The Fletcher Construction Company Limited is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

construction company and a subsidiary of

Fletcher Building Fletcher Building Limited is one of the largest listed companies in New Zealand, with a market capitalisation of nearly NZ$4 billion. The company was split from Fletcher Challenge in 2001, formerly New Zealand's largest business and multin ...

. Together with Higgins Contractors Ltd it makes up the Construction division of Fletcher Building. Fletcher Construction is widely known in New Zealand, and has delivered various iconic projects including constructing the

Auckland Sky Tower The Sky Tower is a telecommunications and observation tower in Auckland, New Zealand. Located at the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets within the city's CBD, it is tall, as measured from ground level to the top of the mast,James Fletcher senior, a builder and stonemason from Scotland, began a building business along with Englishman Albert Morris. The firm was known as Fletcher and Morris and received their first commission on 1 June 1909. This was for a double bay wooden villa at Broad Bay on the Otago Peninsula and was built for £375 (New Zealand still used British pounds at that time). The house was occupied on 10 November 1909 by local merchant Hubert Green following his marriage to Agnes Galloway. However, they made no profit in this venture. It later became Fletcher Bros. The house, now known as Fletcher House, still stands and is open to the public. However, despite being bailed out by friends their company made a net loss and they had to cease trading in 1910. In January 1911 they revitalised the firm with a bit more financial acumen, building houses in Abbotsford and south Dunedin. In March 1911 they started their first workshop: on Cameron Street next to the railway. In the summer of 1911 the firm was joined by James' brother William John Fletcher, who was a trained stonemason. He invested $1000 to become an equal partner. On 24 November 1911 they received their first larger (non-domestic) commission: a Coronation Hall for the St Kilda district. This was designed by local architects

Mason & Wales Mason & Wales is New Zealand's oldest surviving architectural design company. The company was founded in Dunedin in 1863 by William Mason, who — as well as being an architect — had served as a Member of Parliament and as the first Mayor of D ...

.Pride of Place: A history of the Fletcher Construction Company, Peter Shaw p.6 Dominion Farmers' Institute, Ballance Street frontage from Featherston Street

Dominion Farmers' Institute, Ballance Street frontage from Featherston Street

The company was renamed Fletcher Brothers in May 1912 after the departure of Bert Morris, who took fright at their first truly large project: Knox College, Otago. This contract was received through James' in-law Rev Andrew Cameron who was chairman of the building committee. The company was registered as a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the United States of America, US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the Flow-through entity, pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole p ...

in May 1916. In 1917 they renewed their link to architects Mason & Wales in the building of the 102 bed Nurses Home for Otago Hospital. In 1925 the company headquarters was moved to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, and in 1940 Fletcher Construction became a subsidiary of the Fletcher Holdings group, which listed on the share market that year. In 1942, following the resignation of his father to help New Zealand's war effort, James Fletcher junior became managing director of the company. Fletcher junior placed a greater emphasis on the firms building products manufacturing divisions, with Fletcher Construction retaining the core construction business. In 1981, Fletcher Holdings merged with Challenge Corporation Ltd and Tasman Pulp Paper Ltd to form Fletcher Challenge. Fletcher Building was formed with the split of Fletcher Challenge in 2001.

Major projects

Major projects have included: * Knox College, Otago (first large project, 1912–13) * Kingseat Hospital *

Te Papa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

Museum in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

(completed in 1996) *

SkyCity Auckland Skycity Auckland is an entertainment complex and casino in the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand, between Victoria and Federal Streets. Located at the base of the Sky Tower, it was the second casino in New Zealand, and is the o ...

Convention Centre and Grand Hotel (completed in 1996) * Sky Tower (completed in 1997) * Westpac Stadium in Wellington (completed in 1999) * Manapouri Second Tailrace Tunnel (completed in 2002) * Upper Harbour Bridge in Auckland (completed in 2006) *

Rewa Bridge The Rewa Bridge is a four-lane concrete girder road bridge over the Rewa River joining Suva and Nausori in Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in M ...

in Fiji (completed in 2006) * Northern Busway, Auckland associated infrastructure (completed in 2008) * Manukau Harbour Crossing (completed in 2011)Manukau Harbour Crossing, January 2009
– NZ Transport Agency newsletter. Retrieved 9 August 2009. * Waterview Connection (completed in 2017) *Fonterra Building (completed in 2016) *Fergusson Wharf (completed in 2017) *Hobson Bay Tunnel (completed in 2010) *Momi Bay Resort (completed in 2017) *Fiji Four Long Bridges Project (completed in 2016) *New Zealand International Convention Centre, Auckland which caught fire while under construction in October 2019

References

External links

Fletcher Construction
(official company website) Construction and civil engineering companies of New Zealand Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1919 Companies based in Auckland Fletcher Challenge New Zealand companies established in 1919

Major projects

References

Further reading

External links