A lifestyle property near Haumoana is the unexpected global headquarters of developer David Frampton’s Majic Jungle Software.
Through Majic Jungle, David built The Blockheads simulation app that has been downloaded and played by millions of mobile gamers around the world.
A game developer since 2003, David moved from Wellington to Hawke’s Bay in 2012 after a search for the perfect place to relocate his home-based business. It needed to be somewhere he could spend time with his young family and indulge his other passion: surfing.
“Because I work from home, I could be based anywhere, so we drove around the country and checked out a bunch of possible spots before deciding to settle here,” he says.
“Surfing definitely influenced things. I had to find somewhere with some decent surf. It’s surpassed all expectations, I’ve found it really good.”
The location also allows him to indulge another hobby: building and flying quadcopters.
David’s broadband link to the rest of the world is a standard ADSL copper line connection that he says meets his working needs.
“The only downside to living in Hawke’s Bay is there aren’t the numbers of people here who are doing game development. There were more in Wellington whom I could network with, so I’m missing that a little,” he says.
One way he keeps connected is through attending industry conferences.
“It’s just as easy to jump on a plane from Hawke’s Bay and get over to San Francisco or wherever for a conference as it was from Wellington.”
As well as maintaining The Blockheads, David is currently ramping up work on a new PC game with a virtual reality component, which he’s given the working title of ‘Ambience’. He hopes to have it out for testing by late this year.
Another major development is brewing at Majic Jungle HQ. After several years of having three young kids at home, David is building an office on the property so he can “get out of the house”.
At least the commute to work won’t take too long. David’s broadband link to the rest of the world is a standard ADSL copper line
Hawke’s Bay woman Robyn McLean is having fun with her new business venture that is a game changer in women’s health.
Robyn and long-time friend Mary Bond, based in Wellington, have launched the Hello Cup Company producing a range of menstrual cups – something that has released them from their bugbear of buying single-use tampons.
Hello Cups not only save money but also have huge benefits when it comes to the environment.
“As mothers we knew there had to be a better option for our daughters than expensive and wasteful tampons and pads. The Hello Cup is that option.”
A single cup will last at least five years and holds three times the amount of a tampon. While most cups on the market are made from silicone, Hello Cups are made from medical-grade plastic, which means they are fully recyclable at the end of their lives.
Robyn and Mary, a registered nurse, came up with their first business idea about 15 years
ago when they both had their first child around the same time. The initial idea was to sell children’s clothing, but around the same time there seemed to be an explosion of children’s clothing retailers and they decided it probably wasn’t the best idea.
“We kept talking about joining forces and starting a business over the years but it had to be the right business. We’ve finally come up with something that suits us both. Being a nurse, Mary really cares about people’s welfare and I had a hunch this would be something that we could do together and really make a difference to the lives of women, not just in New Zealand but around the world.”
Robyn had been interested in using menstrual cups for a while but it wasn’t until she was in need that she finally gave one a try.
“I went into a pharmacy in Havelock North and enquired about menstrual cups. The pharmacist was a user of one and was really encouraging and enthusiastic so I bought one and it was instantly life-changing.
“It seems crazy that women have been led to believe for so many years that there is
really only a couple of options in tampons and pads. Not only do they create a hideous amount of waste, but they are unaffordable for so many women.”
After a bit more research Robyn decided she wanted to buy a New Zealand-made cup. When she found there weren’t any, she went to Mary with her latest business idea and the rest, as they say, is history. Period!
The product development phase included trying to source high-quality medical- grade plastic to make the cups, quality and comfortable design of the cups, a manufacturer and then a great brand name.
The medical-grade TPE (a type of plastic) is purchased from Germany and they are fortunate to have found a manufacturer in Napier who is able to produce the cups to their exacting standards.
“You don’t want anything dodgy going up there, so there was no way we were going to cut corners. Our design is quite different
o others on the market. We have specifically designed it to be as comfortable as possible with as little ridges,” says Mary.
Robyn says having the manufacturing team in Hawke’s Bay has been a huge bonus. “It’s so awesome to have the Hello Cups made in Napier. It proves that Hawke’s Bay has everything you need.”
The inspiration for the brand name ‘hello.’ was based on a desire to have a positive perspective to something that is a dreaded monthly hassle, says Robyn. “It also plays on the full stop being called a ‘period’ in America, which if we expand into that market, will make more sense to them probably than Kiwis!
