THE acquisition of Perth Building Company by South Australian-based building and engineering firm Built Environs will provide PBC with the resources needed to diversify its operations and expand into the lucrative field of resources and engineering construction.
Built Environs, a subsidiary of multinational engineering group McConnell Dowell, last week announced it had acquired a 100 per cent interest in PBC.
As part of the deal, all four current PBC directors, Adrian Ridderhof, Kevin Luttrell, Chris Weston and Terry Berryman will remain with the firm, with Mr Ridderhof joining the Built Environs senior management group as building manager for PBC.
The two firms began a working relationship in January 2008, in a joint venture to redevelop an industrial block in Burswood into a high quality office development.
The Built Environs/PBC joint venture is also currently constructing stage two of shopping centre development The Shops at Ellenbrook.
PBC business development manager Kevin Luttrell told WA Business News the joint ventures had been a success and a “good cultural fit”.
“We’ve enjoyed working together and the reason for selling is to allow the business to grow,” Mr Luttrell said.
“We would expect the resources and financial capacity of Built Environs and the McConnell Dowell Group would open up significant opportunities for PBC, and that’s by way of principally allowing us to go to the next level in job size and to be more statewide rather than just Perth-based.
“Our sectors in the past have been retail, office developments and defence; they’ve been our three key areas.
“The capacity of Built Environs and McConnell Dowell really does open doors and creates significant opportunities for us. It lifts the size of projects in our traditional patch, the metropolitan area, and it does give us the capacity to chase the North West projects.”
Mr Luttrell said PBC in its own right had constructed projects up to the value of $50 million, and with the backing of Built Environs, was looking to tender for projects up to and over $100 million.
Alongside the booming resource sector, Mr Luttrell said he expected social infrastructure, including hospital, education and prison projects would be a major driver of construction work in the short term.
He said the backing of Built Environs would allow PBC to become a major player in a growing field.
“With the support of the McConnell Dowell group we would like to be part of the public private partnership projects that the state is planning and we have that capacity now to do that.”
