Last year was the stuff of nightmares for some of the country’s biggest builders and the aftershocks continue to ripple through the sector. But there is opportunity in every crisis and some of the BCI Construction League’s top performers in 2022 were those who managed to turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse, scooping up the jobs left behind by the Probuild and Condev collapses.  The BCI Construction League , in partnership with The Urban Developer , provides a comprehensive deep dive into Australia’s top construction firms based on the total value of projects that commenced construction in 2022. The average project value of this year’s top 50 builders was $68 million, while the average project value in the top 10 was more than $130 million.  The nation’s top 50 builders commenced construction on about 850 projects in 2022, representing $29.6 billion worth of projects. This is down significantly on the previous year’s total of $57 billion.  Top construction firms, 20 to 11 20. Alchemy Construct Number of projects: 6 Total project value: $388.5 million Average project value: $64.7 million ▲ Alchemy Construct’s Pascoe Vale Primary School project. 19. Parkview Construction Number of projects: 4 Total project value: $396 million Average project value: $99 million ▲ Parkview Construction is building a number of high-profile Sydney projects including Home at Parramatta and the Norwest Quarter. 18. BGC Construction Number of projects: 15 Total project value: $429 million Average project value: $28.6 million ▲ BGC is based in Perth and has projects across most asset classes, including Busselton Shopping Central. 17. Texco Construction Number of projects: 19 Total project value: $448.8 million Average project value: $23.6 million ▲ Specialist builder Texco has capitalised on strong demand for industrial and logistics developments during the past two years. 16. The Lipman Group Number of projects: 20 Total project value: $460.3 million Average project value: $23 million ▲ Lipman is currently delivering the $70-million Parramatta Aquatic and Leisure Centre project, which is due for completion later this year. 15. BESIX Watpac Number of projects: 5 Total project value: $504 million Average project value: $100.8 million ▲ Besix Watpac is delivering city-shaping projects across Australia, including the Kangaroo Point green bridge across Brisbane River. 14. Buildcorp Number of projects: 44 Total project value: $585.7 million Average project value: $13.3 million ▲ Buildcorp is building an engineered CLT and Glulam timber structure clad in a high-performance full height glass façade called The Bond at Norwest. 13. ICON Number of projects: 10 Total project value: $754.4 million Average project value: $75.4 million ▲ Icon is working on site to deliver Time & Place’s $107-million Victoria Place commercial project.   12. Kane Constructions Number of projects: 32 Total project value: $774 million Average project value: $24.2 million ▲ Kane Constructions has been awarded the contract to build the $206-million Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne. 11. Hacer Group Number of projects: 9 Total project value: $809.7 million Average project value: $90 million ▲ Hacer Group is building a new build-to-rent offering Local: Kensington. Next week we will unpack the top 50 construction companies in detail in a member-only exclusive webinar with BCI. Click here to join our growing membership. Top 10 construction firms 10. Deicorp Number of projects: 8 Total project value: $1.05 billion Average project value: $130.9 million ▲ The Candelapas Architects-designed plans for the tower on Liverpool Street by Deicorp. Deicorp is a privately-owned property development and construction group. Founded in 1999, the Sydney-based business has 200 in-house staff and has constructed more than 8000 apartments in 40 suburbs across Sydney and Canberra. The prolific private builder and developer has stepped up its focus on Sydney’s western suburbs recently, filing plans for twin 46-storey mixed-use towers—its third major move in the area in less than 12 months. 9. Hansen Yuncken Number of projects: 29 Total project value: $1.08 billion Average project value: $37.1 million ▲ Hansen Yuncken is active across commercial and residential sectors, including education facilities such as UQ's Andrew Liveris Building, pictured. Hansen Yuncken, founded by Otto Yuncken and Lauritz Hansen in Melbourne in 1918, has been in operation for more than a century. In 1937, Hansen Yuncken expanded its operations into Hobart, followed in 1939 by an office in Adelaide. In the 1960s it opened a Northern Territory office and in 2010 an office in Brisbane was established. The company is known for inventing a suspended scaffold to replaster the domed ceiling at Melbourne’s State Library in 1929, converting Adelaide Railway Station into a casino in 1985 and etching into the side of the banks of the Derwent River to create MONA—the Museum of Old and New Art—in 2011. 8. Hickory Number of projects: 10 Total project value: $1.38 billion Average project value: $138.2 million ▲ Hickory is partnering with Time & Place to develop the 62-storey Queensbridge residential tower at Southbank. Hickory Group has quickly become one of Australia’s most diverse building companies. The Melbourne-based company, which now has more than 1000 employees, specialises in construction, structures, facades, manufacturing, fit-outs and logistics. It has completed upwards of 150 high-profile projects across its 30 years in operation and has an active pipeline of projects under construction. 