‘12-month window’: Race to build apartments before Olympics poach workers

Developers are rushing to build housing in fear they will lose access to builders and tradies in the next 12 months.

Developers are racing the clock to get private housing projects delivered before the state’s construction workforce abandons them for more lucrative Olympic & Paralympic Games infrastructure contracts.

Industry players say there is a window of about 12 months before private development was likely to stall due to a lack of available tradespeople and builders, who were being lured by construction union-backed pay packets.

It comes amid a dire tradie shortage and as Place research shows Brisbane’s apartment listings are 45 per cent below the five-year average, with fewer than 4,600 new units a year expected to be delivered by 2030, against projected demand of more than 16,000 units annually.

An artist’s impression of Arcilla, a new residential development approved for 28 Maxwell St, New Farm. Image supplied.

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Purdy Developments director Craig Purdy said private developers would not be able to compete with the enterprise bargaining agreements offered by Tier-1 builders, which the state government would employ to deliver the infrastructure.

“The challenge will be that all the young kids will be offered such good money to go and work on Olympic assets and other government jobs that private enterprise will struggle to keep them,” Mr Purdy said.

Craig Purdy of Purdy Developments. Image supplied.

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“You’ve really got to cuddle your staff these days to keep them.”

TOTAL Property Group managing director Adrian Parsons said there was a sense of urgency among developers to get projects approved, underway, and to secure a builder.

“There is definitely an urgency among developers to secure builders,” Mr Parsons said. “A lot of developers are saying to us they’ve got a 12 to 18 month window to get projects underway. “With those major Olympic infrastructure projects, there’s going to be a significant draw on construction labour and expertise.

Adrian Parsons, managing director of Total Property Group. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

“We have to build these infrastructure projects — there’s no choice. We’ll be a laughing stock if we don’t, and the state government won’t allow it to happen, so something has to give.

“We need more builders and more numbers in our (construction) workforce.”

Master Builders Queensland general manager policy and advocacy Dyan Johnson said 12 to 18 months was “ambitious” with Tier-1 builders expecting major infrastructure projects to start coming out of the ground as soon as the middle of next year.

“Things will change then, so now is the time to get work in the pipeline,” Ms Johnson said.

“I’m seeing a real shift in unit projects. Over the last three months, approvals have gone up 35 per cent.”

Dyan Johnson from Master Builders Queensland. Photographer: Liam Kidston.

Ms Johnson said it was not just Olympic infrastructure that would require more workers.

“The Olympics is really quite small in the scheme of things, although it is time-based,” she said.

“The hospital upgrade program is about $18.5b, while the Olympics (infrastructure) is about $7b. Then you’ve got schools, works on the M1, renewable energy.

“What is concerning is it doesn’t usually all fire at once. What we have now is a six to 12 month foresight to do something. This is a really good time to get more people in our workforce.”

Kokoda Property Group is yet to announce a builder for its $1.5b Teneriffe Banks project.

Mr Parsons, who works with developers across Brisbane and the Gold Coast, said there were some new builders moving from interstate that might help relieve some of the pressure — but only for small projects.

“Smaller boutique projects are easier because the pool of suitable builders is quite shallow, and we are starting to see a few new builders coming in from interstate that are starting to come across and set up operations in South East Queensland.”

But that won’t help major projects like Teneriffe Banks by Kokoda Property, which is yet to announce a builder for the $1.5b mixed-use precinct on the Brisbane River, despite launching 12 months ago.

Construction on Monarch Residences in Toowong is almost complete thanks to Hutchinson Builders and Consolidated Properties Group, with strong sales to younger families looking for the apartment lifestyle.

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