“We wanted to have some fun and get woman to embrace their period. We’ve done this with the brand name as well as some of the marketing taglines such as ‘bloody brilliant’ and ‘no strings attached’.”
Periods are not a typical conversation topic but for Robyn and Mary, they’re talking about the Hello Cup daily together and to happy converts throughout New Zealand. They’ve both quickly become experts as well as period counsellors!
Robyn sees a massive future in the Hello Cup. It’s quickly become a passion and they’re already looking at new products. In 2018 a sports Hello Cup and a Teen Cup will be added to their product range.
TheSportsCupwillbefirmer,asfitfemales often have stronger pelvic floor muscles, while the Teen Cup will be smaller and
softer and a good option for first-time cup users. Hello Cups currently retail for $49 for a single and $69 for a box containing both sizes.
Robyn, a former journalist and public relations practitioner, will be putting her communications and marketing skills to good use. She will take care of the marketing, including social media and responding to non-medical enquiries.
Mary is responsible for distribution and putting her medical training to use in responding to medical-related enquiries.
“We get some incredibly personal questions from women and so it’s amazing for them to be able to talk to a registered nurse who can answer their questions from an informed medical perspective.”
To get the word out about the Hello Cup, a marketing plan includes reliving their youth and heading to university orientation weeks across the country.
They see huge opportunities with the secondary school and tertiary markets. The cups last at least five years, so that means a student can have one for their secondary schooling and then get another that will last for their entire tertiary study.
“We hear dreadful stories of girls not going to school when they have their periods because they can’t afford it. A single cup will last them their entire high school years.”
The only speed bump Mary and Robyn have hit so far was agreeing on whether they
used the word vagina on their website or something less formal.
“Being a nurse, Mary was keen to stick to the name given in medical texts. I preferred vjayjay and fanny.”
To overcome the issue, their website features a ‘vagina switcheroo’ tool, whereby visitors are able to type their preferred name into a box that will then change the text throughout the site to the user’s chosen name.
“We love what women come up with,” says Mary. Twinkle cave, magic box and foo foo are a few examples.
With more than 7 billion tampons and pads going into the world’s landfills each year, menstrual cups have a huge future.
“We think menstrual cups will be the norm for the next generation and we are planning on taking the Hello Cup to women not just in New Zealand but around the world.”
Co-working (shared worked spaces) is gaining in popularity in the Bay, with a wide range of businesses and people co- located in shared spaces.
While it is common to attract start-up businesses, self-employed professionals or freelancers, for others it’s an opportunity to reconnect outside of working from home, or to further develop a not for profit or social enterprise.
Cultivate Hawke’s Bay is a new collaborative space in Taradale established by Haylee Wren this year with a specific focus on small business and not-for profit support. Haylee wanted to create a friendly approachable community within an intimate office space and has seen immediate uptake from a range of organisations.
Co-working spaces provide immediate access to a network of businesses and offer the opportunity to mix with a diverse range of people. It’s all about innovative like-minded people working on their own businesses in the same space as others so that collaborating, idea-sharing, and working together occurs naturally between them.
The Chook House in Waipukurau, was an early entry into providing a shared work space in the region; designed to build a community to motivate and inspire small business owners and freelancers in the heart of Central Hawke’s Bay.
The greatest asset of any co-working space is its members with each shared space having its own culture. A recent reviewer of Oh My Goodness community space in Hastings
comments, “Such a beautiful space to spend a day working away on my laptop – so spacious, a swing and table tennis with baker, Scott and beautiful food. Feels like home, a community place.”
As well as making financial sense, the other value-adds can be the likes of facilities management, reception services and Wi- Fi. Someone owns the lease and provides the infrastructure, freeing up community members to focus on building their business, without the distraction of day-to-day details.
Another example is the Hawke’s Bay Business Hub in Ahuriri, which has been operating for two years. Out front, the Business Hub is open for any business person to pop in for a few hours and work at the casual drop-in tables in the café-style area, taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi and the informal business connections that can be made in the shared space. For confidential appointments, there are meeting rooms, training and event spaces, and a boardroom available to book.
Sixteen business support agencies are co- located at the Business Hub.
Business Hawke’s Bay Acting CEO, Carolyn Neville, says that one of the key successes of the hub is the collaboration that occurs between member organisations. “The connection, collaboration and community that comes from working in a shared space is to the benefit of the businesses and the people that we work with.”
