Australian building giant Probuild is on the verge of collapse after a disastrous high -rise project dragged it into massive debt.
Tradies were told to stop work at the 443 Queen Street construction site in Brisbane as the company called in administrators in a last-ditch attempt to save itself.
Probuild raked in $1.3 billion in revenue and made $4 million profit last year, but the project which involved 264 high-quality residential apartments has haemorrhaged as much as $120 million.
Workers at the site said construction has been plagued by delays for the past two years and contractors were owed unpaid bills of up to $250,000.
Australian building giant Probuild is on the verge of collapse after a disastrous high rise project in Brisbane dragged it into millions in debt
Tradies were seen packing up and taking their equipment off the site on Wednesday after being told it would be shut down at 5pm.
‘We were just told to pick out tools up because Probuild were pulling the pin on all their projects across Australia,’ one told the Courier Mail.
A tradie said the company he works for is owed at least $250,000, while other sub-contractors are believed to be owed significantly more.
‘It is going to run into the millions what tradies are owed,’ he said.
Tradies were seen packing up and taking their equipment off the site on Wednesday after being told it would be shut down at 5pm
Probuild is reportedly contacting administrators as a result of the extreme financial hardship with hopes of saving the project.
The future of the build in the heart of Brisbane’s CBD is in doubt.
Touted as the nation’s first subtropical designed building, the riverfront complex has cost the company’s Queensland arm, PCA QLD, more than $28 million, with sources estimating it could be as much as $120 million.
Probuild Constructions (Aust) reportedly injected $15million into the company last year as part of a recapitalisation to combat the Queensland division’s losses.
The company, which operates in Victoria, NSW, Western Australia, and Queensland, has more than 520 employees and thousands of apartments currently under construction.
The bulk of the projects, which also includes more than 370,000 square metres of retail work, are in Melbourne where the head office is based.
Probuild is currently developing a new 18-storey block in Melbourne’s Elizabeth North, which will be the new headquarters of biotech giant CSL.
It is also the firm behind the 1000 Latrobe office tower in the Docklands.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Probuild for comment.
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