“I’ll demolish Boondall for nothing, starting Monday; it mocks Brisbane,” says Hutchinson, chairman of Queensland’s longest running construction company.

“I like Harvey but we don’t see eye-to-eye.”

At 65, Hutchinson pulls no punches.

“You can’t have us going past the airport to see big bands,” he says of the centre, which opened beside wetlands 18km from the CBD in 1986.

“It’s so far in the bush there’s a sign in the grounds saying beware of snakes.

“And any bit of joy you get from a show is absolutely vanquished by the game of chicken to get out of the car park.

“The public transport is dreadful. I’ve been at a show where they’ve stopped it and said the last train is going now, and Brisbane people put up with that and they leave. It’s not good enough.”

Hutchinson says Boondall wouldn’t need to be replaced – “a tent at the RNA (Brisbane Showgrounds in Bowen Hills) would do”.

“In general, music venues work best being as central as they possibly can,” he says, when asked about Lister’s proposed Brisbane Live Arena in Roma Street Parklands.

But Hutchinson – who is out two or three nights a week seeing bands and goes to several festivals a year, including Burning Man in Nevada – has another idea.

He wants to splash $50m on the 9500-capacity Riverstage in Brisbane’s CBD.

“I’d like to get a lease on it and bring it up to standard because it needs a roof over the band area, better sound so it doesn’t leak over to Kangaroo Point, and we’d put a cover for 3000 people over the mosh pit at the front,” he says.

“Hutchies is willing to do something uncommercial there. It’s hard because it’s State Government-Brisbane City Council land, but now the two are on the same side (LNP), something might happen.

“Remember, the Labor Party is ruthless, and a good politician in their eyes gets re-elected. It doesn’t matter about doing wonderful things for the community.”

That said, Hutchies – which had construction revenue of $3.3bn and a slim profit of $4.7m in the 2023-24 fiscal year – “worked quite well with the previous government”.

“I got on well with Anna except I led the street marches against the lockout laws; I was furious,” Hutchinson says of former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s shuttering of venues during Covid.

“It was over the top and unforgivable.”

We’re lunching at Walter’s Steakhouse and Wine Bar, as are a dozen or so Hutchies’ employees who salute the boss as they stream past our red leather booth.

“What are these characters up to?” he laughs, “I’ll find out later.”

For a man who is fourth generation of a 113-year-old company and admits “money is not one of my problems”, Hutchinson is candid about his abiding passion for construction – it doesn’t exist.

“There was always the option not to join the family company but I quickly, at 10 years old, could see my best opportunity and this was it,” he says.

“So here’s a bit of advice to young people: don’t necessarily follow your passion.

“I’ve got no strong passion for construction, only for people. Follow your talents and follow whatever pays; you’ll learn to like things that you’re good at and that let you put food on the table.

“Look at plumbers – they’re never unemployed. Because the work isn’t glamorous, many people don’t want to do it, so it’s perfectly lucrative.”

Hutchinson, who studied engineering at the University of Queensland after graduating from Brisbane Boys’ College, is privileged that his professional life has allowed him to become a big player in a scene he definitely is passionate about – live music.

In 2024 he was named a Queensland Great for his contributions to both construction and the arts.

Hutchinson was “horrified” when Festival Hall in the CBD was knocked down in 2003. It stuck in his craw to such a degree that he poured nearly $50m into its reincarnation.

Fortitude Music Hall opened in 2019 and is run by good mate John Collins (ex-Powderfinger bassist and now Queensland Night-Life Economy Commissioner).

Hutchinson explains that the Brunswick Street Mall site had been approved for 350 apartments, so he knew ditching that development application would diminish its value.

“The site’s now worth $27m but I don’t regret it – Fortitude Valley needed an anchor, and Hutchies has seven venues now,” he says, of The Triffid in Newstead, and the Valley’s The Outpost, The Sound Garden, Kickons, Blute’s Bar and Black Bear Lodge.

“It’s about legacy, but it’s also about right now,” he says.

“It’s essentially a selfish thing; I’ve never got tired of going into the Valley, getting hammered and seeing bands.”

More venues are planned for Warner Lane, with second son Terrence looking after their development.

Firstborn Jack is now director of Hutchinson Builders.

There are two younger children, Kenneth and Mary, with ex-wife Mary-Jeanne (nee Peabody), director of Craggy Range winery.

Today Hutchinson lives in West End, but doesn’t like it much, and is looking forward to moving into the top floor of 185 Wharf Street, a $181m 30-storey complex Hutchies is building for Cbus in Spring Hill.

“I’ll be able to walk to the Valley instead of getting Ubers,” he says.

“I went to a festival in Brazil, and a lot of people there were raving about Brisbane and I asked them what they liked and they said being able to walk home at 3am in the morning and feel safe, and I said, ‘I do that here in Sao Paulo’, and they said, ‘well, you’re a stupid f---ing gringo’,” he laughs.

When he’s not skiing in Japan where he owns a four-bedroom apartment in the Alpen Ridge Niseko complex he built with best friend from school, Don O’Rorke, of Consolidated Properties, Hutchinson likes hanging out at his beachfront property in Byron Bay.

He’s also fanatical about YouTube and Swedish chewing tobacco.

“A guy in Greece gave me some in 1984 and I got hooked,” he said, fishing in his leather satchel for some as lunch draws to a close.

“I’m also addicted to YouTube, you can go down any rabbit hole; I’ve been fascinated by the US election.

“Donald Trump is just disgusting and what about Elon Musk, how successful is that prick.”

Given Hutchies built one of the first stadiums in Queensland – the Ernest Baynes Stand at the RNA showgrounds in 1922 – and currently has more than 150 projects on the go, it’s reasonable to imagine its chairman might have strong opinions on the 2032 Games stadium.

“My ideas probably don’t fit with others,” he says, as I settle the bill.

“I don’t care what it looks like but the closer you can get to the Valley the better.

“Even if you, say, knock down all that stuff from Alfred and Constance (a precinct which reopened in the Valley this year after closing in 2018), or knock things down in Spring Hill or Newstead – not my stuff obviously – but as long as it’s central.

“We don’t want to end up with a Homebush (now Accor Stadium, 18km from Sydney’s CBD).”

Hutchinson isn’t against the popular Victoria Park proposal but says it would need “a good walking path” to the Valley.

He flags the RNA as an option.

“I mean, you don’t want to ruin the EKKA but you’ve got to consider it,” he says.

“The RNA is the best festival ground I’ve ever been to in the world, even better than Black Rock City (Nevada) for Burning Man.

“There is no other space so close to the cheap eats, the cheap digs. It is so perfect, and it changes the feeling of a festival because as it becomes 10 o’clock you’re not thinking, how the f--k am I going to get home or is my tent going to be dry?”

Hutchinson says he is “quietly optimistic” Premier David Crisafulli will come up with the right stadium plan.

“David will sort it out – he will look reality in the face.

“As long as when they build the new place they still allow something to be done at the Riverstage as that is a very, very important place, and it won’t ever be knocked down because people love it.

“We just can’t end up with Boondall still being here – it’s like Homebush on steroids, it’s the worst.”

SCOTT HUTCHINSON

Chairman, Hutchinson Builders

STEAK: Signature porterhouse ($79)

VENUE: Walter’s Steakhouse and Wine Bar, Brisbane CBD

RATING: 9.5/10