This has sparked a new initiative within a key action in Matariki, the Hawke’s Bay Regional Economic Development Strategy.
Business Hawke’s Bay is exploring how business support and growth programmes can be provided through linking with the region’s co-working spaces. “The first step is to create a regional directory of existing and new co-working spaces. With many new spaces opening up, or under development, this will enable people to find a community that meets their needs,” says Carolyn.
“The next step is to connect with the people who work in those spaces. You can grab a desk or chair anywhere, and that is all that some people need. But for others, the support and opportunities to learn, share and grow are equally as important.”
To find a co-working community, or to list your shared space on the new regional directory, go to the Hawke’s Bay Business Hub website, hbbusinesshub.co.nz.
It’s only been two years since Josh Buckman took the reins of the well- known Hawke’s Bay deer velvet company Gevir but already he is charging ahead, exporting the product to new markets with a unique proposition for natural health seekers.
Gevir is now exporting to China and the United States with plans to be in six other countries by the end of the year.
“We have a loyal following in New Zealand but the growth potential is in exporting our story and quality products. There is a much bigger customer base abroad and a huge opportunity to tell a unique story.
“It takes a lot of work and money to get into these markets but our long-term goal is a bigger business that adds value to deer farmers and the velvet industry.
“Deer velvet is one of the only renewable sources of all nine essential amino acids the body needs to grow and repair; it is made up of glucosamine, collagen, Omega 3 and Omega 6, minerals, nutrients and lipids, to name a few. It’s an adaptogen, increasing the body’s ability to withstand stress and ward off exhaustion. The more we can educate our customers about the benefits of our diverse and natural supplement, the better.”
Josh and the Gevir team have started exporting their premium supplements to retail markets in China and the United States and plan to be in Canada, Japan and South Korea by the end of the year.
Gevir has been making the deer velvet supplements for nearly 30 years, with premium deer antler velvet being the only ingredient.
Josh bought the business two years ago from Shelley and Clint Thomson, who founded the business and had owned Gevir for 26 years.
Since then, not only has he entered the export market but he has also diversified the product range, with a soon-to-be launched natural skincare range, and he has also introduced a pet range.
“I have been overwhelmed by the number of Kiwi farmers who have purchased the pet product for their working dogs. We knew the Gevir pet product would be an attractive option for pet dogs, especially older dogs, but we didn’t expect the product to be so popular for working dogs.”
Hawke’s Bay farmer Mike Ritsson-Thomas has a 13-year-old heading dog called Thai who tore her Achilles. After the vet tried
several different treatments, none of which worked, Mike decided to start feeding her his Gevir deer velvet tablets.
“It was like a miracle, suddenly Thai just came right and she no longer had a busted Achilles. She was back out on the farm with me mustering and easily jumping on and off the bike. It was unbelievable how the deer velvet gave her a new lease of life.”
And Thai wasn’t the only ‘miracle’ deer velvet case for the Tikokino sheep and beef farmer. His wife Caroline has a 12-year-old Aussie Terrier called Fergie who started going bald.
“She was so bald that her tail poked out like a finger. So, I fed her Gevir deer velvet tablets every day and within a few months she had a thick coat again, she was much more sprightly and back running around the farm.”
Mike is a firm believer in the natural product and has been taking the Gevir deer velvet tablets for over 10 years.
“As a farmer you get a lot of bashes and bruises. I find the deer velvet helps me heal quickly and I don’t have the aches I had before.”
His wife Caroline used to have arthritis in her knee but after taking Gevir for three months, the pain has stopped.
“If I stop taking the deer velvet tablets I get aches and pains, so there is a noticeable difference.”
Josh first came across deer velvet following multiple shoulder injuries and three reconstruction surgeries, which left him in constant discomfort with numbness and pins and needles.
“I first discovered deer velvet following several dislocations and surgery from playing rugby. I had seen Gevir for years at rural retailers and remember the old tv ads and gave it a go after my third shoulder reconstruction. When using Gevir following surgery I made an exceptionally speedy recovery, particularly with the reduction in pain and numbness, and was back to work in four weeks. So I am very passionate about the product and believe there is huge potential to educate people on the long-term benefits and improved quality of life with Gevir.”
Josh was working in a diverse sales and project role with FMG and was also managing his finishing farm near Havelock North when he heard the Thomsons were looking to pass the reins of Gevir on.
