Tradies have walked off a building site at one of Mandurah's top private schools after the collapse of construction company Pindan Group was announced on Tuesday.
Work on a new sporting complex at Frederick Irwin Anglican School in Meadow Springs began in December 2019.
Eighteen months on the $10.45million project is still in the earthworks stage and there have been no workers or subcontractors on the site for the past couple of days. Just a security guard remains parked in a car securing the building site's entrance.
Pindan was contracted by the school to build the new sports hall as well as change rooms, a ground-level staff room, two classrooms and an exercise area on the upper floor, along with storage and maintenance facilities. A new 34-bay parking area is also part of the work.
It is unclear how much of project was paid upfront.
Perth-based Pindan appointed administrators on Tuesday, who say up to 1,400 creditors are owed between $70 and $80 million dollars.
'Contingencies in place'
Frederick Irwin principal Kerry Robertson said the school and the Anglican Schools Commission were looking at all options to recommence the build.
The school is looking at all possibilities to ensure that the new gymnasium build can continue as soon as possible.
In a letter to families, Ms Robertson wrote that, as with any project, "contingencies were planned for from the start".
"There are always strong strategies and controls in place to protect our assets and interests," she said. "The school is looking at all possibilities to ensure that the new gymnasium build can continue as soon as possible."
68 active projects
Pindan Group has 68 active projects, approximately 280 employees, 500 subcontractors and 400 trade suppliers.
Before the collapse, the company was working on many state government initiatives in Western Australia, including an $11 million redevelopment of Hedland High School, a $35 million annual housing maintenance deal, and the $4 million Tom Price emergency services centre.
On top of this are apartment developments such as Clifton & Central which is currently over 50 per cent sold.
Government to fast-track law
Meanwhile, the state government has defended its failure to prioritise protecting subcontractors before the collapse of construction group Pindan.
There are always strong strategies and controls in place to protect our assets and interests.
Finance Minister Tony Buti says the McGowan government will look to directly contract subcontractors or appoint an alternative head contractor for that work.
He has promised legislation to shield subcontractors will be re-introduced in the next fortnight after the government left it too late in the last parliament.
"Obviously that may not be much comfort to the subcontractors in regards to Pindan but it will, of course, be a comfort going forward and provide some confidence," he told reporters on Wednesday.
The bill was not introduced to the upper house until November last year in the final weeks before parliament was dissolved ahead of the election.
Mr Buti said much of the last parliament's time had been taken up by voluntary assisted dying legislation which passed in December 2019.
"In the upper house, we didn't have control of the agenda and that's why (the subcontractor bill) was not passed," he said.
Labor now has a majority in the upper house.
Mr Buti said he had been advised Pindan had made all necessary payments up until the end of March but was unsure about the weeks since.
Call for government to settle invoices
He said the government was still working to determine the scope of the exposure.
Nationals MP Vince Catania called upon the government to urgently settle unpaid invoices for government projects.
"Local subcontractors are now telling me they have been waiting on payments for many months, and in several cases are owed more than $100,000, which represents a significant risk for their businesses if they are not paid soon," he said.
Mr Buti said that was "not possible" but there were arrangements in place for some of the projects that ensured subcontractors would be paid.
Premier 'surprised'
Premier Mark McGowan this week said he was surprised by reports of Pindan's financial woes given the booming construction market.
"There's lots of work out there for both subcontractors and workers across the state," he said.