Developer behind the Midwater Tower on the Gold Coast says it will now be completed

The developer behind the trouble-plagued Midwater apartment tower project on the Gold Coast has confirmed contractors are on the site and it will be completed after the head builder walked away from the project over a pay dispute.

Tomkins workers walks off Midwater site at Main Beach

Almost two months after the builder of a $100m apartment tower on the Gold Coast walked off the job, the developer of the troubled Midwater project says it will now be completed, giving long suffering buyer some hope.

York Property Holdings says it’s appointed a new team to oversee the completion of the 39-storey tower after Tomkins Commercial pulled the pin in September over a payment dispute.

York – which is part of the Heran Group – says the new contractor will complete the structure and external facade.

Midwater’s project management team leader Tim Easterbrook says there's now activity on the Main Beach construction site.

“Our team is busy taking steps to expedite the completion of the building’s structure and internal fit out with more works planned in the coming weeks,” he says.

“We have been actively engaging with existing and new suppliers and subcontractors to determine the cost of completing the project and what role they can play. Early progress has been reassuring with our first subcontractor returning to site late last month.”

Builders collecting tools and equipment from the Midwater apartment site.

York says they will continue to work through the outstanding areas of the construction dispute including the extensive delays and Tomkins’ obligations under the contract, in the interest of all stakeholders.

“Every single claim to payment made by the original builder was assessed by a third-party

superintendent and every one of those assessed claims was paid in full and on time in accordance with the superintendent’s assessment,” the company says.

Numbers add up

It’s always been a numbers game for Shaun Douglas and on Friday night he will be celebrating 40 years in the property sector.

With dark hair and a luxuriant mo early in his career – he was known as Black Prince for his uncanny likeness to the Artist Formerly Known as Prince – Douglas was a bank johnny before seeing the light getting into the property business.

With billions of dollars of deals under his belt, Douglas says the celebration at Bougainvillea House at the Howard Smith Wharves on Friday was more about the “people who’ve come through and the culture we made”.

His property journey started with Tony Atkinson at Raine & Horne Queensland in March 1984. They later split the agency with Douglas taking the corporate/commercial element which was called Raine & Horne International and in 1997 became Chesterton International.

Shaun Douglas doing deals in 2013.

Five years ago, looking to pivot to a more advisory focused businesses, he acquired Trident Property Advisory and merged them both businesses in an operation that operates out of 316 Adelaide St in the CBD.

“It may be a bit confusing but it's really the same stuff with name changes,” Douglas says.

“My original Raine & Horne contract is still sitting in the drawer.”

Douglas reckons over the years about a thousand people have gone through his business and many clients are rusted on.

“I was looking back the other day and I’ve had several of my clients 40 years ago and

the partners that I had in Chesterton International – Allen Crawford and Greg Bremner – had been 27 and 25 years in business with me.”

Douglas reckons about 120 people will be coming on Friday but says he wasn’t keen to celebrate his milestone.

“I didn’t actually want this – it was my staff,” he says.

“The company isn’t centred around me. I’m one individual who’s seen the breadth of the company we’ve built.”