“My wife and I jumped at the opportunity with Gevir, we were attracted to the natural health and renewable element but also to the health benefits. It is sustainable, it grows every year and the deer don’t have to be killed to produce it. Deer velvet is the fastest growing mammal tissue with more than 300 active components. It is hard not to be excited about the diverse and unique supplement we produce with some of New Zealand’s best deer farmers.”
“We are really excited about sharing Gevir with the world and providing our passionate farmers with the added value they deserve.”
For longer than most people in the Bay can remember, animal industry stalwart Vet Services Hawke’s Bay (VSHB) has been ensuring all beasts – from sheep to bearded dragons – get the care they need.
Over the past seven decades, the business has grown from a one-vet practice in CHB to an incorporated business of five practices located in Napier, Hastings, Waipukurau, Dannevirke and Masterton.
“Sixty, seventy years ago you couldn’t get a vet down here,” says business manager Brendan James.
Vet Services Waipukurau
“That was pretty typical for rural areas in New Zealand in the late 40s and 50s, even throughout the 60s and into the 70s. At the time, agriculture science was evolving and vets were only just starting to play a more prominent role in the productivity of farms.”
However, Brendan says CHB farmers saw the value of a good vet early on, with a group of farmers getting crafty in 1949 and forming the CHB Farmers Veterinary Club, where they pooled their resources together to establish the district’s first professional veterinary practice.
“The club members collaborated and contracted a vet to come and live here to service the farms in the area,” he says.
“This was pretty typical of what was happening across New Zealand; farmers had to get creative to get vets into the regional areas.”
Thanks to the initiative of a few farmers almost 70 years ago, VSHB is a thriving business today. Incorporated in 1974, it now employs in excess of 50 staff and has plans to expand their Hastings and Waipukurau buildings to better service their clients.
Brendan admits that while the business may not have the same problems attracting staff to the district, vets are still in pretty high demand countrywide, with only around 130 graduates coming out of Massey University each year.
“These grads are highly sought after,” he says. “So, like the farmers’ club before us, we still have to get creative about how we recruit.
“One effective way has been to offer scholarships to students; another drawcard for us is that we can offer them time in a mixed animal practice.
“These types of clinics are becoming less and less so but it gives graduates an opportunity to develop their general veterinary knowledge before they decide what line of clinical expertise to follow.”
While it is these points of difference that have served VSHB well, Brendan says the team is well aware that the business can live and die with the seasons.
“Thanks to some good rain, the dams are full and farmers are in a position that they do not normally find themselves in in that they are trying to find animals to eat the grass,” he says.
“As a consequence, the market is lifting and the sheep and beef guys, the dairy guys and the deer farmers are generally feeling pretty positive at the moment.”
Brendan explains that if it is a dry season then the number of animals disappear out of the area to be fed elsewhere where there is grass.
“We ride the lows and the highs from that point of view, and I am probably oversimplifying it. It is quite a simple business for us on the large animal side, we live and die by their good or bad fortunes.”
In terms of the small animal side of the business, Brendan admits it is driven by how well the Bay is travelling economically and is well measured at the Hastings clinic.
“You may have noticed Hawke’s Bay is bursting at the seams in terms of people wanting to move in here,” he says.
“Most people have pets and when people have got money, they are prepared to spend money on looking after their pets better and prolonging their life.
“It’s interesting seeing the different dynamics of our client base and just how they ride on what is happening economically.”
Because of this, VSHB has to expand two of its clinics to cater for this demand.
“It’s a good problem to have, even if it is a little bit uncomfortable for the guys at the moment because we are really busy and they are working on top of each other. But if we have to create more space for the right things for the right reasons, then it is a good thing to be able to do.”
Beyond this, Brendan believes that what makes his business successful is that the company is owned by the people who work for it every day.
“It makes a difference for the clients due to the quality of our staff. We want to make sure that we deliver the best experience for our clients every time because if we don’t, they don’t return.
“At the end of the day, we are in a service industry so it doesn’t matter how good the seasons are, if you don’t deliver good service you won’t have clients coming back.”
Forward thinking has allowed one CHB start-up to move farmers into the 21st century – by keeping their heads in the cloud and their boots on the ground.
You wouldn’t know that Cloud Farmer took flight from a farm half an hour out of Waipukurau with scant access to the Internet four years ago. Designed by AgRecord, the program has essentially transferred the trusted notebook onto the computer.
