One of the things the things that sets Christchurch’s Empire Glass apart is that it is a full-service glazing company, dealing with all types of glass, and across all sectors. With six vans on the road and a team of eleven staff, Empire Glass offers everything from frameless glass showers, balustrades, splash backs, mirrors, contract site glazing, double glazing retro-fitted to existing timber and aluminium joinery, right through to custom and bespoke items. But its founder and Managing Director Nathan Cadman says that it is his team and the workplace culture that puts the shine on the business. “I have not been to many workplaces that have a culture as good as ours. Everyone has overlapping interests and everyone clicks. But they understand the work ethic that is required and the quality of work that I’m after. They all have the sense of urgency that we need to work to. Generally, my expectations are significantly higher than what our clients’ expectations would be. More often than not we will get a phone call during the week saying how lovely it was seeing the team working together and how wonderful the job was. That’s not something we take for granted.” After a successful career working for one of New Zealand’s leading glass companies, starting out as a labourer and finishing as a Business Development Manager, Nathan knew the time was right to steer his own ship. “I started Empire Glass in 2015 with just me, but that quickly grew and continued to grow year-on-year. While it wasn’t my intention to do contract site glazing — fitting glass into new aluminium joinery in architectural residential and commercial sites — that quickly became a substantial part of the business, and we now have six guys dedicated to contract work. Our core client sectors include retail, architects and commercial.” Eighteen months ago Empire Glass moved into a new 550sqm factory in Bromley, and is about a month away from having its showroom completed. “We have a relationship with Juralco NZ, which is a glass hardware specialist and we specialise in the supply and installation of their products, as well as other products. The showroom will display all the balustrade samples, the range of showers, different colours of hinges, and different types of handles. It will be minimal but effective.” While acknowledging the beauty of glass, Nathan says adopting a minimalistic approach can often present better results than cladding everything in glass. “For me, less is more. We’re pretty particular in how we finish things, so that the glass accents the work of everyone else involved in a project. Sometimes you don’t want the glass to be the main feature, but to make everything else shine. As most people will attest, I am very particular with how we finish things.” Simon Fenwick and his development company Nest Residential have enjoyed a long relationship with Empire Glass who has supplied about fifty showers in various residential developments over the years. “It was through our relationship with Simon that we also supplied showers for Table Tennis Canterbury’s new facility,” says Nathan. Everything Glass at Empire
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