Building Industry News

Work starts on Riverside Park
Site works have commenced on the Riverside Park development at West Gosford. Matthew Gibbens, spokesman for the Gibbens Family who are developing the 90,000 sqm site, said that civil contractors, J A Bradshaw had been appointed to carry out the civil works for the $30 million project.

The development will be carried out in stages with Stage 1 being the construction a two-level 2,157sqm commercial building, four-level 5,665sqm commercial office building and a KFC drive-thru restaurant. Moneywise Group Australia has already bought a 1,100sqm strata office unit in the development.

“This will be the most prestigious commercial development on the Coast,” said Mr Gibbens. “West Gosford is close the Expressway and has excellent road and public transport and retail infrastructure to support it.”

Riverside Park is located on the Central Coast Highway which has over 50,000 cars passing each day.

HIA calls for energy road map for new homes
HIA’s peak policy body, the National Policy Congress, has called on the Australian Government to halt further energy efficiency regulation of new dwellings, beyond 6-star ratings.

“HIA is supportive of moving towards a reduced level of carbon emissions, but new policies should be based on robust evidence. It must provide an implementation road map that allows industry adequate time to transition to a lower carbon footprint,” said Graham Wolfe, NSW Executive Director of the HIA.

“A road map should be based on an assessment of the impact of energy efficiency regulation on methods of construction, building design, labour skill requirements, product innovation and competitiveness in the building and manufacturing sectors of the industry.

“In the past six years, energy efficiency controls on new dwellings have moved from around 3-star to 4-star, to 5-star and soon to 6-star. To date, there has been no assessment of the success of these regulations or any sense of their economic and business impacts.

“There are more than 200 programs, measures and initiatives across Australia to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. In the interests of greater government efficiency, it is essential that all of these efforts are rationalized,” said Mr Wolfe.

“HIA has been at pains to emphasise the importance of the existing dwelling stock in improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. About 85 per cent of the total dwelling stock that will be standing by 2020 has already been built. None of these homes will be subject to the same environmental efficiency regulations.

“Homeowner behaviour can make a real difference. It is up to a household to control the use of lights, washing machines, heaters, computers and other appliances that use up energy. There is a much greater role to be played by consumer information, awareness and education in meeting energy efficiency objectives.

“Australia needs a nationally coordinated community awareness program on energy efficiency,” said Mr Wolfe.

 HIA’s National Policy Congress also resolved that:
- The mandating of 6-star energy efficiency rating on new dwellings should be linked to the availability of a nationally consistent energy rating system, which currently does not exist; 
- Home lenders should be called upon to relax their credit assessments on new home buyers to reflect the savings in energy costs.

Crisis hotline for builders
Builders and contractors will have access to free financial advice under a new State Government program. With NSW building approvals down 39 per cent on the same period last year, the construction industry is facing an insolvency crisis. The State Government's new hotline will provide information about business management and insolvency issues to builders and tradespeople.
 
Announcing the hotline, NSW Minister for Fair Trading, Virginia Judge said it would complement the 17 Building Business Information expos being held throughout NSW. “Recent building company insolvencies have highlighted the need for builders and tradespeople to come forward and seek early advice when their businesses are in trouble,” said Minister Judge.

The seven-day, 24-hour service will be administered by liquidation and bankruptcy specialists, CRS Warner Kugel. Partner of CRS Warner Kugel, Steven Kugel said the service would provide confidential, practical advice given by an insolvency expert. He said more builders and tradespeople would face insolvency as the building sector felt the pinch of the economic crisis.

The hotline can be reached on 1300 100 285.

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