“Cloud Farmer is a really simple way for farmers to capture, store and share operational data from their farms,” says AgRecord managing director Gretchen King.
“Before, the way the majority of farmers captured this information was to write it down in a notebook and then come home and transfer it to the diary. Our program eliminates this last step.”
While Gretchen may not have invented the program (she and her husband bought it from a friend in 2013), she certainly saw its potential on any farm, anywhere.
“A friend of mine Ginny Neal came up with the original program. At the time, Ginny and her husband managed Castlepoint Station in Wairarapa and she designed the program because she was sick of having to chase up staff for time sheets and tallies.”
So, necessity being the mother of invention, Ginny built the first version of what is now Cloud Farmer.
“She built a small version for their farm; it was basically an intranet and they used Wikispaces, and while it was as clunky as clunky, it worked,” says Gretchen.
“One of the downsides was, however, they had to build it from scratch for every single client.”
Despite this, Castlepoint Station won a local farming competition, which gave the program some media attention. It was then that business for the program boomed.
“Ginny asked if we, myself and my husband Leyton, wanted to buy the program as she didn’t have time for it anymore. So we did and we set about making it more designer and user-friendly,” says Gretchen.
“What Ginny had done for us though through her program was show us that there
was a need for something like Cloud Farmer, what was being used in the application, what wasn’t, what was needed and what was wanted.
“That was huge, because often people have a long list of wants, which makes it hard to pick out what their needs are.’
With a good base program to start from, Gretchen and her team set about addressing other issues with the program.
“The biggest challenge was keeping Cloud Farmer simple,” she says.
“There are other programs out there but they involve really sophisticated software, often beyond what most farmers – who are used to jotting down notes on the back of a cigarette packet – are willing to learn.
“Our points of difference are the simplicity of the program and our ability to be able to customise it for each individual business. Those are great strengths to have.”
After addressing the challenges something new to an old sector can bring, Gretchen knew the next step would be to design a smartphone application.
This came to fruition last year with the launch of the Cloud Farmer phone app, which syncs with the original computer program.
“Farmers can use it just like they would their notebook, collecting information on the go, with or without Wi-Fi coverage.
“With the app, farmers can jot down tallies, staff hours, drench records, log hazards, you name it. It’s just as quick as writing it in your trusty old notebook,” says Gretchen.
“The data from your app syncs back to your main Cloud Farmer desktop system.”
Thanks to the app, all staff members can have access to the same information, be it diaries, maps or job lists.
“Before, the boss would tell you the day’s plan as you were heading out with your dogs, all the information would be stored in his head. With Cloud Farmer, all staff members have access to this information and they can input their own information or file their time sheets and tallies for the day. “So it now becomes about transparency of information and getting everyone involved in the work; in terms of creating a team culture, this is great.”
Moreover, with Cloud Farmer now available as a smartphone app, Gretchen says the program appeals to a far bigger clientele than the original sheep and beef farmers; now other types of farming business, right through to the one-man bands, are using her product.
While the Kings are looking at taking their start-up global (they already have clients as far afield as Scotland), they are taking their time.
“We don’t want to become victims of our own success,” Gretchen says. “We are happy for the moment saturating our own little corner of the market.
“For now, we will take stock of what we have and continually improve and update it so we can provide the best product to our customers.” www.agrecord.co.nz
With a brand new council comes a bold new vision that will see Central Hawke’s Bay thrive well into the future.
Less than a year into the new triennial and with a drive to understand what their constituents want for the future of the district, the newly elected councillors of CHB ventured out into the community.
As part of the annual plan or ‘Thrive’ process, the council held 10 separate meetings in a format where people could discuss their ideas as opposed to the more traditional method of lodging written submissions.
Mayor Alex Walker says this method was chosen because there was confusion between public engagement and public consultation.
“As a new group of councillors we knew coming in that we had a community that felt a bit disconnected from what council is doing,” Alex says.
“The traditionally described methods of consultation end up being quite combative and confrontational, which is actually not conducive to solving problems.”
According to Alex, councillors knew that CHB needed to have plans in place that not only allowed current generations to prosper today but well into the future.
“It is a move away from councils doing things for you to councils doing things with you, where good engagement is feeding good decision-making,” she says.
“It is a subtle shift in the way local democracy could and should be working and that is a really important driver for me.”
It seemed to have worked for council, which Alex reports received great feedback from its constituents.
