Business North March 2021

50 | Natural Habitats Landscape leader making its mark T Richard Loader Graham Cleary: “The innovation, creativity, passion and sheer force of will to protect and enhance our precious environment was incredible.” CONTRACTING F inalists in the 2020 Sustainable Business Network Awards, the team at New Zea- land’s leading design-and-build landscape company Natural Habitats were humbled by the calibre of this year’s entrants and the land- scaping work that is being done throughout New Zealand. Company founder Graham Cleary says entering the competition’s Restoring Nature category and seeing the work of the other entrants provided invaluable inspiration to do more. “The innovation, creativity, passion and sheer force of will to protect and enhance our precious environment was incredible.” Natural Habitat’s entry reflected the plant- ing and restoration works completed as part of the Waikato Expressway Alliance for Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency. Over the course of five years the project involved planting 1.3 million trees, which were all eco sourced from the local area; restoring a wetland and a number of small lakes and gen- erally contributing to a dramatic improvement of the natural landscape to support improve- ment in local biodiversity. While not winning the competition, being named finalist was high praise for the work completed by Natural Habitats over an ex- tended period of time. While the roots of Natural Habitats stem back to 1978, when as a young Kiwi with a green thumb and a wheel barrow Graham first began digging holes, the company was not officially founded until 1985. Now a multi-award-winning business, Nat- ural Habitats has steadily grown from a small backyard operation based in Auckland to be- come one of New Zealand’s largest and most reputable end-to-end landscaping companies. With satellite offices in Hamilton, Wel- lington, Christchurch and Queenstown and employing a skilled team of over 150 staff, projects are completed throughout New Zea- land as well as the South Pacific and Fiji. “We run the full gambit from civil to commercial to high-end residential projects, offering end-to-end landscaping services,” says Graham. “Across these categories we work with a number of sectors including transportation, parks, education, stadiums, business parks and shopping centres—just to name a few.” In layman’s terms Graham explains that end-to-end landscaping services means offer- ing everything from landscape design through to build including landscape construction, pools, lighting, paving and soft landscaping, to property maintenance. “We do not have a one size fits all approach, every solution that we create for clients is totally bespoke. “We also do a lot in the ecological restora- tion space— re-vegetation projects, restoring wetlands and waterways, and we also hold the patented technology for New Zealand’s leading green technology. That means we de- sign, construct and care for spectacular green walls, roofs and eco-gabions right across the country.” Looking back at the business that has been his life for more than four decades, Graham says quality workmanship and safety has always been a given. “I think it’s partially the quality of the expe- rience we bring to clients that stands us apart, which is really the whole customer service piece. Also, being able to innovate things of value is so important. For example, right at the moment we’re looking at how we can really add value to the social good equation on our projects, and what this means to us as landscapers.” “We do not have a one size fits all approach, every solution that we create for clients is totally bespoke.” Growing for landscapers & retailers for over 45 years Ardmore nurseries is a certified plant producer under the New zealand plant production biosecurity scheme Fair-trade and biodegradable hessian-balled plants available during planting season (Autumn-winter) sales@ardmorenurseries.co.nz ardmorenurseries.co.nz PH: 09 292 8661 The greenwall designed and built by Natural Habitats in the atrium on Takutai Square in the Britomart precinct in Auckland.