GLENZEIL COLLAPSES BUT KIRRA PROJECT CRUISES HOME

ONE of the Gold Coast’s largest building companies, Glenzeil, has closed its doors permanently - but at least one major project at Kirra has escaped unscathed.

Glenzeil, which has been responsible for some of the biggest construction jobs in the city including the Jupiters Casino refurbishment and the Rocket office tower at Robina, has been placed into voluntary liquidation by its directors.

The Varsity Lakes-based company, established in 1990 and headed by Ken Skrinis and Brian Gabriel, closed its doors this morning with the loss of about 50 full-time jobs.

Calls to the business by Gold Coast Business News have gone unanswered.

The company’s affairs are now in the hands of liquidator Peter Dinoris, of Vincents Chartered Accountants.

Dinoris says it is too early to release details of the liquidation or how many development projects will be affected by the collapse.

“We will be engaging a few of the employees to get through some of the contracts,” he says.

However, Dinoris confirms that the business has ceased operations, adding that it is too early to determine how much creditors are owed.

Glenzeil’s main active projects are the $35 million Plaza Apartments in South Brisbane for David Devine’s Metro Properties, and the all but completed $35 million Pure Kirra project (pictured) being developed at Kirra by the Pikos Group.

The news has rocked the Gold Coast construction industry which appears to have stabilised in recent years after a tumultuous period following a string of high-profile collapses between 2008 and 2010.

Gold Coast insolvency specialist Jason Bettles, of Worrells, says the news comes on the heels of positive feedback from the industry that conditions have improved markedly in the past year.

“A lot of the big developers went off early and the smaller ones have struggled, so this is a bit of a shock,” Bettles says.

Master Builders is understood to have been alerted to the closure of the Glenzeil office this morning, but will not comment until further details come to light.

Pikos Group says the collapse of Glenzeil will have little impact on its delivery of the Pure Kirra project which is weeks away from completion.

“It’s unfortunate that this has happened, but ultimately it’s not going to have a significant impact on the completion of Pure Kirra,” says managing director Pedro Pikos.

“We’re 98 per cent complete and we intend to sit down with the sub-contractors who were engaged by Glenzeil with the view of completing the project’s final touches.”

The project is structurally completed, including the internal features of most of the luxury apartments.

“We’re looking at a few slashes of paint and some small cosmetics to be completed on a couple of the remaining apartments,” Pikos says.

“The major works still to be undertaken relate to the commercial precinct at the base of the building.

“We anticipate there is about four weeks’ work before the entire project is completed.

“We have a very good relationship with the local Gold Coast building community because of our involvement in projects there over the last decade, and we’re keen to support them where we can,” he said.

“At the same time we’re very saddened by the events that has led to Glenzeil’s current predicament as the company has delivered a high quality construction program which is one of the best we have seen across our many south-east Queensland projects.”