Multiplex’s ECU City Campus has been named Australia’s best construction project by winning top honour at the Australian Constructors Association’s 2026 awards night.
The 73,000-square metre development of an Edith Cowan University in Perth’s CBD took out the 2026 Australian Construction Achievement Award (ACAA) at the ACA’s event in Sydney on Thursday evening.
It was up against six other finalists – Melbourne's Metro Tunnel, Western Sydney International Airport, Victoria’s new Footscray Hospital, the Kimberley Marine Base, the Northern Territory’s Groote Eylandt (Milner Bay) Wharf replacement and the new Sydney Fish Market.
Multiplex regional managing director Western Australia Chris Palandri told Business News in a statement on Friday the award was an “incredible honour”.
“The ACAA is the highest recognition our industry can receive, so it's an incredible honour for ECU City Campus to be named this year's winner,” he said.
“Congratulations to our team, client, subcontractors and consultants whose ingenuity and collaboration made this achievement possible.
“It's particularly pleasing to see a Western Australian project recognised on the national stage, and to have four Multiplex projects named as finalists reflects the quality of work being delivered across our business.”
Multiplex was also the builder of the 504-bed Victorian hospital, Sydney’s new fish market and one of five contractors who worked on Sydney Airport.
ACAA chief executive Peter Colacino said in a separate statement the project demonstrated innovation, collaboration and capability.
“ECU City Campus represents Australian construction at its best,” he said.
“This was an immensely complex project delivered in one of Australia's most challenging urban environments.
“The team overcame extraordinary engineering constraints while maintaining critical transport infrastructure and keeping their focus firmly on the end outcome.”
Mr Colacino said a standout feature of the project was its impact beyond the creation of the physical asset.
“It supported 122 apprentices and trainees, directed more than 95 per cent of project expenditure to Western Australian businesses, and awarded $32 million in work to Indigenous enterprises,” he said.
“The project shows what is possible when clients, contractors and the supply chain work together to solve problems and create lasting value for the community.
“With the nation’s construction investment pipeline shifting north and west to meet the defence and new energy pipeline, this win shows that the industry is capable of delivering remarkable projects nationwide.”
The statement noted the project took place at “one of Perth’s most constrained sites”, establishing a “world-class university precinct above live rail tunnels and the Perth Busport, while maintaining transport operations throughout construction”.
ACAA judging panel chair Tanya Cox said the campus had demonstrated consistent performance across all assessment criteria.
“What impressed the judging panel was not one standout feature, but the project's ability to achieve exceptional outcomes across every category,” Ms Cox said.
“The project successfully combined engineering excellence, workforce development, sustainability, innovation and stakeholder collaboration while delivering a highly complex development above critical transport infrastructure.
“The team continually challenged conventional thinking.
“Through innovative redesign, they reduced structural steel requirements from approximately 6,000 tonnes to 2,000 tonnes while maintaining performance outcomes and creating substantial cost and sustainability benefits.
“Ultimately, this project demonstrates how Australia's most successful projects create value not only through the assets they deliver, but through the legacy they leave behind.”
The design for the $853 million university also recently won the most awards in this year’s WA Architecture Awards as well as the top honour.
Winners across 14 categories were recognised at the Australian Institute of Architect’s ceremony in June.
For their work on the federal and state government-funded project, Melbourne-based Lyons Architecture alongside Subiaco’s Silver Thomas Hanley and London’s Haworth Tomkins scored the George Temple Poole Award – the highest award in WA.
ECU’s towering design also scored The RJ Gus Ferguson Award for Urban Design, The Hillson Beasley Award for Educational Architecture and The Julius Elischer Award for Interior Architecture.
The jury called the design a “masterful feat of civic”.
At the time of ECU City's construction, Perth-founded Multiplex Global was still a part of Brookfield.
But back in June, the Canadian asset manager struck a deal to sell the company to Japanese construction heavyweight Obayashi Corporation for US$650 million.
Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Obayashi Corporation moved to acquire all the shares in the holding company for Multiplex Global, which operates the construction business in Australia, the UK and Canada.
