By COLIN TAYLOR
Manson Developments in Parnell prides itself on being New Zealand's biggest spec builder.
"We have 40,000sq m of office space under construction, making us the biggest commercial property builder at the moment," says Culum Manson, sales and leasing manager for the family-owned company launched 30 years ago by grandfather Colin and father Ted.
Since then more than 2000 developments have been completed.
The company is building the 28-level Northern Roller Mills Tower, between Fort St and Shortland St, and the adjoining 142-unit Silo Apartments and Gardens complex.
Over the past eight years it has constructed and leased 50,000sq m of office space in the Greenlane southern corridor area alone.
It is now building its Trinity Park office complex at 600 Great South Rd, Greenlane, which is scheduled for completion at the end of 2005.
The office park consists of three four-storey office buildings with floor plates of 1964sq m, 1456sq m and 1323sq m.
The buildings occupy less than 40 per cent of a 1.3ha site that has been designed for maximum "worker friendliness".
A feature is two 50m-long decorative water channels with fountains and waterfalls bordered by palm trees and wide paved walkways.
"Stress is a big thing in the workplace now so we're catering for that," says Manson. "That's why we're providing free gyms for tenants in all our buildings along with features like Zen gardens, cafes, landscaped lunching and breakaway areas."
Trinity Park will also include a fully equipped gym.
"It can cost up to $20,000 to train a call-centre or back-office worker. If they leave in three months because they're not happy with working conditions or take-home pay, it's a big investment lost," he said.
"Companies realise they have to work hard to keep skilled staff and that's why we're putting in additional facilities to create an employee-friendly environment."
Another way this is being achieved is by locating a secure staff carpark underground, leaving surface area for landscaped relaxation areas.
The 700 carparks in the complex provide one carpark per 29.5sq m of rentable space, compared with one carpark per 160sq m in the city.
"Free or very cheap parking is very important to call-centre workers or back-office processing and administration staff who don't earn high wages," says Manson.
Call centres that have moved into Manson buildings in Greenlane include Mercury Energy, the Department for Courts, and the Ministry of Social Development.
Another important consideration for workers is ease of access - Trinity Park is located midway between the Greenlane and Ellerslie/Penrose interchanges on the Southern Motorway. It's a short walk to the Ellerslie/Penrose railway station and Ellerslie shopping centre.
From a management viewpoint the bigger floor plates allow for flexible open-plan layouts so that staff can move around and communicate more easily and efficiently.
Manson says Trinity Park will incorporate the latest technologies for air-conditioning and security.
"There are more computers in the workplace now. They create a lot of heat and are a big drain on services. Tenants want sophisticated air-conditioning systems that operate efficiently and keep staff comfortable.
From management's viewpoint, there's a pool of well-educated staff in the area coming from as far afield as Howick and Pakuranga. The site is 3.5km from Newmarket and 8 minutes' drive to the city or 15 minutes to the airport "in off-peak hours".
Manson Developments undertakes its developments using its own resources.
"We build on spec so we don't need pre-commitment from tenants to get bank funding. If we had to borrow we wouldn't be spec building - the banks wouldn't let us.
"Some people might think we're high-risk spec builders - but we prefer to think we take a calculated punt. We're close to the market and know what's happening.
"We've been doing commercial developments for 10 years now and have a pretty good handle on the property cycle and the requirements of tenants."
The tenants the firm captures tend to be blue chip corporates and Government agencies. In Greenlane it has Mercury Energy, Unisys, Toyota Financial Services, Genesis Power, Wella, Hume Industries, Griffins Foods and Mainland Products and Avanti Finance.
"These companies hire crack consultants that go through everything with a fine-tooth comb. Your game gets lifted or you don't get customers."
As an example, Merck Sharp & Dohme flew experts in from New Jersey to inspect the air-conditioning system in the Colonnade Building in Carlton Gore Rd.
When completed buildings are fully tenanted they are sold to large property investors like insurance companies.
"They basically buy a return on investment. For example our Millennium and Meridian buildings in Greenlane were sold to buyers who purchased a 9 per cent return on the purchase price."
Manson also spreads its development risks across the property stratum with its commercial-to-residential ratio at 60:40.
Residential projects include $30 million in apartments and terraced housing in Takapuna, and luxury homes on Sentinel Pt in Herne Bay.
Manson Developments
Building on spec is the Manson way
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