Building giant St Hilliers taps out

Construction giant St Hilliers has stopped work on more than 20 projects around the country after appointing voluntary administrators in the latest blow to the troubled building sector.

The Sydney-based $164m group appointed Glenn Livingstone and Allan Walker, of WLP Restructuring, over the weekend after amassing losses of $12m over the last two years. The administration includes St Hilliers Contracting and six other entities in the group.

The property development and investment division St Hilliers Property remains unaffected.

St Hilliers joins the more than three construction-related companies collapsing every day since the start of the year as rising costs and labour shortages continue to bite.

WLP Restructuring said it had secured and paused all works across St Hilliers’ 21 active construction sites while it undertook an urgent assessment of its financial position and operations.

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

It is the second time Hilliers has entered voluntary administration over the past 13 years.

Mr Livingstone said the administrators were working closely with all stakeholders and staff in order to recommence project works at the earliest opportunity.

“We are hopeful this can occur in the coming days and that the employment of as many people as possible is preserved,” said Mr Livingstone said.

The first meeting of creditors will be held before February 14.

The company, which reported revenue of $164m in 2023, claims to have delivered projects worth $4.5bn over the past 35 years.

The company was founded in 1989 by industry veteran Tim Casey, who served as vice president of the NSW Property Council from 2009 until 2011.

The group made a loss of $8.9m last financial year and a deficit of $3.1m the previous year, according to financial reports lodged with ASIC.