Fletcher Building Limited
Fletcher Building Limited is a prominent New Zealand-based diversified conglomerate headquartered in Auckland. Established in 2001, it has historical roots tracing back to 1915 and even earlier, originating from the work of Scottish carpenter James Fletcher in Dunedin. The company is a significant player in the construction and building products sector, operating domestically and internationally, and is listed on both the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges. Its operations are divided into five key areas: building products, construction, residential and land development, distribution, and international markets.
Fletcher Building is renowned for being the world’s largest manufacturer of steel roof tiles and decorative surfaces, and it is the only domestic cement manufacturer in New Zealand. The company's extensive project portfolio includes residential homes, commercial buildings, and major infrastructure developments, contributing significantly to the economy. Despite its successes, Fletcher Building has faced challenges, including project delays and labor disputes, which have sparked criticism from various stakeholders. With a workforce of over ten thousand employees in New Zealand and abroad, the company continues to be a major employer and influencer in the construction industry.
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Subject Terms
Fletcher Building Limited
- Date founded: 1915
- Industry: Building products; construction
- Corporate headquarters: Auckland, New Zealand
- Type: Public
Fletcher Building Limited is a publicly held diversified conglomerate headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand. While the modern corporate entity was formed in 2001, it is a direct successor to Fletcher Bros Limited, incorporated in 1915, and has roots dating back even earlier to when Scottish carpenter James Fletcher first began building houses in Dunedin, New Zealand. He and his descendants eventually expanded into big buildings and created one of the largest building products and construction companies in New Zealand, with subsidiaries that operate worldwide. The company is listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange and the Australian Securities Exchange.
By 2025 Fletcher Building had five divisions: building products, construction, residential and land development, distribution, and international. It manufactures a wide range of building products and is the world's largest manufacturer of steel roof tiles, decorative surfaces and high pressure laminates. It is New Zealand's only domestic cement manufacturer. Fletcher Building also operates retail businesses that distribute its products to residential and commercial customers. Its construction projects include houses, commercial buildings and infrastructure developments.
History
James Fletcher moved from Scotland to New Zealand in 1908. The next year he began building houses in a partnership with Albert Morris, and they quickly moved into other construction projects, learning as they went. Within a few years, Fletcher's brothers joined the venture, and they incorporated their construction company as Fletcher Bros Ltd in 1915. The company pursued large public works and commercial projects, its early portfolio including a municipal swimming pool in Dunedin, the St Kilda Town Hall and Knox College. Known as Fletcher Construction by 1919, the company expanded operations to Auckland and Wellington and moved its headquarters to Auckland in 1925.
During the Depression, Fletcher Construction built several large works, including the Civic Theatre in Auckland, the Dominion Museum and the railway station in Wellington. It also diversified. Fletcher purchased timber mills, a marble quarry and shares in the brick making industry. He established a joinery factory and a concrete manufacturer. In 1940 the company went public under the name Fletcher Holdings. Fletcher Construction continued to operate as a subsidiary. During World War II the company benefited from the demand for construction projects as well as from James Fletcher's political connections, though he temporarily resigned as chair to avoid conflicts of interest while serving as commissioner of defence projects.
Following World War II Fletcher Holdings pursued many joint ventures as it expanded internationally. In 1946 it formed Fletcher South Seas Limited in Samoa. Three years later it began operating in Australia. In 1951, along with the American companies Merritt Chapman Scott and Raymond Concrete Pile Company, it won the contract for a major construction project at Auckland Harbour. In a joint venture with the New Zealand government, it formed the Tasman Pulp and Paper Company in 1952. Working with the same American companies, it then built several buildings for that venture beginning in 1953, including a paper mill, a sawmill and a paper-finishing plant. The same year, using designs by the Ministry of Works, Fletcher Construction began developing what became the town of Kawerau.
