Business North March 2021

48 | New premises will boost production Karen Phelps Harkin Roofing’s new custom-built 1200sqm premises at the Tauriko Business Park in Tauranga. CONTRACTING Harkin Roofing BOP “We were already well known having been around for more than 40 years but this project has just put us even more on the map, highlighting the skills of our whole team.” H arkin Roofing is set to move to custom built premises at 94 Gargan Road in Tauriko, Tauranga, that will enable the company to step up production to meet customer demand, says Deborah Harkin who owns the company with brother Brad. The new 1200sqm premises - around dou- ble the size of the previous facility - will see Harkin Roofing significantly expand its flashing manufacturing arm, increasing production from around 200 metres per day to 500 metres via two new machines with potential to increase capacity to up to 1000 metres if required. Deborah says that the new computerised equipment will increase accuracy along with capacity and remove the majority of the man- ual element from the process. It’s also a point of difference. “Most roofing companies don’t manufacture their own flashings. This means we have the ability to respond very quickly to our cus- tomers’ needs,” she says noting that the new premises, which the company will begin oper- ations from in October, will also include large office spaces and meeting rooms, further enhancing efficiencies. Harkin Roofing was started in 1979 by Deborah and Brad’s parents Rex and Sue. Deborah and Brad took over the management of the company in 2015 and are now the sole owners and have a focus on continued growth. Harkin Roofing purely focuses on the commercial and industrial markets and has supplied and installed roofs to a range of commercial and industrial buildings over the years from supermarkets, shopping centres, schools, malls and warehouses. “We just love big commercial projects,” en- thuses Deborah. “It’s a real passion of ours.” A case in point is a significant project the company recently completed which saw it supply and install 50,000sqm Kingspan roof for the new APL facility in Cambridge. It was not only Harkin Roofing’s largest project ever but also the largest Kingspan insulated panel project for Australasia. Harkin Roofing assisted the client from the design phase to ensure everything went smoothly on the project, which involved roofing, wall cladding, soffits and skylight cladding. Out of the ordinary design features, including a ‘hammer end’, which was a great challenge for the onsite team to install to a high standard. Harkin Roofing has been on site working on the project since July 2019 and expect to complete the project in the next month or so. “We were already well known having been around for more than 40 years but this project has just put us even more on the map, high- lighting the skills of our whole team.” Other high profile past projects include 37,000sqm of roofing for Visy packaging in Hamilton and the Bayfair Shopping Centre project. Deborah says that it is Harkin Roofing’s professional team who are experts and have a strong emphasis on quality control that results in a consistently high standard of workmanship. The company’s services include supply and installation of long-run roofing and cladding, membrane products, the Kingspan insulated panel system and edge protection. Deborah says insulated panel has become a larger part of the company’s work due to increasing awareness around the advantages of better insulated buildings. “People think a lot more now about what the building will be used for and what prod- ucts will best suit their needs into the future.” Konnect would like to congratulate the Harkin team on their new building.