In what turned out to be a tale of two countries, Fletcher Building announced a lift in its annual net profit yesterday, with Australia's economic downturn detracting from a strong showing in New Zealand.

Australia has old-fashioned union arrangements and needs "a dose of Margaret Thatcher," says Mark Adamson, the British chief executive of Fletcher Building.

The Government fired another shot in its battle to control rising house prices yesterday, announcing law changes it says will curb charges levied by local authorities on developers for providing infrastructure such as roads and sewerage to new subdivision

New Zealand buildings including houses will increasingly be manufactured in bulk in factories and assembled on site, and the consenting process will have to change accordingly, says Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson.

Port bosses express confidence mayoral investigation will vindicate their blueprint for further development.

When Fletcher Building paid around $1 billion for Formica in 2007, the business was only three years out of a financial hole and Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The Government has set a deadline of 20 years for assessing 193,000 buildings for earthquake risk and strengthening them.

The historic Shed 10 on Auckland's waterfront will be openedn today after a 10-month, $12.5 million refurbishment and restoration.

A major construction company involved in the Christchurch rebuild says it uses migrant workers because it they are cheaper than local builders.

A giraffe house, art gallery, Grey Lynn shops and apartment building are in the running for a top international architectural award.

Fletcher Developments wants new houses to be taller than the Auckland Council is proposing.

Fletcher Building is making a big push into Auckland's apartment development market, forming specialist new division Fletcher Developments this year to hunt down opportunities on big sites.

Auckland houses could soon arrive off assembly lines as the country's biggest construction business ponders factory-prefabricated houses.

The councils in our biggest cities are increasingly seen as one of the big roadblocks for economic growth, says Bernard Hickey.

Four new Auckland hotels are planned, three of which are office building conversions.

The building sector is expecting a rise in fortunes as the economy recovers and the Canterbury rebuild gets into full swing about 2016.

High council fees have contributed significantly to Auckland's rising house prices, a new report says.

Lockwood's third generation says sticking to what they do best is working.

The house-building sector is experiencing its biggest surge in more than a decade as demand for new places.

The biggest residential building boost in a decade will not make a big dent in Auckland's housing woes, but is a step in the right direction, an economist says.