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    Construction

    This Month

    Commercial real estate faces higher costs making buildings more energy efficient, creating risks for banks.

    The new risk lurking in banks’ commercial real estate lending

    While working from home is a known risk for office towers, Citi highlights a new pressure point for lenders – the growing cost of the energy transition.

    • James Eyers
    The Lacrosse tower on fire in Docklands in 2014.

    Architects, fire engineers, building surveyors fingered over cladding

    Victoria’s combustible cladding crisis shows the permit system failed to ensure compliance with building rules, a new government agency report shows.

    • Michael Bleby
    The price of peace? Big builders are hanging on to thin profit margins on costly union-controlled projects.

    Fear of CFMEU reprisals keeps building bosses silent

    Major builders and developers say union power is driving up the cost of housing and infrastructure projects, and they don’t want more trouble on their sites.

    • Michael Bleby, Nick Lenaghan and Larry Schlesinger
    Part of the $2.3 billion EnergyConnect transmission line being built between South Australia and NSW.

    EnergyConnect exit leaves just months to turn around crucial grid link

    Elecnor, the Spanish contractor building part of the key link needed for the transition away from coal power, is expected to cease its involvement by the end of September.

    • Angela Macdonald-Smith and Jenny Wiggins
    CSR is the manufacturer of one of the most popular insulation products in the country, known as Bradford.

    CSR’s ‘extraordinary’ insulation price rise could be gouging

    A major distributor of the building materials giant’s products wants the company to hand over internal documents as it attempts to show misused of market power.

    • Max Mason
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    NEX Building Group director, Asahi Kasei Homes’ Koji Naganawa.

    Japanese investors eye Australian residential real estate

    Competition for Australian sites is heating up for Japanese companies such as Asahi Kasei Homes, Sumitomo Forestry Group and Daiwa House.

    • Michael Bleby
    Hard road: Large Queensland renewables projects are baking in higher costs that benefit the CFMEU but no-one else, industry says.

    Labor rules giving building unions more powers on projects

    The construction industry in Queensland is worried about state policies that benefit the CFMEU, but which will saddle consumers with great costs.

    • Michael Bleby, James Hall and David Marin-Guzman
    Up and up: Commercial building agreements are pushing up costs of housing, industry groups say.

    Apartment starts fall to 11-year low

    Industry groups say the extra costs of construction union agreements compound rising materials and financing costs to make housing projects unprofitable.

    • Michael Bleby
    Premier Steven Miles has suspended donations from the CFMEU.

    Qld Premier suspends CFMEU donations amid investigation

    Premier Steven Miles said he would refuse to meet with the union’s officials until after Queensland police had conducted an analysis of allegations of criminality.

    • James Hall and Tom Rabe
    HammerTech co-founders James Harris and Ben Leach, with Eric Ma from Riverwood, pictured in Melbourne.

    Construction start-up lands mega $105m deal

    Melbourne software company HammerTech has landed a $105 million investment from Californian private equity shop Riverwood Capital.

    • Tess Bennett
    Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan faced tough questioning about the CFMEU scandal on Monday.

    Labor’s ‘shocked and appalled’ act on CFMEU scandal is a joke

    As the billions pouring into Victoria’s Big Build rose, so too should have the accountability. Premier Jacinta Allan must explain how the CFMEU gained sway over this honey pot. 

    • James Thomson
    Flag of authority: But the NSW building industry association says it wants builders to reconsider before signing a new enterprise agreement with the CFMEU.

    ‘We can’t even dictate contractors’: NSW builders eye EBA changes

    Contractors in Australia’s largest state say they have lost influence to the main construction union.

    • Michael Bleby

    Business demands royal commission into ‘abhorrent’ CFMEU conduct

    Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has thrown down the gauntlet to the construction union after explosive misconduct allegations, but business groups want him to act now.

    • Updated
    • Ronald Mizen, David Marin-Guzman and Hannah Wootton
    High interest rates and construction costs are choking off the supply of new housing.

    High costs choke supply of new homes: property experts

    The cost of construction in capital cities has risen at a faster clip than house price growth, making it less economical to build new dwellings.

    • Nick Lenaghan

    ‘The dam is breaking’: Setka resignation blow to culture of fear

    The CFMEU boss’ departure was a shock even to his own officials, but it is a watershed moment for the culture of silence and intimidation that has ruled the construction industry.

    • David Marin-Guzman
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    Joy Krige at Vans Cafe in Cottesloe, Perth. Krige likes to exercise in the morning, which she says is her time.

    What this CEO eats depends how bad the last meeting was

    Joy Krige, CEO of Cranecorp Australia in Perth, grazes from her snack drawer during the day, rather than eat a formal breakfast or lunch.

    • Sally Patten
    Part of the $2.3 billion EnergyConnect transmission line being built between South Australia and NSW.

    Downer EDI pitches in on flailing EnergyConnect construction

    The troubles at the cable project are being closely watched because its failure would imperil the entire build-out of the transmission grid, sources say.

    • Angela Macdonald-Smith and Jenny Wiggins
    Steve Bulloch, PGIM Real Estate.

    PGIM hops on private credit boom with $750m fund

    The global fund manager’s first local private credit fund has raised $300 million and received an additional $300 million in commitments so far.

    • Campbell Kwan
    Saint-Gobain boss Benoit Bazin is in Australia to take the keys to the country’s biggest plasterboard manufacturer.

    How a global giant plans to get bang for its buck at CSR

    One of the ASX’s oldest companies, CSR, went out with a bang; now the games start over. This is how Saint-Gobain plans to make it in Australia.

    • Anthony Macdonald
    Investment bankers say confidence is returning to the markets after a “de-risking” period with lean demand.

    Now is the time to buy commercial property, says this veteran analyst

    Veteran real estate research analyst Sameer Chopra says population growth and the high cost of construction will lead to property values surging.

    • Larry Schlesinger