Queensland construction firm collapses into liquidation

The collapse has plunged into jeopardy the fate of multiple state government-funded building projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

A Queensland construction company has collapsed, plunging into jeopardy the fate of multiple state government-funded building projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Last Thursday, the Queensland Supreme Court ordered Allroads Pty Ltd into liquidation.

Allroads specialised in civil construction and had taken on a number of major road and defence projects in Brisbane, Townsville and the Gold Coast adding up to more than $200 million. It was headquartered in Larrapinta in outer Brisbane.

The company had fallen into financial strife recently, going into administration earlier this month while at the same it was facing a winding up application from a pipe supplier over an unpaid debt.

Ultimately at the court hearing last week, the registrar deemed that Allroads should be shut down for good and appointed David Stimpson of insolvency firm SV Partners as liquidator.

A CreditorWatch report obtained by news.com.au shows that the civil engineering company had racked up a long list of payment defaults in the past several months.

“There have been worrying signs these guys were not in a good place for a long time with multiple subcontractors and suppliers walking off sites due to unpaid bills,” one person familiar with the matter told news.com.au.

According to them, the administrators’ investigations identified that in all, there are 721 creditors owed $24.5 million. Of that, 145 staff are owed $3.9m in wages, super and entitlements.

They said many of these creditors were small businesses “who will feel the pinch if not break” from these massive losses.

Allroads appointed administrators and this is what shows up on their website. A separate liquidator has since been ordered to take over by a court.

Allroads reportedly had more than 12 multimillion dollar jobs underway when it collapsed, including a $50 million project for an Australian Defence Force base in Central Queensland, a $35 million project for RAAF barracks in Townsville and a $92 million contract to build a metro depot in Brisbane’s CBD.

The Queensland builder was classified as a large proprietary company on the ASIC register.

Documents obtained by news.com.au show that in previous financial years, it was experiencing a drop in profitability.

A report submitted by the company’s directors shows that Allroads made $413,000 in profit in 2020. That was a significant drop from the year before, where the business made $1 million in profit.

At the time the document was submitted, at the end of 2022, the business said it had total liabilities of $19.5 million.

Allroads claimed to have $28 million worth of assets at that time.

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Allroads is now in liquidation. Reports put its debt at $24.5 million. Picture: YouTube

Insolvency firm Cor Cordis oversaw its administration before the control of the business was passed to the court-appointed liquidator, Mr Stimpson.

In a statement to news.com.au, a Cor Cordis spokesperson said that they had offered creditors a deed of company arrangement, or a DOCA, where a portion of the debt is paid back.

But ultimately, creditors rejected this proposal and opted to place the business into liquidation instead.

“Regrettably, the proposed Deed of Company Arrangement lacked substantive provisions for providing returns to all creditors of the company,” a Cor Cordis spokesperson said.

“Consequently, as the winding up application had been filed before the appointment of voluntary administrators, the court determined it necessary to place the company into liquidation.”

Cor Cordis noted that it had a prior relationship with the Allroads Group, as it had previously been appointed to an affiliated company called Allroads Plant Pty Ltd.

News.com.au contacted the liquidator, Mr Stimpson, for comment about the liquidation.

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