PlaceMakers
PlaceMakers is New Zealand’s largest building materials supplier, employing more than 2100 people and serving more than 300,000 customers.
PlaceMakers also has the largest presence at this exhibition. Together with its suppliers, it occupies 26 stands and is the only exhibitor with its own dedicated zone.
In fact, PlaceMakers has been a platinum sponsor since the first Chinese Building Industry Summit and Expo. Including this year’s summit, it has now exhibited three times in succession.
The company’s Asian Business manager, Keven Chen, said PlaceMakers had two reasons for exhibiting on such a large scale: “One is our confidence in New Zealand’s Chinese property and construction market; the other is to show our support for the Chinese construction industry.”
Keven Chen said New Zealand’s Chinese property and construction sector was a rapidly growing market. “At PlaceMakers’ largest Auckland branch, Mt Wellington, purchases by Chinese builders accounted for 1/3 of total turnover in the 2018 financial year.
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Two of the candidates for PlaceMakers’ 2018–2019 national account manager of the year were Chinese account managers from Mt Wellington. Each generates around NZ$1,000,000 in monthly sales.”
Keven Chen said PlaceMakers placed great importance on New Zealand’s Chinese market and strongly supported the vision of the New Zealand Chinese Building Industry Association. It hoped to use the exhibition to raise its profile in the Chinese community.
He recalled that last year’s event provided excellent networking opportunities, with around 500 people attending the gala dinner. Many industry professionals met through the event, giving them a platform to pursue growth and shared success together.
Oriental Construction Group
Oriental Construction Group is one of New Zealand’s largest locally based Chinese construction groups. Each year, the group undertakes projects with a combined floor area of around 10,000 square metres. Well-known Auckland developments Apopllo Square, Onehunga Bay Terraces, Leroy Suite and the Best Western hotel were all built by Oriental Construction Group!
Zheng Lu, president of New Zealand’s Oriental Construction Group, graduated from Tsinghua University’s School of Architecture and entered New Zealand’s property and construction industry in 1996.
Recalling the situation 20 years ago, Zheng Lu said Chinese businesses were then only small players in the market. “If local European builders were the regular army, we were the guerrillas. Most had no formal training, charged little and delivered fairly average quality.”
In recent years, however, Chinese property developers and builders have become the fastest-growing group in New Zealand’s market, with a market share as high as 1/3, far exceeding the Chinese share of the population.
Oriental Construction Group, for example, is New Zealand’s largest locally based Chinese construction company, excluding companies from mainland China such as China State Construction. It currently employs more than 100 people. 1/3 are non-Chinese staff, originally from more than 10 countries, including the United Kingdom, Brazil and Türkiye.
Oriental Construction Group has exhibited at every New Zealand Chinese Building Industry Summit and Expo since the inaugural event, making this its third consecutive appearance. President Zheng Lu said the company aimed to showcase its strengths as a main contractor providing project management, as well as its capabilities as a subcontractor in in-situ concrete, precast installation, roofing, glass curtain walls, scaffolding, and gutter manufacturing and installation.