Ice Blast and FIRST Services: a cool community collaboration

LUCY Redgrove and husband Brad have spent the past 10 years cooling Logan residents and workplaces with their business Ice Blast Air Conditioning – but their mission doesn’t stop there. 

For the Logan couple, giving back to the local community has always been important, and the latest way they are showing their community spirit is by partnering with FIRST Service – their neighbours in Loganholme. 

FIRST Service offers a range of activities and classes for young adults with a disability – including dismantling e-waste to send to Substation 33 in Kingston.  The team at Ice Blast provides old air conditioning units to the service to support  its program. Ice Blast  has also taken on some of the FIRST Service members keen to enter the workforce for work experience. 

Lucy says as the business has grown, so has the Ice Blast team’s enthusiasm for community initiatives like this one.  

‘We have always had a community focus and as we go forward, we want to do even more with local organisations,’ she says. 

‘The reason we started this business after working in other companies is that we wanted to create somewhere with a great culture. That philosophy extends out to the community – we take part in things like Movember, fundraising for local sports clubs, and fun runs too. 

‘The work that FIRST Service does is so important. We are so happy to be working with them and help them provide such an important service to the young people they work with – and having some of those young people able to come here for work experience is fantastic.’ 

FIRST Service CEO Robert Galea says the collaboration with Ice Blast has been very positive. 

‘Lucy and the team have been great, and it is so good to have that collaboration with local businesses,’ he says. 

‘In providing the old units, and now with the work experience, it is important for an organisation like ours to have community-minded businesses supporting our programs, and Ice Blast has done that.’ 

Lucy says it’s increasingly important to her that Ice Blast is connected to the community and puts in place sustainability measures. 

‘It’s a big part of what we do. We have a modern fleet of vehicles that are more fuel efficient with technologies that reduce black carbon emissions by 90 per cent . I am also on the Master Builders Environmental sub-committee. It is really important that we do what we can and make an impact,’ she says. 

‘There is so much more to do but we are trying to do what we can, when we can. It’s like the saying:  “There is only one way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time”.’