Ravensdown to open new Hornby office

ALAN WOOD AND LIZ MCDONALD

Fertiliser manufacturer Ravensdown is spending more than $20 million on new office headquarters and a revamp of its supply line as it concentrates operations in the Christchurch suburb of Hornby.

Construction has begun as it confirms head office will stay outside the central city. Before the 2010-11 Canterbury earthquakes, the manufacturer had about 120 head office staff in the central business district.

Now there are 200 staff at Hornby, which chief executive Greg Campbell says is not a lonely location given the amount of commercial building that continues to take place.

Before the quakes, the farmer-owned co-operative worked from leased premises in Oxford Tce in the central city, after moving its head office up from Dunedin in the late 1990s.

Campbell said building on the land made sense, as it had been under-used and as they wanted to stay in Christchurch. There was also the replacement of older earthquake-compromised storage buildings that had been pulled down.

"The office is only one part, because we are investing in a whole lot of infrastructure across the country. In Hornby, for example, we are looking at new large stores, taking delivery of a new materials handling system.

"We're replacing conveyors and have got a new blending system ... which is the way we handle product on site here ... that increases the load out (by truck) by four or five times faster than our existing one."

Ravensdown supplies fertiliser to the farming community by truck and also by Cresco aircraft through its 100 per cent-owned subsidiary, Aerowork.

The new 1700 sqm single-storey office will be of similar size to the old building and include a customer centre. The site is on Main South Rd.

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Ravensdown to open new Hornby office