“A really positive thing that came out of it was the sense of pride that people have for CHB,” she says.
“They are really committed and really love everything that we have here, what we stand for and our sense of community.”
So effective was the engagement approach, Alex says it produced a two-part report that will be used by council as
a cornerstone document to guide not only their annual plan but the long-term plan’s budgets and policy frameworks.
“It’s going to feed into all the key documents that we have and also into the business plan that council operates under,” she says.
“The next step is council working through the priorities and what the big transformational moves are and what we need to do to make some of these come to life.”
The first-time mayor admits that one of the things that surprised her was how strong the common themes were that came out of the 10 meetings held in different parts of the district, such as connectivity, prosperity and respect for the environment.
“I think the amount of consensus there was on what was viewed as important for CHB, it probably shouldn’t have surprised us but it did,” she said.
On the other side of the coin, Alex says that while a strong sense of identity as a district came through in the common themes, each of the smaller communities such as Porangahau and Tikokino have their own clear identity.
“So, one of the initiatives that will come out of this is the idea of doing community plans for each of our settlement spaces so that they own and drive the way that council works with them,” says Alex.
So how does ‘Thrive’ support local businesses?
“Thrive benefits the whole community – schools, families and businesses. It is for everybody,” says Alex.
“When it comes to business, it is about creating a positive space; what benefits the community will benefit business.”
What started out as a values-based discussion amongst elected representatives has become a concept embraced by the CHB community.
“Thrive turned into a term that clearly encompassed our vision for the district, being able to thrive and grow and be successful,” Alex says.
“This is not just my vision, it is not just the council’s vision, it is the vision of the whole community.”
Central Hawke’s Bay is defined by its boundaries, from the base of the 200-million-year-old Ruahine Range out to the Pacific Ocean on the East Coast. State Highway 2 runs through the centre of the region, with Napier’s port and airport around 70 kilometres away. Central Hawke’s Bay (or CHB as it’s usually referred to) is also well served by rail, with a station in Waipukurau en-route for trains running from Wellington to Napier, via Palmerston North.
Waipukurau and Waipawa are the largest townships, with many other settlements dotted around the region including Elsthorpe, Tikokino, Takapau, Otane and Porangahau.
CHB’s economy is largely based around the primary production sector, with the largest contributor being agriculture, along with its related food processing facilities and supporting agribusiness. Although accounting for only five percent of Hawke’s Bay’s regional population, CHB produces 20 percent of its exports. The Takapau freezing works Ovation’s processing facility provides vital employment for CHB residents as well as the greater Hawke’s Bay population, with many employees from Hastings and Napier making the daily trek to CHB for work.
Tourism is also a big earner for CHB. Mayor Alex Walker reports more than $26 million is brought in each year through events, cycling and walking trails and beach-related activities.**
While agriculture and tourism may be prosperous, economic indicators for the 2016 calendar year show CHB was the only district in Hawke’s Bay to record a decline in the value of both consented new dwellings and new non-residential buildings.
The good news is that in general, CHB is experiencing increased capital value growth for properties. The median residential property value in Waipukurau lifted from $215,500 in April 2017 to $281,000 in June 2017.
Andrew Chambers is a registered valuer and owner of the Property InDepth franchise for Hawke’s Bay, covering CHB. He says the residential property markets in Waipukurau, Waipawa and Otane are active and steady.
“Purchasers include those trading up in property (second and third homebuyers), investors and first-time homebuyers, including those who commute to Hastings or Napier for work. The lower capital entry levels have allowed a number of first homebuyers to get their foot on the property ladder and the lower fuel costs and current interest rate environment have contributed to making the first home purchases possible. I think CHB will continue to be a steady and stable market due to affordability issues in Hastings and Napier and any slowdown will likely come from interest rate rises and upward pressure on fuel pump prices, the latter being in the spotlight at the moment,” he says.
Andrew notes there appears to be less vacant retail space in Waipukurau than there has been for some time, with commercial rents stable and the uptake of space a reflection on the improved farm-gate returns experienced for the past few years. Likewise, domestic housing rents have been stable for a number of years, with modest growth over the past 12 months.
Primary production accounts for around 95 percent of CHB’s land use. While the residential sector in New Zealand is in the spotlight at present, Andrew says the rural property market has a dynamic of its own with different drivers.
