Engineering firm doubles in size with Eastland aquisition

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

THE stars aligned for returning Gisborne couple Ellyce and Alan Hemmings who decided to start up their own engineering firm in the middle of Gisborne’s construction boom.

The couple came back from Dunedin and started Supreme Engineering in November, last year.

Since then the company has been on a meteoric rise, acquiring long-standing Gisborne business Eastland Engineering within just months.

They now intend to consolidate the two businesses under the Supreme Engineering brand, making it one of the largest general and structural engineering companies in Gisborne.

“It has always been my ambition to have my own business and I could see there was room for it in Gisborne. So, that’s what led me to start my own company and it has just expanded quicker than we thought,” Mr Hemmings said.

“We have inherited another five guys on the floor, so now we have 10. We always wanted to expand but we didn’t think it would be this fast — everything has just aligned.

“There’s heaps happening at the moment. Gisborne is booming and there are a lot of projects, and a lot of development going on.”

The company would continue to operate from two sites — the former Eastland Engineering workshop on Lytton Road and a smaller workshop on Innes Street, which would continue to be used for stainless steel work.

Mr Hemmings said the company was pricing up a lot of jobs for schools around the area and looking to expand work with the likes of Cedenco and LeaderBrand, as well as dealing with existing clients in the building industry.

“We’re up and down the Coast doing work but there’s always job opportunities outside of that we are pursuing.”

The couple, who are expecting their first child, said they were proud to be “Gizzy locals” and were dedicated to providing a good service for people of the area.