Fletcher Holdings expanded into large-scale infrastructure projects in the 1960s. It built motorways and tunnels in Auckland and Wellington, including the Christchurch-Lyttleton Road Tunnel in a joint venture with Kaiser Construction. In a joint venture with Wilkins and Davies and Bechtel, it built the first Marsden Point power station. It added the development of shopping malls, design and construction management to its portfolio in the 1970s.
In 1981 Fletcher Holdings merged with Tasman Pulp and Paper and Challenge Corporation to form Fletcher Challenge, creating New Zealand's largest publicly owned company. The new, highly diversified business had interests in energy, building, forestry and construction. Fletcher Construction remained a key division of the company and expanded during the 1980s through the acquisition of several US companies, including Pacific Construction, Weight Schuchart and Dinwiddie Construction of San Francisco. The Asian financial crisis of 1997 deeply affected the pulp and paper industry, and around the turn of the millennium, Fletcher Challenge sold its paper and energy divisions in order to focus on its building products and construction interests. In 2001 Fletcher Building Limited was established as the parent company of the various remaining specialty businesses.
Fletcher Building acquired Formica Group, a large manufacturer of decorative surfaces and high pressure laminate in May 2007. Later acquisitions and purchases included the civil construction business Higgins and Calder Stewart Roofing. The Formica Group acquired Well Pack, Papers & Containers in 2013.
Impact
As one of the largest public companies in New Zealand and the dominant player in the domestic construction industry, Fletcher Building has a major economic impact domestically and internationally. By 2024, it employed more than fourteen thousand people and had 34 business units. The company has participated in some of the highest-profile construction projects in New Zealand, such as the Auckland University College Arts building and the Auckland Sky City Casino and Tower, as well as infrastructure used by citizens every day. It also supplies building materials for a wide range of smaller projects, including many homes.
Despite its success, Fletcher Building has experienced difficulties and controversies. For example, its failure to complete two commercial building projects in Auckland and Christchurch on time in 2017 led to significant criticism of its construction division. Cost overruns on the projects led to a multi-million-dollar profit loss and profit downgrade, which resulted in the resignation of the chief executive and a loss of jobs. Labour activists have also criticised the company. Several walk-offs and protests in the late 2010s saw workers in various divisions call for improvements such as higher wages and a shorter working day.
The company suffered major losses in 2016 and 2017 because of unprofitable construction projects. The COVID-19 global pandemic led to additional losses as well as layoffs. Fletcher also faced a lawsuit regarding defective Iplex pipelines. It claimed that Fletcher supplied defective pipes to 12,000 homes, leading to widespread damage. By 2024, it had reached a multimillion dollar settlement. In 2023, an Australian law firm brought a class-action suit against Fletcher for misleading investors over its guidance in fiscal years 2017 and 2018.
Bibliography
"About Fletcher Building." Formica, Diller Corporation, 2013, www.formica.com/en/th/about-us/about-fletcher-building. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017.
"Biography: Sir James Fletcher." The Fletcher Trust, 2017, www.fletchertrust.co.nz/sir-james-fletcher.php. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017.
Edmunds, Susan. "What Went Wrong for Fletcher?" Radio New Zealand (RNZ), 1 Oct. 2024, www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/529497/what-went-wrong-for-fletcher-building. Accessed 13 Jan. 2024.
"Fletcher Construction: Company Profile." The University of Auckland Business History Project, University of Auckland Business School, www.businesshistory.auckland.ac.nz/fletchers/company‗profile.html. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017.
Harris, Catherine. "Fletcher's Problems Highlight Construction's Age-Old Strains." Stuff, 24 July 2017, www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/95043997/Fletchers-problems-highlight-constructions-age-old-strains. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017.
"Our History." Fletcher Building, 2017, fletcherbuilding.com/about-us/our-history. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017.
Parker, Selwyn James. "Fletcher, James." Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, 1998. Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4f17/fletcher-james. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017.
Reidy, Madison. "Workers Picket Building Giant's AGM." The Timaru Herald, 26 Oct. 2017. PressReader, www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/the-timaru-herald/20171026/281749859603286. Accessed 12 Oct. 2017.