Page 12 - HW July 2020

hard news
PlaceMakers closures – and openings
PlaceMakers has closed its Antigua Street branch in Christchurch and the small depot in Helensville that serves Westgate, in West Auckland.
This follows Fletcher Building’s announcements in March and in May that, in response to the Covid-19 market downturn, it was having to make some difficult decisions across the company.
“Regrettably, these decisions affect some of our [PlaceMakers] employees,” says a spokesperson.
“We have redeployed most to other roles or branches within the company and are supporting the small number who will be leaving the company in finding new employment.”
In terms of new stores, work on PlaceMakers Warkworth is proceeding apace, while a new site for stablemate Mico in Matamata has also just opened.
Scheduled to open later this year, the PlaceMakers site at 64 Morrison Drive, Warkworth, comprises an 1,800m2 store and 3,600 m2 yard and will be working with the Silverdale branch for larger interior items.
www.placemakers.co.nz
Funding enables Goodwood to do more good
Goodwood Ltd is receiving a $660,000 investment from the Waste Minimisation Fund, enabling the company to recycle 4,000 tonnes of offcuts and scraps of untreated wood a year into useful products such as horticultural and garden mulch, playground safety surfacing and animal bedding.
The Mount Maunganui-based business has collected 30,000+ tonnes of untreated wood waste from businesses, mostly sawmills, throughout the Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions and diverts it from landfill by transforming it into useful, sustainable items.
https://goodwoodnz.co.nz/
Movers & shakers
MITRE 10 HAS just made two new key appointments, relating to people and the customer experience.
Experienced people
leader, senior executive and director, Anna Campbell, has joined
the co-op as
Chief People
& Capability
Officer. Her career includes several years with The Warehouse Group before becoming CEO of FAB Group, one of NZ’s most successful beauty businesses and owner of the Caci Clinic franchise. She counts leading the first team in New Zealand to implement domestic violence leave, before it was mandated by law, as one of her proudest moments. Of her new role, Anna says: “Retail is all about people. Creating an awesome customer experience comes from the team and how they feel about the business.”
e co-op’s other big announcement is the promotion
of Andrea Scown, formerly GM Retail Operations
and an existing Mitre 10 NZ executive leadership team member, as Chief Customer Experience O cer. Andrea
led the Mitre 10 retail operations team through the Covid-19 lockdown and
alert level de-escalation and says it
was incredible to see people across the business synchronising overnight to do what had to be done. Her vision for the future of Mitre 10 is “omni, harnessing digital connection to bring together and humanise the customer experience across all channels and touchpoints”.
Back in April, ITM made two key appointments to strengthen its supply chain.
Brenda Frearson has joined the co-op to head up the Business Insights
& Planning
function
within the
Supply Chain
division. With
a passion for
retail, Brenda
has held
senior roles
encompassing business planning, strategic insights, merchandise and supply chain planning, retail analytics and insights, and inventory optimisation. Before joining ITM, Brenda’s experience has been gained in the UK and in two of New Zealand’s biggest retail companies, e Warehouse and Mitre 10.
Graeme Wallace has also joined the co-op as National Timber Category Manager. Having been in the merchant side of the construction industry for
20+ years, Graeme has been brought in to enhance the new ITM supply chain strategy from a category perspective and speci cally for his timber knowledge in a co-op environment, having spent time with Carters, Mitre 10 and now ITM.
John Sneyd is the new General Manager of the Building Systems Performance branch (BSP) at MBIE. John replaces Anna Cook, Acting GM at BSP, who took on the role following Anna Butler’s departure for the Ministry of Culture
& Heritage early this year. He comes to the role armed with ve and a half years as Chief Legal Advisor at the former Department of Building & Housing (2007-2012), followed by some seven and a half years as Chief Legal Counsel to the Civil Aviation Authority of NZ (2012-2020).
10 NZHJ | JULY 2020
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