Beating boom and bust
Corbel Construction on building trends
Here’s a fun fact: there are about 30 tower cranes working in both New York and Los Angeles at the moment, and about 40 in Los Angeles. Auckland had 64. Corbel Construction general manager for Auckland Kevin Burke, remembered a time when there were none, just four years ago.
‘‘That says a huge amount about the activity that’s going on,’’ he said.
But as the value of all building and construction reaches a near$12 billion annual peak by 2018, 50 per cent higher than the Christchurch rebuild peak, Burke has some ideas about how Auckland can learn from Christchurch.
‘‘There should be something game-changing for the industry from this boom, and it might be levelling out the boom-bust cycle.
‘‘We don’t just want some fancy new buildings, we actually want to develop a great city.’’
Corbel Construction, established in Christchurch in 2000, opened an Auckland office a year ago.
Burke, a former construction manager in Auckland with failed construction company Mainzeal, had relocated to join Corbel in 2013 before being asked to run the company’s Auckland office.
In a year, the Auckland arm has grown to 15 staff, with contracts worth $15 million this year, and $30m of new projects coming up.
The project management contracting firm’s clients have included Auckland City Council and the District Health Board, which was emblematic of the ‘‘key customer’’ approach Corbel took in Christchurch.
Corbel’s Auckland business made up about 30 per cent of its overall revenue, ‘‘beyond expectations’’ but a proportion which would increase next year, Burke said.
‘‘One of the things that we wanted out of the Christchurch rebuild was to develop some relationships with some longstanding customers who could be relied on for work if the times got lean: well, when the times got lean.’’
‘‘We are on our way from what is currently a $50m business to a $100m business over the next two years.’’
Corbel’s Christchurch business has a residential arm and light commercial project sector, but in Auckland, the focus has been on construction projects worth between $1m and $15m.
While the Auckland construction boom has clearly been driven by residential Burke said, Corbel would hesitate about diversifying its business into that area up here.
‘‘Our view is we’re working along the side of that doing the social infrastructure, so the school extensions, the libraries, the swimming pools, all the things that go with that.’’
Burke, who came to New Zealand from the United Kingdom in 2008, was based in Auckland before Christchurch’s earthquake rebuild and just after the Global Financial Crisis.
He said from 2008 to 2013 nobody was building anything substantial.
There was now, however, far more work in Auckland than there had been in Christchurch since 2012.
‘‘I don’t think anyone anticipated that Auckland would be significantly bigger than the Christchurch rebuild and I certainly believe it is.’’
Burke spoke at last month’s Auckland Build Expo on learnings from the rebuild for Auckland’s construction industry.
He said the Christchurch rebuild had spurred the implementation of an industry safety charter which moved it to hard hats.
Christchurch now lead the country in health and safety, Burke said, whereas in Auckland there were still far too many sites with people without hard hats on.
We are on our way from a $50m business to a $100m business.