Australian building giant St Hilliers goes into voluntary administration

Building giant St Hilliers has gone into voluntary administration in yet another blow to Australia's beleaguered construction industry.

Glenn Livingstone and Alan Walker of WLP Restructuring were yesterday appointed as administrators for seven entities within the group's construction division St Hilliers Contracting.

Property development and investment arm St Hilliers Property is not affected.

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Works at all of the company's construction sites have been paused, and about one-fifth of all staff have been made redundant.

"Following the appointment, the administrators have secured and paused all works across St Hilliers' 21 active construction sites while they undertake an urgent assessment of the business's financial position and operations," a statement from WLP Restructuring said.

"As this assessment is completed, approximately 80 staff members will remain employed while 22 have unfortunately been made redundant."

Livingstone said he was hopeful of construction restarting later this week.

"The administrators are working closely with all stakeholders and staff in order to recommence project works at the earliest opportunity," he said.

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"We are hopeful this can occur in the coming days and that the employment of as many people as possible is preserved."

The decision to go into voluntary administration comes after losses in excess of $10 million over the last two financial years, according to ASIC reports.

A spokesperson told 9news.com.au it is too early to tell how much the company owes its creditors.

The news comes following a horror year in the Australian construction industry. Midway through 2023, ASIC data showed more than 2000 companies in the sector had collapsed in the space of two years as supply chain issues, rising interest rates, surging costs and workforce shortages hit hard.

This is despite Australia needing a significant increase in its level of housing supply – the federal government has set the ambitious target of building 1.2 million homes in five years from July in an attempt to combat the rental crisis.