A larger structure was needed.
The new Vale hangar, built by Bison Constructions of Scottsdale, TAS, is 105 ft. wide and 79 ft. deep. The steel hangar is covered in a shiny steel cladding on the exterior, has a white epoxy-coated floor and includes a single window looking out to Mount Roland and the surrounding landscape.
"The whole environment is really ‘clean,'" said Hackett. "It is a wonderful space."
The hangar also needed a large door and Hackett turned to Schweiss Doors to provide it. He was familiar with Schweiss Doors due to seeing the company's doors on various hangars as he traveled the United States.
"I had been impressed with Schweiss Doors' obvious strength and ease of operation," Hackett said.
He decided on a Schweiss hydraulic door, 65 ft., 7 in. by 19 ft., 8 in. The door was installed offset across the front of the hangar, without blocking the door, so the larger plane could be moved in and out easily.
"The Schweiss door is huge and it always impresses anyone who sees it," Hackett said.
Ease of use was the main reason Hackett went with the hydraulic door. Over the years he had struggled with many hangar doors and wanted to avoid such issues with his own hangar at the Vale.
"I wanted something that let me just press a button and have the door open, no effort on my part and with no issues about maintaining door tracks on sliding doors," Hackett said. "Schweiss Doors' product line easily fit the bill."
Bison Constructions worked directly with Schweiss Doors to order the hydraulic door and make sure it would meet Hackett's specifications. He wanted a door that was easy to use, one that was strong and secure, tall and wide enough for his planes and would seal tightly when closed to keep rodents and birds out of the hangar. The Vale project was the first time Bison had worked with Schweiss and Hackett says the ordering process went well.
"Bison and I agreed that if the Schweiss Door worked as well as it looked like it could, that it would meet my specifications brilliantly for a big, single-panel, low-effort door," Hackett said.
The door was manufactured at the Schweiss Doors factory in Hector, Minn., and set off on its long journey to Tasmania, which included a long ship ride in a container. The door arrived at the Vale with all its instructions and pieces intact. That just left installation. Despite some nerves, it all worked out just fine.
"The builders were initially a bit daunted by the contents of the container because there was so much stuff in there," Hackett said. "But they followed the instructions and at the end of it all, they said they were super impressed with the Schweiss door and with the details provided on how to install it. They said it went together like a ‘Meccano set' (similar to an erector set) and everything just worked out."
Since its installation, the door has worked beautifully and there have been no problems.
"The Schweiss hydraulic door has been just fantastic and it has met expectations brilliantly."
A piece of advice Hacket has for those planning to order a door from Schweiss Doors is to consult closely with the team at Schweiss and make sure expectations are clear so they can be met.
"We did so and the outcome was excellent," Hackett said.
With his expectations having been met so well, Hackett says he would recommend Schweiss Doors to others without hesitation. He says his entire experience with Schweiss was great.
"It was quite brilliant," Hackett said. "The door has done just what we wanted. It is outrageously big and yet operating it is just super easy. It transforms the utility of our hangar."
Someday, Hackett hopes to use the hangar for more than just aircraft storage. The hangar also could become a great events space.
"One nice aspect of our choice to use a single panel door is that when it opens we get a six-meter-deep (20 ft.) shade veranda over the opening, making it ideal for that potential secondary use as a wedding/music venue. We have a glorious view behind the hangar and a lovely open area for crowds to gather to watch a band play inside that door opening as a stage."
The Vale has many faces and being an events location would be just one more. The Vale is both a family home and a working farm. The family has raised both sheep and cattle on the property for the meat market. Vale-raised lamb and beef can be found at venues across Tasmania.
The runway and its facilities have provided convenient access to the area for family, friends and visitors. Hackett has been a pilot for many years. He started flying gliders in the 1980s and is still a regularly active glider pilot today. He also flies his PC-12 back and forth between the Australian mainland and Tasmania on a regular basis. He has flown much longer journeys as well, including a trip from Switzerland to Tasmania, making various stops along the route. The area around the Vale is a unique flying landscape.
"The runway is in a river valley and it is just super pretty and a very unique experience to fly in and out of," Hackett said.
The Vale also has become a showcase on how technology can help a property become energy self-sufficient. Hackett has created a microgrid at the Vale to provide electricity to the property, using renewable energy sources. A ground-mounted solar array collects the sun's power and transfers it into the Vale's power system, which created the electricity to run the property. That solar electricity also is used to charge the fleet of electric vehicles used at the Vale and connect the farm to high-speed internet.
It's physically amazing," Hackett said. "It is like eastern Europe in terms of forests, valleys and mountains. The wildlife and plants are all just beautiful and our local mountain, Mount Roland, is exceptionally pretty."
For more information, visit bifold.com.
