News

Affordability, available services, a supportive planning environment and easy access to distribution points have been credited, alongside earthquake relocations, for a record sales year for the Izone business hub at Rolleston in 2012. 

Owned by the Selwyn District Council and managed by Hughes Developments, Izone sold 28.46 hectares last year with a value of nearly $30 million. 

Izone incorporates 180 master-planned hectares, which are either developed or zoned and ready to receive services and infrastructure, making it New Zealand’s largest industrial development. More than 40 companies in the manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, and agricultural sectors are either on site or well into the design or development phase. 

Director of Hughes Developments says there has been a tendency in some parts of the property development industry to assume that there’s a lot of post earthquake insurance money around and companies are anxious to set up anywhere that’s fast and convenient. But he says that’s not Izone’s experience.

“We’re finding that our buyers, often very big companies with very big budgets, are still prioritising the bottom line and are thinking long term. We have had to show that purchasing at Izone makes economic sense well beyond the immediacy of the revenues being generated by the Canterbury recovery.

“We’ve developed the mantra ‘cost matters’ and it is a message that’s catching on with potential buyers and lessees.

“By ‘cost matters’ we mean that Izone has to stack up economically for companies and that’s not just about finding somewhere convenient to shift to after the earthquake. It means having the right facilities, the right prices, and the right support mechanisms to make establishing at Izone the overall best package.

“We understand that property costs have to be capped and relative to the total operating costs for businesses, which is why we pride ourselves on offering state of the art product at around 40 to 60 per cent cheaper than other industrial sites in or around Christchurch. We further reduce costs to companies because Izone has been set up specifically for industry, which means we don’t charge any development contributions. That alone is a substantial saving on set-up costs because, for large businesses especially, development contributions can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Companies that have recently purchased at Izone in 2012 include: Pegasus Engineering, a large structural steel fabricator; Moffat Group, whichmanufactures and exports a range of commercial food service products and equipment worldwide; Hynds, a large infrastructure company relocating from Hornby to meet an expanding market; furniture manufacturer Synargy; carpet  and rug manufacturer CRONZ and some 17 other companies.

Currently eight sites are opened up with new building construction under way. This will add in excess of 13,000m2 of building.

The first 5 stages are all but sold out and stage 6 covering 60 hectares opened for sale during 2012 and has already met with strong interest.

“It’s all evidence that people are waking up to the fact that Izone is only  ten minutes from Hornby and that you can  purchase in a state-of-the-art development  at substantially cheaper prices than in Christchurch,” Hughes says. “Buyers are also very much aware of the potential labour market in the expanding western suburbs of Christchurch and at Rolleston, one of New Zealand’s fastest growing towns.” 

Hughes says the location will become even more attractive, once the construction of the new Christchurch Southern Motorway is completed, which will terminate at Rolleston and connect Izone directly to Christchurch and Lyttelton Port via a four-lane highway.