John Holland vaults to top on BCI Central construction top 50 list
A Chinese-owned construction company has catapulted to first place on the list of Australia’s top 50 building firms, which now have 793 projects worth $36.1bn. | SEE FULL LIST
Business
Don't miss out on the headlines from Business. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Chinese-owned construction giant John Holland has for the first time claimed the No.1 spot on BCI Central’s list of the country’s top 50 builders, shooting up from 48th place last year.
Following four years of global economic turmoil since the Covid-19 pandemic, the construction industry has been battered with escalating building costs, supply chain disruptions and a skilled labour shortage.
But, despite these mounting hurdles, construction has continued to be a key economic driver across Australia, with a combined 793 projects commencing construction across the nations top 50 builders in 2023.
At $6.8bn, the total value of John Holland’s 14 projects are worth more than the second and third-placed builders combined, with Multiplex coming in second at $2.7bn and Sydney-based Built taking out third place at $2.6bn.
BCI tracks more than 40,000 projects monthly to curate its Construction League Report, which for the third edition running featured more Sydney-based companies in the top 10, including FDC and Hindmarsh.
The top 50 builders this year have a combined value of $36.1bn across 793 projects, compared with 846 projects last year worth a combined total of $29.6bn.
BCI Central’s chief operating officer of Australia and New Zealand, Ashleigh Porter, said she was surprised to see John Holland make the leap to first place.
“One of the surprises for us coming into the report was to have John Holland sitting at number one, the year prior they were sitting at number 48,” Ms Porter said.
She said one of the key drivers which led to John Holland’s surge in revenue was its diversification into commercial and community projects.
“John Holland is usually known for building bridges, roads and those types of projects. But they’ve really been diversifying into that commercial and community sector,” she said.
“They also have some really notable top tier projects as well, such as the stage one of the Sydney Children’s Hospital that’s worth $658m and the iconic Brisbane Waterfront development that’s worth $830m.”
Consistent table toppers Built and Hutchinson Builders maintained their presence with rankings of third place and seventh place respectively.
The two also led the league in the number of projects, with Built having 102 projects and Hutchinson Builders 108.
Ms Porter said the report showed a decline in construction companies taking up residential projects.
“There’s been a bit of a pivot and pulling back on those types of projects and focusing more on your community, your commercial, your industrial type projects,” she said.
“If you compare Hutchison’s work to last year, they’ve halved the amount of residential projects. Multiplex in last year’s report had 12 per cent of their work sitting in the residential sector, this year they have none.”
The economic turbulence of the past few years was expected to continue throughout 2024, with growing concerns over the delivery of steel across the country.
“Everyone’s been talking about steel being a major issue, I’ve been hearing rumblings about having up to 60-week lead times on steel across the country, which is insane,” Ms Porter said.
“We’re also seeing a lot of people focus on prefabrication as well, to counterbalance some of the supply chain issues there too.”
Australian builders have been supported through this past year with the federal government’s additional fee-free trade TAFE courses and the National Construction Industry Forum (NCIF), bringing industry stakeholders together to find solutions in several key areas — such as training and skills.
Earlier this week, Housing Minister Julie Collins revealed the upcoming budget would include a $90.6m investment to boost the number of skilled workers in the construction industry, aiming to deliver 15,000 fee-free TAFE and VET placements over two years from 2025.
More Coverage
Originally published as John Holland vaults to top on BCI Central construction top 50 list
Coal, not cattle pumps out the most methane, says think tank
A think tank led by former ACCC boss Rod Sims says Australia’s fossil fuel producers are emitting twice as much methane as previously thought.
‘Tower of power’ mining-free zone
Mining helps fuel the Queensland economy, but it seems Labor fears any association with the industry going by its strange advertising policy at 1 William Street, aka the Tower of Power.