Australia’s largest non-residential building and construction companies for the past financial year have been revealed.

Unveiling its HIA-Cordell Construction 100 2013/14 ranking of civil, commercial and multi-residential building contractors according to the dollar value of work secured throughout the year to June, the Housing Industry Association (HIA) says firms featured on the list brought in a combined total of $38.4 billion in new contracts – up 7.3 per cent over the level reported in last year’s list and representing 29 per cent of the total value of construction work commenced throughout the financial year.

Topping the list was Lend Lease, which bagged $4.936 billion worth of work and which delivered on significant milestones including reaching financial close on the Public Private Partnership component of the NSW government’s project to revitalise 20 hectares of Darling Harbour in Sydney, commencement of the last of three commercial towers to be built at Barangaroo South, the execution of a development agreement for a $1.5 billion urban regeneration project at Melbourne’s Docklands and being appointed preferred tenderer in conjunction with a French partner to design and construct the $2.65 billion NorthConnex Motorway in Sydney.

Leighton subsidiary and civil contractor Thiess came in second with $2.876 billion worth of work, followed by Brookfield Multiplex, BGC (Australia) Pty Ltd and Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd.

Lend Lease also took the top spot in civil contracting and community development, while Brookfield Multiplex, Meriton, Leighton Contractors and Thiess were the leaders in commercial building, flats and apartments, industrial and mining respectively. Figures for mining include construction of mines only and exclude mine operations.

Around Australia, the construction sector has seen a major shift in focus over the past 12 months as resource sector work has dropped back but multi-residential construction has ramped up, especially on the eastern seaboard.

This has impacted the relative fortunes of large builders, with flats and units overtaking mining to account for the third largest share of Construction 100 work by dollar value. Tellingly, prominent apartment builders such as Brookfield Multiplex, Parkview and Meriton Apartments feature prominently in the top 20.

HIA chief economist Harley Dale welcomed the improvement in showings within the commercial and apartment sectors but cautioned that the pickup in these areas would likely be insufficient to fully counter the impact of the resource slowdown.

“The Construction 100 clearly highlights the fact that there is a transition underway from mining related construction to non-mining related construction,” Dale said. “But at the current point in time, that process is occurring too slowly for the non-mining component to offset the mining related areas.”

“There’s a signal there that things are happening outside of mining, but it’s a pretty big hole (to fill).”

Snapshot:

  • The nation’s 100 largest non-residential builders secured $38.4 billion worth of contracts in 2013/14 – up 7.3 per cent compared with the level reported in the previous year’s list and representing around 29 per cent of the total value of work commenced.
  • Lend Lease took out top spot, followed by Leighton subsidiary Thiess, Brookfield Multiplex, BGC (Australia) and Leighton Contractors.
  • In terms of sectors, Lend Lease top out top spot in civil contracting and community development whilst Brookfield Multiplex, Meriton, Leighton Contractors and Thiess were the leaders in commercial building, flats and apartments, industrial and mining respectively
  • By dollar value, commercial building held the top market share in terms of sectors in which top 100 contractors secured work (22.2 per cent) followed by civil engineering (21.5 per cent), flats and units (20.7 per cent), community (17.6 per cent), mining (12.5 per cent) and industrial (5.4 per cent).
construction leaders

Click to enlarge