industry construction founded melbourne australia 1948 founder luigi grollo headquarters melbourne australia area served australia new york key people daniel grollo executive chairman carolyn viney chief executive officer services property development construction and funds management revenue a 486 million fy2012 1 owner bruno grollo daniel grollo and family website www.grocon.com grocon pty ltd or more commonly grocon is australia s largest privately owned development construction and funds management company . 2 with its head office located in melbourne victoria the company also has offices in sydney brisbane and new york city . over the past twenty years grocon has delivered four of australia s five tallest buildings . 3 three generations of the grollo family have been involved in managing the company . grocon has an extensive history of industrial disputes in australia particularly with the cfmeu including on going litigation . contents 1 history 1.1 ubs grocon real estate 1.2 awards and accolades 1.3 community initiatives 1.4 industrial disputes 1.5 swanston street wall incident 1.6 sabotage 2 completed projects 2.1 melbourne 2.2 new south wales 2.3 queensland 2.4 northern territory 2.5 international 3 ongoing projects 3.1 australia 3.2 international 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit grocon grew from a small family concreting business established in victoria by luigi grollo after he emigrated from treviso in italy in 1938 . a one man operation luigi grollo set up his own business in 1948 and completed small concreting projects such as paving shopping centre car parks sewerage infrastructure and swimming pools . 4 his sons rino and bruno grollo joined the business at the age of 15 . the business expanded rapidly in the 1950s by continuing with concreting of municipal swimming pools and petrol stations in melbourne . in the years following the grollo group would transition from the building of local community assets throughout the 1960s to constructing landmark developments . 5 in the 1970s grocon moved into concrete construction such as shopping centres and high rise buildings and started developing the projects themselves . it was also during the 1970s that luigi grollo handed the company over to his two sons and the business continued to rapidly expand . 4 in 1975 grocon moved to darwin for 18 months after winning a large contract for rebuilding after cyclone tracy . this contract involved the construction of 400 houses for the government . 6 following this the grollo group went on to develop buildings and operate businesses in a wide cross section of industries including commercial residential industrial education retail sporting and tourism . 7 in the 1980s many developments owned by the grollo family were sold . 8 this included the selling of such assets as the hyatt shell corner 200 queen street and a suite of shopping centres . at this stage the grollo family only retained one major development the rialto towers . 8 in 2000 the construction business was split between a construction centric business owned by bruno and daniel grollo and a property development operation owned by rino grollo . as part of this shift rino grollo secured equiset and the grollo group including its family properties . 9 in 1999 bruno s oldest son daniel assumed control of grocon as chief executive officer . 10 daniel grollo has since been appointed chairman of the green building council of australia . 11 and the prime minister s business advisory council . 12 in march 2012 the construction business was split again into a construction business owned by daniel grollo which is the current grocon and a property development business owned by his older siblings adam and leeanna . 13 grocon now has operations in australia asia the middle east and north america . 14 in 2014 grocon achieved another milestone being named as the preferred developer for the 2018 commonwealth games village on the gold coast queensland . 15 on 24 february 2014 deputy chief executive officer carolyn viney succeeded daniel grollo as chief executive officer of grocon . daniel assumed the role of executive chairman whilst retaining full oversight and ownership of the business . 16 ubs grocon real estate edit in december 2013 grocon launched a five year 10 billion joint venture with swiss investment bank ubs . 17 the joint venture has created ubs grocon real estate a full service real estate and asset management platform which has first right of refusal for grocon s a 2 billion development pipeline . 18 the venture is chaired by john a. fraser chairman and ceo global asset management at ubs ag 19 and daniel grollo will act as a non executive director . awards and accolades edit as a company grocon has been the recipient of numerous awards . in 2010 grocon was named the forest stewardship council developer of the year . 20 and grocon was also the national master builders association builder of the year in 2011 . 21 grocon received two the national association of women in construction awards in 2013 for both outstanding and young achievement . 22 in 2011 grocon was the recipient of the anz brw excellence in community practices prize . 23 in the realm of safety grocon won the 2008 safe work australia best workplace health and safety management system award 24 and received the worksafe victoria ohs management system of the year prize . community initiatives edit grocon is involved in a number of community initiatives . in the aftermath of the 2009 black saturday bushfires grocon was involved in the cleanup and rebuilding efforts in affected areas including kinglake . 25 moreover grocon has a community employment programme run in conjunction with the brotherhood of st laurence . 26 grocon is also involved with the salvation army 27 supports kids under cover 28 and collaborated with mission australia on the camperdown common ground project in sydney . 29 grocon also funded ten annual scholarships at thornbury high school . 