The main construction contractor within the CIMIC (formerly Leighton) Group has emerged as the nation’s most active civil and commercial construction company, according to a league table which ranks the nation’s biggest construction companies by the dollar value of new projects won within the local market.

Unveiling the results of its Construction 100, Housing Industry Association and building industry project information provider Cordell said that CPB Contractors Pty Limited had taken out top spot in 2015/16, beating rivals Lend Lease, Laing O’Rourke, Hutchinson Builders and Probuild.

Formerly known as Leighton Contractors, CPB is the construction arm of CIMIC group (formerly Leighton).

With major contracts won including stage 1 of the Canberra Light Rail project, stage 2 of the Gold Coast Light Rail project, level crossing removal works and a the section C upgrade of the Bruce Highway, the company bagged a whopping $13.751 billion in work last year – all but $889 million of which related to mining and civil construction.

Despite having fallen by roughly a quarter since the peak of the resource sector construction boom and the federal government stimulus package in 2010/11, the value of contracts won by the top 100 major project contractors rose by around half from $50.436 billion in 2014/15 to $74.005 billion in 2015/16.

This has taken place on the back of stronger volumes of work coming through in commercial building, persistent strength within the multi-unit market and an almost tripling in work awarded on civil construction projects as work ramps up on major public sector projects in eastern markets.

However, it appears that much of this growth has come at the expense of smaller rivals amid a relatively flat construction market overall as weaker activity in the resource sector which has offset stronger levels of work in residential, community, commercial and civil construction.

Overall, the dollar value of work won by the top 100 contractors equated to 58 percent of the value of industry starts in 2015/16 – up from 43 percent in 2014/15 and just 21 percent as recently as 2012/13.

The nation’s top builders appear to have gained share mainly in the civil, commercial (offices, shops, entertainment and recreation) sectors.

In its report, HIA noted that the decline in resource sector investment would continue to be offset by higher levels of public sector investment in transport along with increased levels of telecommunications work associated with the rollout of the National Broadband Network.

In the commercial building sector, HIA said the best areas of strength can be found in retail and wholesale trade as well as aged care.

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