“The CHB lifestyle property market tends to mirror the residential market and has seen a lift in sales volumes and general appreciation in capital values. The sector including large farms has seen a steady number of transactions. New Zealand is at a crossroads of sorts though; with the average age of the New Zealand farmer around 65, succession plans for these properties can be somewhat difficult if ongoing family ownership is desired versus selling on the open market.
“There has been a trend to increase the size of farming operations over the past 10 to 15 years, but the capital required along with the element of ‘fairness’ in some family situations has meant that the next generation has opted out as they do not wish to carry large debt burdens. As a result, there has been an increase of company farming operations and syndicated farm ownership.”
Business Hawke’s Bay reports that there is a large area of rural land in CHB that has “untapped potential” and that the district could benefit from “increased employment opportunities”.
Andrew agrees that CHB is not thriving but holding its own.
“Waipukurau provides a vital service centre to a large farming community. There has been huge uncertainty around the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme (the dam). It is my personal opinion that the dam would have provided a much needed injection for CHB, but I am not sure that particular soap opera is over yet.
“If house prices in Hastings and Napier continue the current upward trend, I think you will see more first homebuyers looking more closely at the CHB towns and commuting. If the dam is ever given a green light, I envisage this would create a quick, above-average level of growth in the short term, levelling out to a moderate level of growth.”
With the dam issue now out of its hands, it’s a case of wait and see for CHB.
It took a while to take off, but the Hawke’s Bay craft brewing industry is now going from strength to strength as demand grows for fresh, local beers.
There’s plenty of fizz in Hawke’s Bay’s growing craft beer scene at the moment – just ask Giant Brewing’s Chris Ormond (pictured above) and Matt Smith of Brave.
Chris is shifting Giant’s production facility from the back corner of the Origin Earth cheese factory on the outskirts of Havelock North to its own space in the heart of the village. While Matt has moved Brave from his garage to a brewing facility in Hastings, which doubles as a off-licence and bar.
Giant’s move to a larger, more prominent site is just one example of the growth that’s evident as Hawke’s Bay’s craft beer industry continues to go from strength to strength.
The new Donnelly Street location – expected to be up and running by the end of the year – will give Chris more room to brew and also paves the way for plans to sell his beers directly to the public.
“Our bread and butter is wholesaling to mainly local customers. We’ll continue to do
that but next year, we’ll look to add an off- license so we can also do flagon filling and bottle sales,” he says.
It’s almost three years since Chris, a journalist by trade and long-time home brew enthusiast, launched the Giant label with two hands-off partners, including brother Tom who runs Havelock North’s Hawthorne Coffee.
Since those early days, the Giant Brewing label has popped up in a growing number of bars, cafes and shops across Hawke’s Bay and as far afield as Auckland and Blenheim.
The growth of the business has seen it morph from a part-time interest to a full- time gig for Chris this year and Giant’s success reflects premium beer’s growing popularity in the region.
“In the last three years the Hawke’s Bay craft beer scene has really developed. It’s come ahead in leaps and bounds. When we started there wasn’t a huge amount of craft beer in a lot of the boutique cafes and restaurants,” Chris says.
“I talked to quite a few of them and most were keen to get some Giants in the fridge
and they showed a lot of support, and a lot of the ones we started off with are still buying the beer on a weekly or fortnightly basis and it’s gone down really well.”
Chris says 90 per cent of Giant’s business is from repeat customers who re-order on a weekly or fortnightly basis and he’s keen to keep it as a “boutique” operation.
“World domination is certainly not on the agenda. We just want to really get the Hawke’s Bay side of things going as well as we can, get off-license sales up and running, and maintain the good out-of-town customers we’ve got.”
Giant’s steady growth off the back of the local beer market demanding more sophistication and variety is echoed by developments across other Hawke’s Bay players in the craft beer industry, which includes Fat Monk Brewery, Roosters Brew House, Hawke’s Bay Independent Brewery, Zeelandt Brewing, Godsown Brewery and Napier Brewing Company.
Brave – a hobby that got out of control
Matt, who founded Hastings-based Brave Brewing with wife Gemma three years ago, says he’s been blown away by the success of what he calls “a hobby that got out of control”.
Matt & Gemma of Brave
“We started in my home garage, alongside a full-time day job, and just chipped away at it
slowly. Without taking on too much risk and debt at any one time, we upgraded in small steps when we needed to.”
Now Brave has a brewery, cellar door and tasting room at a Warren Street space it shares with Carr’s Kitchen and is brewing its full capacity of 1,000 litres of beer a week.