30 grocon s executive chairman daniel grollo is chair of the green building council of australia a peak industry association in the sustainability field . industrial disputes edit since 2002 grocon has been involved in conflict the construction forestry mining and energy union cfmeu 31 over the cfmeu s rights at grocon developments including occupational health and safety management union access and the wearing of union badges . citation needed this culminated in the cfmeu s picketing of at least one entrance to the emporium development which resulted in an impassable physical barrier preventing access to the site through that entrance for grocon workers . 32 33 grocon subsequently launched a a 10.5 million compensation claim in the supreme court of victoria for the blockade . it is also seeking contempt orders against the union for allegedly breaching two supreme court injunctions that ordered an end to the blockade . justice cavanough held that free access to the site for grocon workers was prevented by the cfmeu as access could only be obtained through elaborate police assistance . 32 the fair work building and construction the relevant regulatory body has subsequently also launched legal proceedings against the cfmeu . 34 in june 2015 a court ordered judgement was made which saw the cfmeu ordered to pay grocon 3.5 million in damages . swanston street wall incident edit on 28 march 2013 during freak wind gusts of up to 102 kilometres per hour 63 mph 35 a brick wall on the boundary of a grocon development collapsed killing three people . the wall s safety the role of the billboards grocon had attached to the structure 36 37 38 and the self supporting nature of the structure designed by the previous owner were initially questioned as possible causes . the billboard extended one metre above the wall and was suggested to have acted as a sail . 39 40 there was early speculation as to the role of the advertising hoarding and whether a permit had been granted 36 or whether a permit was needed . 40 there were also questions surrounding the role of tree roots in destabilising the wall . 40 an unidentified spokesperson for the victorian government asked unions not to block productivity over the case . 41 worksafe victoria filed criminal charges against grocon and aussie signs who were employed by grocon to construct the billboard . police acting in the case have stated that grocon representatives have refused to give evidence and the company has yet to release an engineering report the court has asked for access to saying it was not relevant . 42 in november 2014 grocon was fined 250 000 in the magistrates court by magistrate charlie rozencwajg after it pleaded guilty to a single workplace safety charge 43 ... relating to the risk posed by the wall rather than causing it to fall down . . 44 sabotage edit grocon experienced two fires 45 on separate victorian construction sites and various other acts of suspected sabotage 46 in june 2014 . completed projects edit eureka tower southbank melbourne . grocon has built four of australia s five tallest buildings in melbourne sydney and south east queensland . 47 since grocon has increased operations broad in india and the united arab emirates . melbourne edit in melbourne grocon s completed developments include 101 collins street 260 metre 850 ft skyscraper completed in 1991 . 48 120 collins street 265 metre 869 ft art deco skyscraper with a granite fa ade also completed in 1991 . anz world headquarters 380 collins street axa centre axa insurance group s melbourne offices 49 and winner of the property council of australia victorian award for office developments . 50 crown casino recipient of the master builders association award in 1998 and currently the largest casino in the southern hemisphere on the southbank . 51 elizabeth street common ground an eleven storey 131 room community housing initiative built at cost in conjunction with the victorian government and the australian government . 52 eureka tower at the time of its construction the world s tallest residential tower at 297.5 metres 976 ft and awarded the urban design award in the victorian architecture awards . 53 grand hyatt melbourne kpmg house 161 collins st the age media house the publication centre for the age newspaper neighbouring southern cross railway station 54 and colliers award recipient for best office development . 55 melbourne rectangular stadium aami park 30 500 capacity soccer rugby league and rugby union in the melbourne sports and entertainment precinct . melbourne cricket ground northern stand redevelopment redevelopment for the 2006 commonwealth games pixel building using carbon netural pixelcrete concrete 56 australia s first carbon neutral office building . 57 pixel was awarded the best sustainable building award from the master builders association and received the premier s sustainability award for the built environment . 58 queen victoria village a 600 million urban village precinct surrounding melbourne central railway station which received the australian property institute property development award . 59 shell house shell s australian headquarters and awarded a property council of australia certification . rialto towers 270 metre 890 ft twin tower complex and the second tallest concrete building in the southern hemisphere . secv project telstra centre wtc wharf 60 new south wales edit in new south wales grocon has developed 1 bligh street sydney six star rated office and winner of the best tall building award in asia & australasia for 2012 61 in the council on tall buildings and urban habitat s skyscraper awards . anz bank centre 195 metre 640 ft office tower and sydney headquarters for anz herbert smith freehills and boston consulting group ; winner of the master builders association safety award . 62 common ground sydney and brisbane equity housing development in both sydney and brisbane and urban design institute of australia award for affordable development winner . 63 governor phillip tower sydney 227 metre 745 ft complex in sydney s prestigious north eastern precinct and property council of