| 109 Maycroft Construction: Manukura Campus Palmerston North A greenfield site for the new campus was located on land owned by Massey University, adjacent to the University’s own campus, and leased by the Ministry of Education. Gymleader has been part of New Zealand’s sporting fabric for 59 years, and has evolved to become the country’s leading manufacturer of indoor and outdoor sporting equipment. Always family owned and operated, the business was bought by Mark and Karen Millar in 2014, who have continued to develop the business as a one-stop-shop o ering from design and manufacture right through to installation and servicing. “Design and speci ication is one of the key things that I am involved in,” says Mark. “For the construction of a new facility, like Manukura Campus, I work closely with architects and engineers to ensure the building the equipment is going into will handle the loads that carry the various sports equipment hung from ceilings and walls. We then work with the contracted builder in regard to the manufacture and supply of the equipment. We also work directly with schools when equipment needs to be replaced, and there are a number of sports distributors who sell from our catalogue.” Gymleader’s extensive catalogue boasts over 250 products, catering to more than 30 sporting codes, with basketball taking centre court. “We’re the only manufacturer that is able to out it an entire school, college or university on all sports from scratch,” says Mark. “We also have the lexibility to custommake products to suit individual Leading the way in sport needs, guaranteeing a tailored it for our clients’ speci ic sporting requirements. Manukura Campus was a complete design, manufacture and installation project for both indoor and outdoor equipment including volley ball, basketball, netball, badminton — all the classic sports equipment have been manufactured and supplied by us.” Operating from a factory in Mount Wellington, the small but talented team at Gymleader manufacture equipment for clients throughout New Zealand, with some exports to the Paci ic Islands. “We have a team of about a dozen, made up of steel fabricators, wood workers — because we also make equipment like vaulting horses — and upholsterers. We also travel around the country installing the equipment and have a separate division that maintains the equipment. Our team is integral to the business, without themwe have no business. Some of them are approaching thirty years tenure.” Mark says that in the time he and Karen have been at the helm of the business, there has been a signi icant increase in interactions with architects and designers, which has been a key success factor. “We’ve provided themwith computer design tools that enable them to incorporate the sports equipment into their plans to get an e icient and functional space.” COMMUNITY
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