Probuild enters administration

A total of 18 businesses in the WBHO Australia Group, including construction giant Probuild, have been placed into administration.

The stoppage of work at a luxury apartment project in Brisbane’s Queen Street after the collapse of construction giant Probuild is “devastating” for the workers and their families, the union representing workers says.

Deloitte has been appointed administrators by WBHO Australia (WBHOA), which directly employs around 750 people and has thousands more contractors working on its projects.

The company has annual revenues of $1.4 billion and has 18 major commercial and public sector projects in varying stages of development across Victoria (13), New South Wales (3), Queensland (1) and Western Australia (1).

While originally established in Western Australia in 1987, WBHOA is now based in Melbourne, with offices in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

“This has led the WBHOA board to commence with an application for the administration of WBHOA.”

The South African parent company said it had injected more than 2 billion rand ($183 million) into its Australian offshoot over the past four years, plus given it loan guarantees.