Building Brisbane: Meet The Construction Group Shaping The City
Building with integrity
In Queensland’s competitive construction landscape, Ashley Cooper Construction has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past decade to become one of Brisbane’s most in-demand builders.
Founded by Luke Ashley-Cooper in 2014, the company has quickly gained recognition for its commitment to delivering exceptional projects ranging from hospitality and tourism redevelopments to medical facilities and school redevelopments.
The inspiration behind Ashley Cooper Construction came from Luke’s experience as a subcontractor, where he felt that larger businesses often showed a disregard for their employees and subcontractors.
Founder Luke Ashley-Cooper
“I saw a big lack of companies ‘doing the right thing’ by people and subbies,” explains Luke. “I knew there must be a way to deliver these high-quality projects while being a decent person to everyone involved.”
Asked about his favourite project, Luke jokes that choosing only one is like “choosing your favourite child… there’s too many to say.” Some highlights include the recent refurbishment of the heritage-listed Naldham House in the Brisbane CBD, the Hervey Bay Boat Club refurbishment, the Carina Leagues Club major development, and the Manly Harbour Boat Club expansion, along with Club Helensvale and Sandhills Sports Club.
“Every project is different and has its own level of complexities,” says Luke. “We pride ourselves on working closely with the client to ensure their business can operate as smoothly and effectively as possible while we bring their project to life.”
Naldham House
The team’s capabilities span the hospitality, commercial, and education sectors, including ground-up builds of Australia’s biggest prosthetics and orthotics clinic (OAPL in Slacks Creek), as well as heritage-conscious refurbishments of Churchie’s Jackson Building and Somerville House’s Fewings Building.
In 2021, the company celebrated its first Master Builders award, and in the past four years has won an impressive twelve awards across eight categories. Luke attributes this success to ACC’s focus on attention to detail, as well as a commitment to thoughtful team expansion. Instead of rushing to grow, Luke has prioritised building a cohesive team aligned with the company’s core values, ensuring that as project demands increase, the ACC workforce is ready. From the outset, Luke adopted a simple guiding principle for the team: leave egos at the door.
Club Helensvale
With a focus on a collaborative work environment, the business was recently included in The Australian Best Places to Work in 2024 list, specifically commending Ashley Cooper Construction for being one of the best Australian businesses for women to work at. “Our work can be hard, but our approach is straightforward – we work together to get it done and give team members the space to grow and develop in their career paths,” Luke explains.
With completed projects ranging from Club Helensvale in the Gold Coast to The Buffs Club in Mt Isa, Luke aims to continue expanding the team’s portfolio throughout Australia.
Header: Manly Harbour Boat Club
