Construction clan scion is chippy off the old block

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in the Gardner clan, with the youngest son of the family behind leading Queensland construction company FKG Group branching out.

Jack Gardner is branching as a senior executive of GFC Projects.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in the Gardner clan, the family behind leading Queensland construction company FKG Group.

Jack Gardner, the 32-year-old younger son of FKG executive chairman Gary Gardner, is quickly gaining a reputation as a rising star in the construction sector, helming the company’s full service development and construction business GFG Projects, which has completed a swag of industrial and commercial developments across the state recently.

GFG Projects last week won its first Master Builders award, picking up a gong for a showroom and workshop for Toowoomba’s Bradnam Window and Doors.

The Gardners over the past five decades have built their family-owned FKG Group into one of the state’s biggest privately-owned construction firms. The company was founded by Jack’s grandfather Francis Kevin Gardner in 1972 and now employs more than 1000 staff and has diversified into energy, agriculture and plant hire. A carpenter by trade, Gary Gardner worked his way through the business under his father and retains the key role of executive chairman with son Nick as the managing director. Jack Gardner is the managing director of GFG Projects, a business within the FKG Group, as well as group manager of the development division of the FKG Group.

One of FKG Group’s residential projects.

GFG Projects has been in business for 3 1/2 years, has 40 employees and year-on-year has doubled its turnover to over $66m. Jack tells your diarist he has a potential $250m pipeline of projects across the state, including residential, industrial and mixed-use developments. He also revealed he is looking to establish a property fund as part of the further diversification of the business. Earlier this year family patriarchGary Gardner was elected to the Toowoomba Regional Council saying his real-world business experience will be invaluable in cutting through bureaucratic bottlenecks. The company, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022, began life as a small residential builder in Brookstead, 180km west of Brisbane. It later moved its headquarters to Toowoomba and opened offices in Brisbane, Cairns, Mackay, Roma, Townsville, Newcastle and Darwin.

Rough justice

Access to justice for Australians living in regional, rural and remote areas is being compromised by a shortage of lawyers willing to work in the bush, says leading Queensland legal firm Creevey Horrell Lawyers.

Creevey Horrell Principal Dan Creevey says it was difficult to attract lawyers to rural centres despite the appealing lifestyle as well as cheaper housing and easier commuting.

Creevey says Creevey Horrell has a strong presence in regional Queensland with offices in Brisbane, Toowoomba, Townsville and Roma.

“We have plenty of work but sometimes we have been turning clients away because we do not have the resources to take them all on,” he says.

Dan Creevey is hitting the road to offer legal advice.

“Like myself, many of our legal team have been raised in the bush and have returned to regional cities such as Toowoomba and Townsville after stints in the capital cities.

“We are trying to recruit more legal staff but it’s not easy, particularly to get the younger lawyers to move from the city.”

Studies have found less than 10 per cent of solicitors practice in regional, rural and remote areas, while 28 per cent of the Australian population lives in the bush.

“You can see how this disparity is limiting the access to legal assistance and therefore to justice for people outside of the capital cities,” Creevey says.