Workers leave Probuild sites as construction giant faces collapse
Tradies have stopped work on building giant Probuild’s projects around the country as concerns mount that the firm, one Australia’s largest construction companies, is facing collapse.
Contractors reportedly pulled their tools from Cbus Property’s 443 Queen Street project this morning and others are understood to have walked off building sites in Melbourne.
Workers at Probuild sites across the country were sent home on Tuesday.Credit:Josh Robenstone
Probuild has a portfolio of ongoing work estimated to be valued at $5 billion.
It has a number of projects across Melbourne, including the 430-apartment Caulfield Village, the future 18-storey headquarters of biotech giant CSL in North Melbourne, the 65-level residential tower UNO Melbourne and a 29-level Victoria University campus in the CBD.
The builder is also constructing Greenland Centre, Sydney’s tallest residential building, and an apartment tower in Brisbane where workers were ordered to leave on Wednesday.
Calls to Probuild’s head office in Melbourne were not returned.
A person close to the firm said Probuild is expected to make an announcement at 10am Thursday morning.
“All tradies have packed up now from all of Probuild’s jobs,” an industry source said.
“Everyone in the commercial construction industry is talking about it today. It’s been a long time since a major builder’s gone under.”
In January last year, a mooted $300 million buy-out of Probuild by one of China’s largest construction companies failed at the last minute after an intervention by the Commonwealth’s Foreign Investment Review Board, which cited national security concerns.
Probuild executive chairman Simon Gray was critical of the decision at the time.
“It’s more politics than it is anything else,” Mr Gray told the Australian Financial Review.
“No one can give us real reason why we’re a national security risk. It’s a joke.”
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