Client: Fortress Collision Repair Services
Location: 26 Fallon Street, Thurgoona (Albury), NSW
Supplier: R&I Zambesi – Z-Air range
Scope: Double-car preparation bays with separation curtains, two Z-Air Plus full downdraft 10 m oversized spray booths, central paint mixing room, rapid install by the Z-Air installation team

Overview

Fortress Collision Repair Services is an independent multi-site operator (MSO) specialising in high-severity collision work, with more than 13 sites across Queensland, NSW and the ACT. The new Albury / Thurgoona workshop is another standardised Fortress site: a clean, purpose-planned paint and prep facility built for throughput, consistency and insurer-grade finishes as the group expands nationally.

R&I Zambesi supplied and installed the paint plant under the Z-Air brand — a partnership Fortress has used at other sites, built around high-value solutions rather than one-off kit.

The Brief

The Albury site needed a production-ready paint department that matched Fortress’s group standard, not a unique one-off layout:

  • Two oversized Z-Air Plus full downdraft booths (10 m) so larger vehicles and multi-panel jobs can be painted without crowding the cabin.
  • Double-car preparation bays with separation curtains, so two vehicles can be prepped in parallel without cross-contamination of dust or overspray.
  • A central paint mixing room serving both booths, keeping colour work in one controlled, compliant space.
  • Fast installation so the new shop could open as a finished, branded Fortress facility rather than a staged fit-out.

The design had to look and work like other Fortress shops: clear workflow from prep to mix to spray, bright and clean presentation, and equipment that painters and managers would recognise across the network.

The Z-Air Solution

R&I Zambesi designed and installed a complete paint suite around the Z-Air Plus full downdraft platform.

Z-Air Plus full downdraft (10 m oversized), two units

Z-Air Plus is R&I Zambesi’s full downdraft cabin: insulated EPS panels, glazed bi-fold vehicle doors, personnel/escape door, 45° LED lighting, automatic airflow and temperature control, VFD-driven fans, and a direct-fired gas burner with bake recirculation. It is specified for waterborne and solvent systems and is built to Australian spray-booth standards. Oversizing to 10 m gives Fortress extra length for SUVs, dual-cab utes and jobs that need a vehicle plus parts in the same cycle.

Double-car prep bays with separation curtains

Two-vehicle prep capacity with curtains between bays keeps sanding and priming isolated, supports two technicians at once, and protects the clean side of the process before cars move into the booths.

Central paint mixing room

One shared mix room feeds both booths — safer storage and mixing, shorter walk for painters, and a single colour-control point consistent with Fortress’s other sites.

Z-Air installation team

R&I Zambesi’s own crew handled the install for speed and accountability: booths, prep structure, mix room, ducting and commissioning as one package, with the aim of minimal disruption and a workshop that looked finished on day one.

Z-Air Plus options that matter in an MSO environment include energy-saving VFDs, flash-off cycle for waterborne work, and straightforward controls so staff can move between Fortress sites without relearning the plant.

Outcome

Albury opened as a clean, brand-new Fortress workshop: two long downdraft booths, dual prep with curtains, and a central mix room laid out to the group’s standard design. The plant supports the MSO model — repeatable process, professional presentation to insurers and customers, and capacity that scales with national growth.

For R&I Zambesi / Z-Air, it is another Fortress site in an ongoing partnership: same goals, high-value kit, and an installation team that can deliver a complete paint department quickly enough for an expanding network.

Fortress needed a standardised, high-capacity paint plant for its new Albury site; Z-Air delivered two 10 m Plus full downdraft booths, double prep bays with curtains and a central mix room, installed fast by the Z-Air team to match the group’s national workshop standard.