Multiplex Says Japanese Takeover Won’t Change What Makes it Tick
Cultural Continuity Under New Ownership
The $924 million sale of Perth-founded builder Multiplex to Japanese construction giant Obayashi Corporation will not alter the company’s culture, according to its Western Australia managing director. “Western Australia could not be more embedded in the company,” Chris Palandri told The Urban Developer. Multiplex, established 64 years ago, began in Western Australia, adopting the family business ethos from founder John Roberts.
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Palandri emphasized that the company’s global CEO, John Flecker, has been with the firm for 39 years and remains based in WA. Under Brookfield’s ownership, which ended with this sale, the culture remained intact. “They just let us get on with it,” Palandri said. Now, Obayashi’s entry as owner is seen as a natural fit since both are builders, not financial investors seeking operational changes.
Brookfield’s role as owner was supportive but not operational, Palandri noted, contrasting it with Obayashi’s construction expertise. “They’re not looking to come and change Multiplex; they’re not changing the management, they’re not changing the systems, they’re not changing the culture.” The transition to Obayashi is expected to finalize by the end of 2026. Multiplex and Obayashi previously collaborated on the Sydney Olympic Stadium in the late 1990s, highlighting their established working relationship. This history reinforces the belief that the takeover will maintain operational stability.
Historical Collaborations and Modern Methods
Multiplex’s legacy includes pioneering construction techniques long before the term “modern methods” gained popularity. Palandri cited the 1993 completion of Central Park, WA’s tallest building at the time, as an example. The 51-storey office tower used modular construction, with over 60,000 square meters of precast floor units assembled off-site and installed into the steel frame. Such methods, now labeled as modern, were already in practice decades earlier. “Bathroom pods, precast planks and topping on top, everyone would call that modern methods of construction,” Palandri explained. “It’s just that you need a bunch of things to come together to make modern methods of construction, in whatever form.”
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Current Projects and Efficiency Strategies
Multiplex’s current project, the 19-storey Epiisod student housing tower in Nedlands, exemplifies modern methods applied systematically. The development, rising near The University of Western Australia, will feature 500 identical bathroom pods manufactured in Sydney and 250 precast columns produced locally. Palandri stressed the importance of early collaboration between contractors, designers, and suppliers to optimize such approaches. “You need to come together with a contractor early enough with your design team,” he said. “Because you’ve got to have certain heights and access into the building and all those sorts of things.”
For commercial projects, Multiplex fabricates services risers off-site in long sections, installing them into building cores before connecting them on-site. While not universally applicable, the strategy aims to maximize off-site production. The company also constructs central energy plants off-site, assembling them in sections on-location. Palandri acknowledged that no two buildings are identical, complicating standardization. “It’s not a simple exercise because the problem is that none of our buildings are the same. Every single building we design is different,” he said. Despite this variability, the focus on digitization and material efficiency continues to grow, driven by post-Covid market demands.