AMID the high-profile collapse of Consolidated Constructions, and now Bunbury-based De-vaugh, a related construction industry failure has gone largely unnoticed.
AMID the high-profile collapse of Consolidated Constructions, and now Bunbury-based De-vaugh, a related construction industry failure has gone largely unnoticed.
For the past year one of WA’s biggest plumbing contractors, Odin Central Services Pty Ltd, which traded as Gregory’s Plumbing & Pipeline Services, has been subject to a deed of company arrangement with the agreement of unsecured creditors owed about $5 million.
The Australian Taxation Office was the biggest creditor, owed almost $1 million when the administrators were brought in, but the remaining list included a wide range of suppliers, many of which were owed hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Among the worst hit were businesses on Christmas Island, where Odin had apparently gone to work on the casino more than a decade ago, staying on and branching out to include work such as crab crossings.
“It was quite devastating for quite a few people up there,” said Chris Fisher from Christmas Island-based creditor Mining and Marine.
“For a little company it is a lot of money to lose.”
In the background, Odin was involved in litigation worth about $2.6 million against Consolidated Construction before it collapsed, though there was a counter claim against Odin from Consolidated for around half that amount.
Odin’s high-profile work before the administration in late 2003 included Floreat Forum Shopping Centre, Subiaco’s Centro development, Sir Charles Gardiner emergency department upgrade, King Edward Memorial Hospital, CSIRO Centre for Environment & Science, Perth Oval Redevelopment, and Chemeq Ltd’s controversial production facility at Rockingham.
According to documents obtained by WA Business News, returns to unsecured shareholders through the DOCA have been revised down from 49 cents in the dollar to 34 cents in the dollar by deed administrators.
In the meantime, recent Australian Securities and Investments Commission records show that Odin’s sole director, Barry Gregory, was linked to another business, Gregory-Gibson Plumbing Pty Ltd, which was registered in February last year with the same Balcatta address and telephone number as Gregory’s Plumbing & Pipeline Services.
Records show Mr Gregory was a director of Gregory-Gibson and had a direct interest in one of its shareholding entities.
Calls to that number were referred to Alexanders Education Group, a tertiary and vocational training institute, which ASIC records show was controlled by interests associated with Mr Gregory.
