Building a future part of the plan

Commercial builder Anthony Leighs

Commercial builder Anthony Leighs is on the way to Auckland with advertisements placed to attract new staff and eyes wide open to work opportunities.

The Christchurch rebuild entrepreneur will spend more time on flights north as he looks to win commercial education and health projects and considers whether larger residential developments are a new source of revenues.

While the Queen City juts out of the horizon, Leighs is keeping a good chunk of his business heart in in the Garden City.

The growth in Auckland will be organic, with 20-30 staff to be added in the next 12 months and hopes that new projects will get under way in the new financial year from April and May.

"I'm working on growth up [in Auckland] that in 12-18 months will probably have a quarter of what we've got [in Christchurch] by way of revenue size . . . in four years there will probably be more of a 50/50 split between the two," he says.

His family trust-owned Leighs Construction has been in business for nearly 20 years. Its annual revenue is in the order of $150 million and expects revenue in the $200-$300m range within four years.

It has four directors including Paul Young, Peter Young (chairman), Brian Nightingale and Leighs, still aged in his early 40s. It is looking for a fifth Auckland-based board member.

"I'll probably see myself in Auckland and couple of days a week going forward," Leighs says.

The managing director is making the most of existing Canterbury clients in getting Auckland work lined up.

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Building a future part of the plan