That will change early next year when a new brewing kit arrives and Matt will be able to quadruple the size of the batch he can brew at any one time.
Matt was stoked to pick up seven medals and the trophy for Best in Class in the US Ale category at this year’s Brewers Guild of NZ Awards, announced in October.
“To be recognised alongside some of the really good, well-established breweries who have a bit of a team behind them, and rostered brewing shifts and fancy equipment and all that sort of thing. It’s pretty cool to be in the same sort of league as them.”
Like Chris, Matt says his future plans are focused on primarily serving the local region.
“I’d like to keep things reasonably small. I’d like to see us as a Hawke’s Bay brewer in the first instance – doing some keg and bottle sales outside Hawke’s Bay but keeping it at a nice manageable level where it’s a lifestyle as much as a business,” he says.
“I don’t have any aspirations for us to become a big million-litre-a-year type of place. I’m quite happy being a smaller player.”
A major redevelopment of the Hawke’s Bay Airport is underway that will ensure the terminal is fit for purpose after a 37 percent increase in passengers over the last two years.
The airport is flying high at the moment, having reported a record net profit of $1.7m on a turnover of $6.1 million for the year ended June 2017. The Airport Company achieved all its financial performance targets, with revenue up 16 percent from the previous year.
Construction will be in full swing over summer, with a temporary arrivals hall being set up in the area formally used for rental car parking to enable a new arrivals area to be built at the southern end of the terminal.
Hawke’s Bay Airport chief executive Nick Story says strong passenger growth and the resulting demands on existing airport infrastructure is the catalyst for the multimillion-dollar expansion. In the last two years passenger movements have risen 37 per cent to 652,000 passengers.
There was an 11 percent increase in aircraft movements for the year with a total of 14,256.
“We have had exponential growth over the last couple of years due to a significant increase in airline capacity, driven by the arrival of a second airline in Jetstar and Air New Zealand switching to larger capacity aircrafts, all of which has created competition for passengers and enabled growth of the region’s business and tourism sectors.”
The expanded terminal will increase in size from 2,500 m2 to 3,800 m2 to accommodate the growth in passenger movements and visitors to the airport.
“The airport is a major gateway for the region, so as well as catering for increased passengers and visitors, the expansion is also about enhancing their experience,” Nick says.
As The Profit was going to print, the lead construction contractor was due to be confimed. A local project manager, Steve Birkhead, has been involved through the final design stages of the project and will continue in this role through to the terminal being fully operational in early 2019.
The staged construction project will see the new check-in area constructed at the southern end of the terminal, followed by a central area with a large cafe accommodating 110 people, visitor seating and new bathrooms.
Stage 3 will be a new automated baggage handling system at the northern end, a dedicated arrivals gate, new offices for Air New Zealand, Jetstar and Sound Air, as well as a substantially expanded Air New Zealand regional lounge and rental car concierge area.
During construction Air New Zealand will relocate its regional lounge to a pre-fabricated building to be situated in the current staff car park area.
“We are aiming to keep the airport operating on a business as usual basis. There will be disruptions but our aim is to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible.
“We will have something exciting to look forward to in 2019, a larger, more functional and vibrant terminal.”
Nick says the design enables future growth with the majority of the complex design elements in the centre of the building, making additional expansion to the north simple and cost-efficient.
The project is to be internally funded by Hawke’s Bay Airport Limited, enabled by the airport company’s strong financial performance, and will not require any financial support from current shareholders Napier City Council, Hastings District Council and the Crown.
The new-look terminal has been designed by local architects Paris Magdalinos Architects. PMA architect Chris Ainsworth said the terminal has been designed in the shape of a Kuaka (godwit) bird in flight.
“A key consideration of the brief was to tell the story of the Hawke’s Bay area, which had to be integrated into the building’s architecture and not simply applied later on by using artwork. It is important to tell our story, in what is one of the key gateways into the Hawke’s Bay.
“The Kuaka achieves some amazing feats, flying over 8,000 kilometres every year to Alaska, which is pretty incredible for such a small bird,” says Chris.
The Kuaka-inspired shape will be further showcased inside the terminal using a modern approach to traditional Maori carving.
A new entranceway to the airport is also progressing well and under development at the intersection of Watchman Road, SH2 and Meeanee Quay. This project will be completed by August 2018.
