Bruno Grollo

Bruno Gordano Grollo (born 1942, Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian businessman, property developer, and former director of Grocon and is noted for his controversy surrounding the Swanston Street Wall incident on 29 March 2013.

Bruno is the son of Luigi Grollo, who founded Grocon, one of Australia’s largest construction companies, in 1948 after immigrating to Australia from Italy. Bruno’s role in his company remains despite handing the title of chief executive and chairman to his son, Daniel Grollo, in 1999.

Following public disputes with Infrastructure NSW in 2020, Grocon announced that it and 86 of its subsidiaries have entered Voluntary Administration.

Early life Bruno Grollo was born in Melbourne in 1942 and is the son of accountant Emma Girardi (1913-1986) and builder Luigi Arturo Grollo (1909-1994).

Luigi Grollo emigrated to Australia at 18 years old, due to his adolescent life being rife with war, drought, storms and the death of his mother at 52 years old. He said of the experience growing up in Italy, ‘The following year, 1928, I saw that things were still going bad there. There was another storm that carried off everything. It left only the soles of our feet! Here were some new debts to pay off.’ At 18 years old, with his older brother sponsoring him, he boarded the passenger ship named the Principe d’Udine and arrived in Melbourne on 24 July 1928 to start a new life in Australia. In 1958, at 15 years old, Bruno left school and began his career in construction when he joined his father’s company, of, at the time almost 130 employees. His brother, Rino Grollo, soon after joined the company in 1965. This conspiracy arose from fears surrounding the taxation office in which the court alleged that Grollo had failed to declare $59 million in the process of building the Rialto Towers. Recorded as one of the longest trials in Victorian history, running for 13 months, this investigation into the taxation affairs of the Grollo Group resulted in a not-guilty verdict on all charges for all three men, Grollo, Flanagan and Howard, and ended on 26 June 1997. This collapse resulted in the death of Bridget Jones, Alexander Jones and Marie-Faith Fiawoo. Grollo stated about the incident, ‘I personally, along with all of the directors and employees of Grocon, reiterate our deep regret at the tragic and untimely loss’. Continuing his expansion into Sydney with the Governor Phillip Tower, the Macquarie Towers and 1 Bligh Street, the two brothers led Australia’s construction industry to new heights.

Grollo Tower The Grollo Tower proposal was a $1.7 billion, 500m skyscraper for the Melbourne Docklands, proposed by Bruno as a gift to Melburnians in 1995, but also partially funded by the Victorian public. Bruno stated of the tower, 'It would be a golden building for a golden city for the golden times to come ... it has to put the city on the world map’ . The proposal was reviewed again in 2003 for construction to begin in Dubai, commissioned by The Grollo Corporation and Emaar Properties, the largest development company in the Arab Emirates.

Cyclone Tracy restoration On Christmas Day in 1974, Cyclone Tracy destroyed more than 70 percent of Darwin’s buildings, including 80 percent of its houses; this led to the Northern Territory Government signing a contract with the Grollo Group to help with restorations. Both Rino and Bruno were involved in the restoration of the cyclone-torn city, building 400 cyclone-proof houses with various designs for the government.

In January 2018, Grocon was awarded construction rights for a project in Central Barangaroo, Sydney, as a deal with Aqualand and Scentre Group.

Personal life Bruno Grollo married Dina Bettiol in 1965 and they had three children together, Danie, Leanna and Adam. They were married for 26 years before Dina suffered a stroke which left her severely paralysed until her death, aged 58, in December 2001; Bruno keeps a room in her honour at his house.

On 14 February 2004, Grollo was remarried to Pierina Biondo at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne.

In 2014, he revealed in an interview with Melbourne journalist, Ruth Ostrow, of his ongoing struggles with leukaemia, melanoma and prostate cancer. Grollo stated, ‘My biggest goal now is staying alive. I’m trying to live long enough to see the success of gene, nano and stem-cell therapies, which will keep us alive.’ Stating that, ‘The Maharishi said consciousness is everything. It’s the closest thing to what God might be, your consciousness, mine, the dog, the cat, the flowers, the trees... transcendental meditation was the closest thing to euphoria and youth I’ve ever discovered.'''

Net worth In 2006, Grollo was listed in Forbes top 40 richest people in Australia and New Zealand. Bruno Grollo and family were listed on the Financial Review Rich List 2018 with an assessed net worth of 702 million.

Bruno, Rino, and/or their father, Luigi (whilst living), are one of thirteen living Australians who have appeared on every Financial Review Rich List, since it was first published in 1984.

Rank Net worth bn Rank Net worth bn 2006

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Bruno remembers his mother with these words, ‘My mother had a unique ability to keep us united. She managed to keep us united right up until the very end ... and sometimes this was not easy ... Of all her merits, this for me was the greatest''.’