7. Built Number of projects: 74 Total project value: $1.48 billion Average project value: $19.99 million ▲ Built has been engaged on the $1.4-billion Atlassian tower project in Sydney. Privately-owned for more than two decades, Built is a national diversified general contractor and currently one of Australia’s largest private construction groups. The Sydney-based company currently has 1000-plus employees in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, specialising in both large scale new builds to complex refurbishments and intricate fit-outs. The construction group also has an accredited in-house sustainability team and has been recognised for more than 60 Green Star, LEED, WELL and NABERs ratings across its Australian projects. 6. ADCO Number of projects: 28 Total project value: $1.62 billion Average project value: $57.9 million ▲ ADCO is active across all sectors including booming education and health sectors. ADCO is a renowned civil contractor in Sydney’s burgeoning construction industry, handling projects ranging from $1 million to more than $200 million. Across its 50 years in operation the construction group has delivered over 3500 projects valued in excess of $14 billion. ADCO, consistently rated as one of Australia’s top 50 private companies, currently has 500-plus employees with strong cash and liquid asset reserves and annual revenues approaching $1 billion. 5. Mirvac Group Number of projects: 5 Total project value: $1.67 billion Average project value: $334.4 million ▲ Mirvac has been busy padding out its build-to-rent product with its Melbourne offering Liv Munro opening its doors last year. New entrant in the top 10 Mirvac is an ASX-listed top 50 company that is a vertically integrated developer, builder and asset manager.  It has a $12.4-billion commercial development pipeline and a $17.3-billion residential development pipeline. Founded in 1972 by Bob Hamilton and Henry Pollack, the company capped off 50 years in business last year with its growing build-to-rent portfolio taking root across the eastern seaboard.  Mirvac chairman John Mulcahy said having in-house construction capabilities for 50 years had curated strong relationships with tier one subcontractors, which helped to insulate the builder-developer from the skill shortages and supply chain pressures hampering the sector.  4. Lendlease Number of projects: 7 Total project value: $1.83 billion Average project value: $261.4 million ▲ Lendlease has a number of significant placemaking projects on its books, including the Victoria Cross over-station development. Sydney-based Lendlease is a global real estate and investment group with a core interest in city-shaping projects and urban development. Lendlease has a $100-billion-plus development and construction pipeline as well as $30 billion in assets under management. Its sizable pipeline includes a number of city-shaping urbanisation projects spanning 21 sites in nine global cities. The bulk of its Australian pipeline is based in New South Wales, with balanced exposure across Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. 3. Richard Crookes Number of projects: 31 Total project value: $1.86 billion Average project value: $59.9 million ▲ fjmt and BVN Architecture’s renders of the 50-storey tower planned for the City Tattersalls Club project on Sydney’s Pitt Street. The family-owned construction firm has projects across New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT, with a heavy focus on Sydney across commercial and residential sectors. Richard Crookes delivered the $274-million Sydney Modern Art Gallery project in December last year and has recently been tapped for the $400-million City Tattersalls Club project in Sydney.  The construction firm is run by executive chairman Richard Crookes and managing director Jamie Crookes.  2. Multiplex Number of projects: 8 Total project value: $2.1 billion Average project value: $264.8 million ▲ Multiplex is putting the finishing touches on the placemaking Queen’s Wharf development in Brisbane. Multiplex is a tier-one construction company which has been operating for more than 60 years. The construction firm currently operates across four continents in six countries with 1600 staff in Australia. It has delivered more than 1000 projects with a combined value in excess of $145 billion, and most notably has been at the helm of the delivery of the Queens Wharf mega project in Brisbane.  1. Hutchinson Builders Number of projects: 147 Total project value: $2.64 billion Average project value: $17.96 million ▲ Hutchies is building 360 Queen Street for Charter Hall. Hutchinson Builders, commonly known as Hutchies, is Australia’s largest privately owned construction company. It was founded in Brisbane in 1912 and its first project was the construction of a new kitchen at Fort Lytton for the Queensland government. It has since grown into a dynamic and diverse construction company, delivering sophisticated projects across a comprehensive portfolio. The builder is largely focused on the south-east Queensland market with 124 projects under construction across the region, and a further 70 nationally. In May last year the builder scooped up Cbus Property’s 443 Queen Street tower project on the Brisbane riverfront from failed builder Probuild.  Hutchies chairman Scott Hutchinson at the time told The Urban Developer that the flight to balance sheets in the construction sector had been swift in the wake of multiple builder collapses.  “We saw it coming but didn’t quite see it as being as dramatic as this,” Hutchinson said.  The BCI Construction League, in partnership with  The Urban Developer , ranks builders and builder-developers by the total value of projects that commenced construction in 2022. Check out Australia's top 50 construction firms,  here .
