A building legacy
Now entering its 102nd year of operation, Hutchinson Builders is one of Australia’s largest privately owned construction companies and its experience shows in its high-calibre projects.
It all began in 1912, after which Jack Hutchinson Snr. took the central role in growing Hutchinson Builders brick by brick to an impressive size. That continued until 1992, when Jack handed over the mantle of Managing Director to his builder son Scott, himself focusing entirely on being Chairman of the Board. Nine years later, Jack retired as Chairman and Scott took his place, appointing Greg Quinn as Managing Director. Hutchinson Builders celebrated its centenary in 2012, and as of 2013 employed 1,300 staff across Australia and most recently New Zealand. In 2011, it was recognised as Employer of the Year in the Australian Training Awards.
From its headquarters in Brisbane, Hutchinson Builders – affectionately known as ‘Hutchies’ – manages a large and diverse portfolio of projects. These include commercial and residential high-rise, industrial, sporting, health, retail, education, hotels, clubs, tourism, civil works, modular construction and Green Star buildings. The company’s capabilities are continually diversifying, and since his appointment as MD in 2001 Greg has taken the company in yet another new direction, “towards government work and projects in the mining and resources sector,” says Scott. In his own time as Managing Director, Scott introduced a project finance service through which the company lends developers seed and mezzanine capital for building projects.
Hutchies also offers services in cost planning, quality assurance, facilities management and design and construct.
“Every team has a different speciality and we are very decentralised,” says Scott. “Flexibility is our strength, along with working in remote areas.”
IKON at Glen Waverley station
Hutchies completed so many projects in 2013 that it’s difficult to pick just a few to discuss. But a good place to start is the IKON building at 51 Kingsway above Glen Waverly rail station in Melbourne, completed towards the end of the year.
Valued at A$36,250,000, this 19-month project concerned a mixed-use development designed by NH Architecture and built by Hutchinson over the course of 2013. It now stands 10 storeys tall, containing 1,050 square metres of retail space on the ground, a first floor of commercial offices and eight further floors containing 116 residential one and two-bedroom flats, in addition to two levels of basement parking.
Scott defines the IKON development as “a significant project in the Glen Waverley area in relation to height, density and architectural design”. It was designed to enhance the Glen Waverley station precinct, making it safer, more secure, more accessible and more appealing – but building around a railway brought unique challenges.
“Working on a train station site, there have been significant issues to overcome regarding health & safety and commuter management around the site,” Scott comments. “It required us to deal with relevant stakeholders such as VicTrack [the Victorian Government rail business that owns Victoria’s railway land and infrastructure], Metro Trains Melbourne, Department of Transport, Melbourne Council and others on daily management issues concerning pedestrians, access around the site and so on. We also had to future proof the building, in preparation for an underground rail road extension in the future.”
Hutchies overcame these challenges to construct the IKON building at a rate exceeding three levels per month, completing the roof at the end of August. The apartments and office suites were snapped up within a few days by owner-occupiers and investors, and confirmed retailers on the ground floor include two restaurants, an ice cream parlour, a travel agent, an optometrist, a convenience store, a café and Bendigo Bank.
Ipswich City Heart Building
Another significant project completed in 2013 was the Ipswich City Heart building: a $75 million contract awarded to Hutchinson on December 12, 2011. The first part of the master plan City Heart redevelopment scheme, the project saw Hutchies build a nine-storey building containing 16,125 square metres of office space and 1,614 square metres of retail space over the lower ground, ground and mezzanine levels, in addition to 206 basement car parks, nine parking bays and facilities for 120 bicycles. The commercial office component of the project is intended to be used as a Grade A office tower with other retail use.
Scott says the project presented a number of challenges for Hutchies to overcome. “First, there were the early works associated with the demolition and enabling works, to facilitate the construction and also maintain the trading of the existing shopping complex, including the methodology of the demolition adjacent to a main Translink corridor,” he explains.
“In addition, the building required extensive use of exposed concrete finishes and numerous Fire Engineered Solutions for the lobbies. The state government imposed strict timeframes associated with changes in the fit out.”
Hutchies completed the project on schedule on 30 September 2013, enabling its many varied tenants to begin moving in. The Queensland Government has leased all of the office space, while a medical centre and coffee shop have taken up leases on the ground floor.
Chatswood Residential Towers
In March, Hutchies will begin the handover of one of the biggest residential developments ever built on the north shore of Sydney, including 553 apartments and the north shore’s highest building. This $223 million project – a joint venture with Galileo Group and The Industry Superannuation Property Trust – began in August 2012 and required the construction of three residential towers above the operational Chatswood Transport Interchange, where more than 30,000 commuters come and go each day to catch trains or buses.
Being another project built around an existing transport hub, it presented various challenges around minimising impact to commuters and ensuring public safety. The sheer enormity of the project brought additional challenges.
“Being the largest project we’ve ever done, the management of the materials handling and of the movement of workers from the existing basements and into each tower has been demanding,” comments Scott.
“We have three tower cranes, nine hoists and two jump lifts at work on the site, but 90 per cent of the cranage is carried out by one crane from a small work zone at the southern end of the project. On average, there are between 450 and 550 workers on site each day.”
The 553 apartments will include a number of expansive penthouses featuring luxury architecture, including some corner apartments displaying dual aspect views of the city. More modest offerings will include three, two and one-bedroom apartments. The three towers they’re to be spread across will reach different heights of 29, 40 and 42 floors, and be completed at different stages over the next 12 months. View Tower, containing 147 apartments, will be completed and handed over for occupation in March 2014; Spire Tower, containing 145 apartments, in May 2014; and Grand Tower, containing 261 apartments, in January, 2015.
Other projects
A smaller office block completed in 2013 was 41 O’Connell Terrace in Queenslands’s Bowen Hills, a seven-level building comprising 7,000 square metres of commercial office space. Part of the Legacy Way Tunnel Project, level three of the building is fitted out as the Tunnel Control Centre while the ground floor holds recovery vehicles and a workshop. Hutchies began construction on the $25.7 million project in July 2012 and completed it within 72 weeks.
“The greatest challenge was the building’s proximity to the Inner City Bypass on the western boundary,” comments Scott. “This influenced the build methodology, to ensure the safety of the public at all times during construction.”
As these projects demonstrate, Hutchies has extensive experience in building large and very tall buildings with the minimum amount of disruption to the public’s daily lives and wellbeing. The company demonstrates equal ability when its building works are constrained within small and tight spaces, as demonstrated by a Brisbane-based hotel it completed recently.
The Four Points by Sheraton hotel, owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts, will be Brisbane’s first new hotel in 14 years. The clue to why this is may lie in the limited space available: Hutchinson had to construct the hotel within a space of just 800 square metres, with adjoining sites in close proximity. The constrained space forced Hutchies to build the basement levels using a ‘top-down’ method of construction in order to provide the required stability to the adjoining properties. Nevertheless, the $52 million project went without a hitch and the business-oriented hotel is on track to open on March 3rd.
Scott is optimistic about Hutchies’ future, remarking that “the economy is improving, and we are confident in getting our share”. The year ahead will hold no major changes for the company, he says, only “consolidation and more of the same – maybe winning some Christchurch rebuilding work”.
While the company “will go anywhere if asked by [its] clients,” there are no plans for further global expansion, and Scott sees Hutchies using its current successful model for many more years to come. And with his son – currently a Quantity Surveyor – showing interest in joining the family business one day, it’s conceivable that the Hutchinsons could lead the business to its second centenary in the year 2112.