Frasers Property, the developers behind a mega urban-renewal project on Sydney’s north shore, says it was forced to sign a “significantly” more expensive contract with another builder after administrators for Probuild walked away.

The new contract to build a four-tower, mixed-use apartment complex as part of the first phase of Frasers Property Australia’s Macquarie Park development, went to major Sydney-based and family-owned builder Richard Crookes Constructions.

But coupled with soaring construction costs, the new contract is likely to see Frasers’ budget for the decade-long development balloon by tens of millions of dollars.