High-rise Harry ups his game as Meriton gets iCIRT rated

Rich Lister Harry Triguboff is upping his game, with his company Meriton becoming the largest developer-builder so far to get certified under the new NSW-based ratings tool for players across the construction sector.
Meriton has followed the first handful of builders and developers into the iCIRT scheme developed by data provider Equifax to assess the resilience and reliability of companies and received a 4.5 star rating out of a possible 5-star maximum.
“You always have to change with the market,” Mr Triguboff told The Australian Financial Review on Wednesday.
“Let us say I built something 10 years ago. It could have been a very good project, but this is not what people want today.”
Wider adoption of the NSW-based iCIRT scheme – one of a number of changes to the industry driven by Building Commissioner David Chandler – will lead to a higher quality of dwellings in that state at least, as the federal government aims to build 1 million new homes over the next five years.
“The industry need a bit of a shake-up, a clean-up, to be honest,” Meriton construction director David Cremona said. “Meriton had to improve its performance. All of us had to. Anyone who says to you they were doing the same as they did five years ago, they’d be lying.”
Australia built 1.1-million new homes over the five years to FY2016, but that boom also produced development failures such as the combustible cladding-riddled Lacrosse Tower in Melbourne and the construction disasters of Opal and Mascot Towers in Sydney.
The more iCIRT-rated companies involved in the next big push for housing development, the better, Mr Cremona said.
“If they follow the guidelines and rated players are all in the mix, you’ll come out with reliable, trustworthy assets that should stand the test of time,” he said.
Of course, in a time of higher borrowing and construction costs, it’s still not clear whether the Labor government’s goal of 1 million new homes in a five-year period is possible. Mr Triguboff said planning restrictions alone will scupper the plan.
“The laws we have here are such that nobody can do it,” Australia’s sixth-wealthiest person said.
Even so, the man known as “Highrise Harry” welcomed the overall lift to quality the NSW ratings scheme would drive.
“We are the best builders,” he said. “I’m looking forward to having more competition. I’ll be much happier!”

*The story by Michael Bleby first appeared on The Australian Financial Review