Key Moments Throughout the History of Labline

Not long ago, Aaron Budai, Director of Amicus Labline found some old Labline Laboratory Furniture brochures… This made the team reflect on the Labline history – what the business has achieved so far, and where it is heading.  

In this article, we share with you a deeper insight into the history of Amicus Labline which has grown from a side hustle to a family business and has now become one of the leaders in the industry for laboratory design and construction. Hover over the images and follow the link to take a closer look at the brochures.

Where it all started – Leon’s story

The history lesson starts with Leon Lurie, Chartered Accountant… Over 40 years ago, while doing some consulting work for a Laboratory Furniture manufacturing business in South Africa, Leon immediately felt attracted to the industry and saw the opportunity to move away from professional services and start something new. This was when Labline was born.  

 After Leon moved to Sydney, Labline remained a side hustle for many years…  

1987, the year everything changed

In 1987,while on a personal level, Leon met and married Jane, Aaron’s mum; on a professional level, together they decided to give Labline a red-hot go, and the side hustle took a more serious turn.  

Leon identified his key fabricators in Sydney – many are still working with us today – and marketed himself with his key point of difference, being fit for a purpose, value-engineered 

solution to meet the needs and requirements of the end user. Leon’s focus was purely laboratory furniture with a limited incursion into fitout. 

A family business – Aaron’s story 

Inspired by his stepfather’s passion for labs, Aaron has always shown a keen interest in Labline. In fact, Labline was discussed most evenings. Aaron also spent most of his school and university holidays helping at the joinery shop or as an extra set of hands during the installation phase of various projects. Eventually, as Aaron wanted to do his own thing, he qualified as an Accountant and started developing his career.  

20 years later, just as Leon was about to retire, Aaron was looking for a change and asked him if he could rekindle Labline. Leon couldn't have been happier…  

That day, Labline became a family business. 

The Labline team 

The first few years were challenging for Aaron. Like Leon before him, Aaron kept Labline as a side hustle, focusing on Laboratory Furniture.  

One day, Aaron met Jon Rogow. They hit it off immediately. Soon, Jon joined the Labline venture and became Aaron’s new business partner. Jon’s construction project management skillset  complemented Aaron’s accounting and operational background. To ensure Labline’s success, Jon became a full-time employee, and Aaron focused on earning a salary elsewhere while also administering the business in the evening.   

After a few years, Jon was adamant that Labline needed to do more than furniture… He had been doing construction project management work on and off for years for Amicus. His words were “I don’t know where this will go, but you need to meet Andy and James, the two founders of Amicus.”  

After a year of the getting-to-know-you dance, Aaron, Jon, Andy and James eventually decided to join forces and in 2015 Amicus Labline was born. Since then, they have gone from strength to strength. 

Amicus Labline 

 Amicus deepened Labline’s understanding of how to handle larger lab fitout projects with mature processes and procedures, as well as a strong developed administrative core. This has allowed the business to deliver large-scale construction and fitout projects for the STEM industries and laboratories all over Australia.    

Throughout the years, the Amicus Labline team has worked with labs across different industries from education to research and development. Some of the current projects include large refineries in North Queensland, lithium laboratories in Victoria and Dairy testing and water filtration in NSW.  

What makes Amicus Labline best in its class? It’s the depth of knowledge and strength of process.   

• Jon Rogow:  More than 20 years of Project Management experience in Fitout and   
  Construction and 10 years in Laboratories.  
• Andrew Holder: Entrepreneur and sales guru with a strong understanding of the compliance, process and procedures needed to deliver in the construction and fitout industries.  
• James Kemp:  Entrepreneur and Strategic True North, challenging our thinking and ensuring we are always moving forward.   
• Aaron Budai: A trained CFO/COO with an analytical and practical approach to business and relationship management, been talking about labs for nearly 40 years, often being called out to Labs that Labline installed in the 1980s & 90s to refresh. 

Each director of Amicus Labline brings his own unique set of skills. Throughout the years, complementing one another helped build and grow our business into what it is today… A best-in-class Design & Construct company specialising in bespoke laboratory build solutions and, more broadly, workspaces and environments for STEM businesses in Australia. 

Interested in learning more about labs? Feel free to get in touch or explore our latest projects here