ABCC Recovers Over $100,000 in Worker Entitlements
Recently, The Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) announced that it has recovered over $100,000 in wages and entitlements for workers in the nation’s building and construction industry since December. With the recent recovery of $10,031 for four tilers from Korea working in the ACT, the ABCC has recovered a total of $107,165. The monies are the result of workers being underpaid, often due to an outdated system. The ABCC said that once the error was made clear to the employer, it voluntarily paid the workers the full amount they were owed. Since the ABCC committed to […]
New Hunter Medical Research Institute Underway
The Hunter Medical Research Institute recently confirmed construction of its new $90 million state-of-the-art facility is proceeding right on schedule. Construction crews are already working on the third of four floors of the building, which is also on-budget. At the present rate, directors of the Institute claim that the building, which will be home to over 450 researchers, will be move-in ready by mid-2012.
GJ Gardner Homes Collapses
It was the news they dreaded to hear. In early July, over 100 sub-contractors and building suppliers learned that the company they were working for, GJ Gardner Homes Coffs Harbour, went into voluntary liquidation. At a volatile meeting, 129 unsecured creditors, owed a total of about $1.5 million, were told that unless more assets are found, they are unlikely to be paid for the work they did, or for supplies. In addition to owing tens of thousands of dollars, the company, trading as Varley Enterprises, also carried a substantial bank overdraft of $670,000. To date, GJ Gardner Homes has stated […]
Historic Mission to Become a Memorial?
Although it has been closed for many years, contains asbestos, is infested with ants and termites, and has been seriously vandalised, some Aboriginals believe a decades-old Mission should be given a new life as a memorial. Operating from 1937 to 1995, almost 500 people have called Port Augusta’s historic Umeewarra Mission home over the years. Although the building still stands, it has been marked for demolition by its title holders, the Aboriginal Lands Trust. Run by the Christian Bretheren as a children’s home for almost 60 years, the buildings have been deemed “well beyond sustainable use and derelict.” Still, Lavene […]
Old Hospital to be Demolished… Finally
Considered an eyesore by many locals, Bunbury residents will finally see a decrepit old hospital that has sat unused for years finally torn to make way for new apartment buildings on the site. Residents, many of whom actively campaigned the City of Bunbury for three years to have the former St John of God Hospital building on Edward Street knocked down, were pleased with the decision. The old hospital has sat unused for a dozen years, and, depending on dust, traffic and other conditions, demolition work is scheduled to start in August, to take about three months, at a cost […]
New $15 Million Cancer Centre Opens
Thanks to the new South West Radiation Oncology centre at the Bunbury health campus, about 95 per cent of cancer patients requiring radiation will now be treated locally. Instead of having to travel to Perth, patients from the South West, Great Southern and Wheatbelt can now travel shorter distances to the Oncology centre. Built at a cost of $15.2 million and funded by both State and Federal government, the Oncology centre is the first of its kind in regional Western Australia. In addition to vital equipment like linear accelerators used in radiation treatment, the centre features rooms for consultation and […]
Building Supply Giant Bianco in Receivership
Faced with a $60 million debt, Adelaide-based building supplier and steel business Bianco has gone into receivership. In business for the past 35 years, the company’s debts have mounted, and it has lost over $16 million since making the move to a new multi-million location at Gepps Cross in Adelaide in 2007, at the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis. Although receivers for the company claim it will be business as usual for now while they look for a buyer, it is little consolation to the company’s 300 employees, and too early to determine if any jobs will need to […]
Paddington Reservoir Gardens
Every issue, Australian Construction Focus profiles a structure of unique historical, cultural, or environmental significance. This month, we take a closer look at Paddington Reservoir Gardens, Sydney, NSW.
The Green Building Council of Australia
The firms and professionals we feature in these pages often speak of the “Green Star” rating system. Indeed, a great many of the companies profiled here, and the buildings they create, boast impressive five- and six-star ratings. But what exactly does it mean to attain such a rating?
Wilkore
When Wilkore Construction was approached in October of 2010 to commence fitout work on the Biosciences Research Centre at LaTrobe University, it was clear that the company needed to be efficient, purposeful and precise in its work. Under contract to Grocon – the company responsible for providing all construction and design of the facility – Wilkore Construction was brought in on this complicated project to provide “necessary systems and personnel to construct the specialist facilities for the BRC Project, to the exacting standards required for accreditation.”
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February 26, 2018, 11:51 AM AEDT
International News
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