Shoreline sewerage plant to go ahead despite Lendlease axing 740 jobs to claw back ‘resilient returns’

Works at Queensland housing estates and a sewerage treatment plant will continue despite construction giant Lendlease today revealing it will axe 740 jobs globally to save money.

Lendlease chief Tony Lombardo announced 740 jobs would go in an effort to claw back ‘resilient returns’.

Works at two Queensland housing estates and a sewerage treatment plant will continue despite the developer, construction giant Lendlease, announcing today it will axe 740 jobs globally.

Redland Bay’s Shoreline estate, proposed to house 10,000 people and Yarrabilba in Logan, are both owned and being developed by the struggling Lendlease, which will slash 10 per cent of its workforce.

Both estates have battled delays and infrastructure issues, with Shoreline built without town sewerage connections and Yarrabilba facing traffic congestion from only one service road.

Lendlease’s Yarrabilba housing estate which has been plagued by traffic issues. Picture: The Australian

The job cuts form part of Lendlease chief executive Tony Lombardo’s 2021 five-year turnaround plan to deliver a more sustainable performance for the company, which posted a massive statutory loss-after-tax of $99 million on June 30, 2022.

A spokesman for the company said staff were notified today of the job losses.

“The headcount reduction will not impact our project delivery or our targets for work in progress, completions and funds under management,” the spokesman said.

Global CEO Tony Lombardo said it was a tough decision that would directly affect his staff.

“It’s never easy making decisions that directly impact our people,” he said.

“However, they’re absolutely necessary in order to generate more resilient returns for our securityholders and sustainable careers for our ongoing workforce.”

Lendlease’s Shoreline estate where there is no town sewerage connection. Picture: Contributed

In April, this year, the company fobbed off questions about delays at the Shoreline project, built despite having no civic sewerage connections.

In a statement at the time, Lendlease blamed the delays on waiting for Redland City Council development approvals.

Excavation works started at the wetland site last week, when two large excavator diggers got bogged on the flood plain where the council and the state have approved the sewerage plant.

However, the delays coincided with a multimillion-dollar cost blowout for the plant, which was initially expected to cost about $30 million but has now risen to more than $100 million.

Two excavators were bogged at this Lendlease sewerage treatment plant site last week. The company has announced 740 jobs will be slashed. Picture: Contributed

The sewerage plant cost blowout coincided with Lendlease shouldering a $1.62 billion debt at the end of June 2022 and posting a 278 per cent drop in net operating cash flow for 2022.

However, its fortunes were changing and to December 31 2022, Lendlease reported a core operating profit after tax of $105 million, which the company said compared favourably to $28 million from the same time last year.

Lendlease had been scheduled to start building the sewerage plant on the Logan River in September 2021.

It is unlikely works will be completed by the time a new primary school opens at Redland Bay in January 2024.