Victoria's construction industry gives value for money

'7 May 2007

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia is a highly competitive and productive place to invest in construction projects, according to a new study of the costs of building in Melbourne released today.

The Building Industry Comparative Index (BICI) presented clear evidence that Victoria was on a par with key domestic competitors, such as New South Wales and Queensland, when it comes to productivity and safety in construction.

Having previously suffered from a perception of lower cost-competitiveness, this study, based on seven years of data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, State and Federal governments and private organisations, shows Victoria is highly competitive across a broad range of industry indicators.

The study shows Victorian construction sites to be Australia's safest, with the lowest levels of time lost for injury, and that industrial disputes were also at historically low levels having dropped by 90 per cent since 2000.

Furthermore, the Victorian Government introduced savings in last week's state budget that will bring average workers compensation premiums down to 1.46 per cent of payroll – the second lowest in the country – and Victoria will now have the second lowest rate of payroll tax in the country at 5.05 per cent.

Also included in the budget are land tax reforms that will provide Victorian companies with the lowest land tax levels in Australia for virtually all landholdings valued between A$400,000 and A$4.5 million.

These excellent conditions fostered strong growth, with building approvals continuing to break the billion-dollar-barrier each month. In 2006 they were worth A$16.7 billion, up 8.9% on 2005, and breaking the $15 billion barrier for the third consecutive year.

Also launched today was a publication called Building Perspective, which documents the cooperative work practices adopted by five significant building projects in Melbourne over the last few years.

There are fundamental and overriding reasons why investors are coming to Melbourne. Victoria's construction industry is nationally competitive, innovative and united.

These reports show that construction companies in Victoria, their workforce and their unions collaborate to provide major investors the best value for money to maximise the success of their projects, and ensure they deliver them with the highest quality, on time and on budget.'

http://invest.vic.gov.au/News/News/construction+competitiveness.htm

KEY POINTS

• Victoria has safest construction sites in Australia
• Lowest level of time lost due to injuries
• Industrial Disputes at an all time low

With these factors investors will be looking at Victoria as a place to build. They will be able to maximise their profit by not having projects doing over schedule and budget. This will be due to the minimal time delays. This should have a large influence on the construction industry in Victoria and increase the building projects currently underway.