10 | REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Landpower - Apollo Projects T T Karen Phelps Growth drives new Chch investment Located on West Coast Road (SH73), the three-hectare site will host a CLAAS Harvest Centre sales, parts and service centre, as well as acting as the parts, training and demonstration hub for eight other dealerships in the South Island. One of Australasia’s largest privately owned farm machinery distributors, Landpower, has commissioned the construction of a multi-million complex on the northwest fringe of Christchurch. With a legacy of nearly 50 years distributing specialist machines, Landpower’s new build is in direct response to a time of growth for the business, with an expanding network of dealerships across Australia and New Zealand, says Landpower CEO, Richard Wilson. “The new complex is a major investment that will underpin increasing demand for high-performance farm machinery and after-sales service and support. “Our mission is to help gear up our customers for success,” he says. “It’s not just about having the best machinery but also providing an unmatched level of after-sales service to keep those machines operating at peak performance throughout the year. A large part of that relies on finding and developing quality staff – people that front up, are happy to work together and are willing to go the extra mile for our customers. Providing a purpose-built, well-equipped workplace and on-going training allows quality people to meet that challenge.” Located on West Coast Road (SH73), the three-hectare site will host a CLAAS Harvest Centre sales, parts and service centre, as well as acting as the parts, training and demonstration hub for eight other dealerships in the South Island. These include CLAAS Harvest Centres in Ashburton, Templeton, Timaru, Waipara and Westland, which Landpower recently acquired from the Carrfields Group. A similar complex outside Hamilton services the six CLAAS Harvest Centres in the North Island. CLAAS Harvest Centre is one of the largest privately owned farm machinery distributors in Australasia. It represents some of the world’s leading farm machinery brands, including CLAAS, AMAZONE, JCB (NZ) and Väderstad (AU), via its network of 33 owned and franchised CLAAS Harvest Centres and 22 independent dealerships throughout New Zealand and Australia. Designed by Christchurch-based architects, Sheppard & Rout, and constructed by Apollo Projects, the Landpower complex is a steel-clad structure that features a large, single-pitched roof soaring to a height of nine metres. It will also include a 420 square metre glass-fronted showroom, 885 square metre administration and training area with floorto-ceiling windows and a 2584 square metre parts warehouse. A massive 1716 square metre workshop with eight service bays and canopy will span the northern face. Architectural Designer Aaron Coster says the building was designed to comply with the new H1 Energy Efficiency standards. “A major contributor to the increased energy efficiency of the office portion of the building is the use of the Dimond Tricore warm roof system,” he says. “The 67 metre-long, single-pitched roof will be manufactured on-site using a containerised roll-former, which will avoid steps in the roofline and result in a more watertight and durable roof. In addition, the workshop and warehouse roof has been designed to allow for the installation of a large bank of solar panels.” The building also utilises the latest ‘thermally broken’ double-glazing window systems from Altus. “One of the challenges encountered during the design process revolved around devis-
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