School builder Lloyd Group slumps into administration, dozens of projects affected
A large construction firm specialising in building schools and other government infrastructure is in administration, the second firm within 24 hours to collapse as mounting pressures in Australia’s building industry reach a crisis point.
Civil design and building firm Lloyd Group, which has 59 projects under way and 200 staff, was placed into voluntary administration with Deloitte on Friday morning, joining major home builder Porter Davis Homes in the financial doldrums.
Lloyd Group lists dozens of school buildings among its completed projects, but the firm’s liquidators would not release details of its 59 uncompleted developments.
Porter Davis, which employs 470 staff, appointed Grant Thornton as liquidators on Friday. Work stopped immediately on 1700 new house builds, leaving hundreds of subcontractors in limbo.
Deloitte Turnaround & Restructuring partners Sam Marsden, Sal Algeri, Jason Tracy and Tim Norman were appointed as voluntary administrators of six Lloyd Group companies.
Lloyd’s hundreds of subcontractors, staff and suppliers are dealing with same uncertainty and financial loss as that confronting Porter Davis’ creditors.
“We do appreciate that this news will be unsettling and potentially disruptive for employees and project stakeholders, contractors, and suppliers,” Marsden said.
“Like others in the construction sector, and despite significant effort, Lloyd Group has been unable to overcome increasingly challenging circumstances over recent months that have eroded project margins, culminating in our appointment today,” he said.
Just over half of Lloyd’s projects are in New South Wales, the remainder are in Victoria.
They include the Willowdale Sports Pavilion in property giant Stockland’s Willowdale community near Leppington in a rapidly densifying area close to the proposed Western Sydney international airport at Badgerys Creek.
The firm was also overseeing construction of a major sports facility in Schofields, in Sydney, commissioned by Blacktown City Council. The project’s architect Sam Crawford said Lloyd’s collapse will delay construction. “It’s devastating for the community, as well as financially for us and probably the council as well,” Crawford said.
Marsden said the administrators will be undertaking an urgent assessment of the business’s financial position on a project-by-project basis.
“We will also immediately commence an accelerated sale process and hold discussions with parties that might be interested in taking on individual projects.”
More than $5 billion worth of major building projects in Victoria stalled last year when construction giant Probuild collapsed into administration. Australia’s largest home builder Metricon also faced rumours of financial difficulty and potential insolvency in May last year after the shock death of its chief executive.
Phones at the group’s Sydney and Melbourne offices were ringing out Friday. Company founder Clinton Lloyd was contacted for comment.
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