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CGC November Newsletter

Welcome to the penultimate newsletter at CGC HQ for 2014. It’s been a busy month both in and out the office with several large construction projects having recently been awarded and CGC fitness continuing throughout the summer months.

Also we are pleased to announce that CGC have once again made BRW’s Top 100 Fast Starters for 2014, moving up to 48th.

This month we take a look at one of the reasons for the property boom in Australia; Chinese investment and we also round up on all the action from this year’s J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge.

Industry – Chinese investment in the property market ramps up

Chinese investment continues to be aggressive with significant land and property acquisitions taking place in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Recently making headlines was the  announcement that Greenland Holdings will be developing the old Water Board site in Sydney on what will become the CBD’s  largest residential building – at 240 metres. Brookfield Multiplex will deliver the project.

With a decline in China’s local demands for home sales (down 15% up to July 2014) and slowing unit sales (down 25%) the Chinese government are actively encouraging their large developers to look overseas to continue the growth curve. As a result the current influx into the Australian market may just be the start of things to come.

In addition to Greenland Holdings $600m Sydney project, other large Chinese developments that will be on the radar over the next 12 months include; Country Carden’s $500m Ryde Gardens project in Sydney,  Greenland Holdings $4billion Queens Wharf Redevelopment Project in Brisbane and Wang Group’s plans to create a $1.7billion project in Queensland’s Gold Coast – Three Tower Jewel Complex.

There is also speculation in the market that acquisitions of a different kind will not be too far away – recent news reports have suggested Harry Triguboff and his Meriton  could be a target with bids expected to come in excess of $3.5billion.

CGC in the News

As mentioned CGC have once again made theBRW’s Fast Starters 100 moving up to 48th. This is great news for the business and we would like to thank all our clients and candidates who have been part of our journey over the last 4 years and we look forward to building on these successful relationships in the future.

Market insight with Building Team Leader, Billy Versey

CGC Building have had a cracking month and YTD. We are still busy, across the board placing a multitude of candidates at all levels.

With record number of live vacancies the focus has turned to candidate generation which always brings its own set of challenges. With this in mind we are always keen on speaking to construction professionals seeking their next career challenge whether you’re a junior or senior individual.

The general vibe from the industry is very optimistic and 2015 will be a positive year for builders, developers and civil engineers alike, although margins will still remain competitive.

 CGC Fitness & Social

There’s never a dull moment at CGC and this month has been particularly eventful. One of the perks at working here at CGC is the free personal training sessions that the business puts on for all is employees. This training helped us gear up for this year’s J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge where we had David Thompson, Nick Curtis and James Loomes flying the CGC flag. Rory Todd, who was previously an amateur boxer, was the favourite to take the lead but unfortunately shin splits put him out of action so it was pretty much anyone’s guess who would be the fastest. It was a tight race with James Loomes coming in first among the CGC crew with a time of 24.25, Nick Curtis following close behind at 24.27 (awesome result considering he’d undergone a knee operation 8 weeks ago) and David Thompson at a time of 25.07.

In customary CGC fashion, the crew went all out for the Melbourne Cup. Our coverage of the bid day was quite extensive considering we had Steve track side at Flemington, while Billy and Dave took one of our key clients for a day out at the Royal Randwick Racecourse. As for the rest of us, we enjoyed lunch and drinks at the Light Brigade Hotel while we happily placed bets on horses that had names that reminded us of our cousins and significant others.

There were two big winners for the day. James Loomes placed a bet on Protectionist who won the main race. This was the same horse that he randomly picked for the office sweepstakes so needless to say he was a very happy man. The other high roller was none other than James Grantham who won big when he went “Off the Rails” with his horse a 20/1 shot in one of the races in Randwick.

Last but not least, in a long drawn out saga, CGC’s funny man, Evan Morgans and his wife, Clare, welcomed a new addition to the Morgans household. Congratulations to the Morgans and welcome to the world Calum! We’re looking forward to you joining the recruitment game.

It’s been an eventful month and with Christmas around the corner, December is bound to be exciting as well so stay tuned..

We are hiring

With the Construction and Engineering markets hotting up CGC are looking to expand its team. If you have a recruitment background and an interest in the construction and engineering industry please contact Nick Curtis on 0410193446 ​for further information.