20 | HW Richardson Group “That’s a large investment from us but it needs to happen to ensure we have the foot traffic to make the whole block work. The CBD redevelopment will be the cornerstone project that gets the town back on track again.” REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT - SOUTHLAND HWR – passion and productivity T Richard Loader Scott and Joc O’Donnell at the opening night of Classic Motorcycle Mecca in Invercargill. T to page 22 When six-year-old Bill Richardson stepped onto the running boards of a 1949 Ford 5-tonner it ignited a passion for trucks that would endure a life time and forge the foundations of multidisciplinary Southland-based business, H W Richardson Group (HWR). HWR started in 1982 when Bill took control of the trucking side of a family business whose origins were carriers in the 1800s. Bill’s passion for trucks and machinery and the pioneering ‘can-do’ spirit of his forefathers lead to the acquisition of a broad range of machinery and equipment and the expansion of his business into various sectors throughout New Zealand. When Bill passed away in 2005, governance of the business passed to his widow Shona and their only daughter, Joc O’Donnell, with son-in-law Scott O’Donnell appointed Managing Director. Today HWR embraces significant interests in road transport, petroleum, readymix concrete, road construction and maintenance, quarrying, waste and recycling. Starting with two depots in 1976, Allied Concrete has grown to one of the country’s largest readymix concrete operations with fifty concrete plants and four hundred concrete trucks nationwide. Multiple road transport businesses operate throughout New Zealand, all under different brands and with a number owned in a joint venture structure with local providers. While road construction and maintenance business SouthRoads operates from South of Timaru down, Allied Concrete and petroleum business Allied Petroleum operate the depth and breadth of the country. A separate petroleum business is based in Victoria and stretches across the borders into South Australia and New South Wales. Scott O’Donnell says the core of HWR is around people and machinery and that has been the major point of difference. “We have a saying — ‘HWR is great gear, great people and great mates,’ and that really captures what we do. “We operate good equipment well, we have very good knowledge, we employ the best people we can find, train them well and give them the right tools to get the job done. ‘Great mates’ is about our customers. “We have to make sure we’re really close to our customers and do the best we can for them so they come back and use us time and time again.” Complementing the very successful family business, investment in initiatives that make the community a better place to live is something that both Scott and Joc are deeply passionate about. “HWR is a commercial enterprise and we have to ensure that we make the appropriate profits,” says Scott. “We’re also happy to use those profits to do good for the communities in which we operate so that they can become stronger.” Rejuvenation of Invercargill’s CBD is one such project. Running from State Highway 1 to where it intersects with State Highway 6, the CBD block had suffered from an absence of investment and looked neglected and rundown. “We sat down with Invercargill City Council, Provincial Growth Fund, Community Trust, and Geoff Thompson — a private investor in Invercargill — and pulled together a capital structure to buy the entire block, demolish it and initiate a $165 million project that’s now just over half way built and will deliver a brand new city centre.” In its own right HWR is building a nine-storey office tower in the same block, and will relocate all its staff from suburban Invercargill into the centre of town. “That’s a large investment from us but it needs to happen to ensure we have the foot traffic to make the whole block work. “The CBD redevelopment will be the cornerstone project that gets the town back on track again. The key thing for us is making the town look vibrant and that it has sustainability. BRAZIER scaffolding ltd NO JOB TOO BIG OR TOO SMALL Invercargill 03 214 0664 | 021 272 9435 | office@brazier.co.nz | | Queenstown 03 441 4047 | 021 272 9434 | queenstown@brazier.co.nz | | Dunedin 03 477 0011 | 021 300 426 | dunedin@brazier.co.nz | |
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