Prime Minister John Key has announced a $212 million roading and construction package in a bid to shoreup National's vote in regional New Zealand for the election.

Propelled by the construction sector, the economy kept expanding at a brisk clip in the March quarter.

An aerial image of Unitec's ambitious plans for its 53ha Mt Albert campus show dozens of apartments and townhouses squeezed onto its site.

The giant tunnel boring machine Alice has reached halfway on the first leg of her long journey underground at Auckland's Waterview Connection project.

Another construction industry player has criticised Fletcher Building's dominant position in New Zealand's plasterboard market via its Winstone Wallboards.

Auckland and Christchurch's rapid house-building resurgence has surprised and delighted economists as it hit the highest level since 2002.

Claims about anti-competitive practices in New Zealand's plasterboard market have been added to by a former Christchurch building sector worker who says he has first-hand experience of it.

The French elite may scorn McDonald's for what they see as an economic and gastronomic horror in the same bun, but citizens in a town in northern France have taken to the streets to demand a branch of the US fast food chain.

Building supply merchants are reluctant to stock products of Winstone Wallboards' rivals and are squeezing alternative goods.

A property developer Tony Gapes will be back in control of one of NZ's most intensive affordable housing projects if he settles a debt within 20 days.

If your roof is leaking, your furnace is broken or you need a new gas fire installed, you may have to wait for a tradesperson.

New Zealand's biggest listed company, Fletcher Building, could be hurt by the Budget move to axe temporarily anti-dumping duties on building materials covering 90 per cent of a new home's construction, say experts.

Jobs and companies could be lost if masses of cheap overseas construction materials flood our boarders, say building companies.

Carter Holt Harvey, which sold its pulp, paper and packaging businesses last month, more than tripled gross margins at its Australian building supplies in 2013.

Sometimes, good fortune arrives disguised as disaster. That's what happened on Karangahape Rd in central Auckland.

Shipping containers are being put to new uses in Auckland, as builders make inroads on two prominent city sites.

A big new Takapuna beachfront development started a few weeks ago has left an Auckland councillor unimpressed

Editorial: Inevitably, there will be opposition to the demolition of Auckland's Civic Building. Some see the Aotea Square structure as one of the country's finest modernist buildings.

Alice the tunnel-boring machine sometimes seems to work at its own pace.

A real estate agency boss has backed a call this week by finance minister Bill English to relax rules designed to stamp out so-called "shoebox apartments".

It's costing $1.4b and by 2017 should help give drivers from Manukau to Albany with an alternative to SH1 and the harbour bridge. So how's it going?

Finance Minister Bill English has hinted at changes in the Budget to make it easier for housing developers to build smaller and cheaper.

One of the world's biggest and oldest insurers is underwriting a new building warranty insurance scheme being launched in New Zealand.

New Zealand's crane population is booming with 71 up, compared to just 10 two years ago.

The country's busiest house builder expects to put up a third more homes this year and could build more than 1000.

The Australian home building sector is still going quite strong despite an across-the-board fall in building approvals figures for February, economists say.

A Parnell group is upset about approval for a big new apartment building, saying office workers' cars already clog their street.