Southlanders Stay Loyal To South With New Business Venture
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A new player has entered the project and construction management industry in the south with the establishment of MAXIS Projects.
Nick Hamlin, with nineteen years of experience in Project Management, the last eight years as General Manager Southern for Arrow International, is the Managing Director of the new company. After a lengthy career with Arrow, Hamlin had ironically mutually agreed to leave just prior to the news that the company had placed itself in voluntary administration.
With his level of experience Hamlin could have headed off to a big city to take up a lucrative General Manager role but instead Hamlin and his wife Sara, who also has industry experience, have decided to stay committed to the south and strike out on their own in the field of Development & Master Planning, Design Management, Project & Construction Management and Business Consulting.
“There are good opportunities here and in Central Otago and there is a lot of positivity in the region,” says Hamlin. “There is a lot of project work and developments and that feeds off itself. At the moment there is work here with schools, aged care facilities, the CBD development and a new hotel. A lot of specialist resource gets brought in for such jobs whereas with my experience with major projects right across the South Island it will allow businesses to think outside the square and use our services. I have strong relationships with clients, colleagues, contractors and sub-contractors and my eight years as General Manager has given me experience in business development, marketing and strategic planning. I think it has to be good to keep that level of experience and those relationships in the region.”
“The key thing for us is to stay here. We want to support Southland and hopefully we will get that support back. The opportunities are great here, family is here, we own property here and in Central Otago and I have had a long involvement with organisations such as the Southland Sports Car Club and Waihopai Football Club.”
“We definitely want to grow MAXIS Projects, we have some opportunities already and I am keeping in contact with my old colleagues and we have the potential to employ more people later in the year.”
While Hamlin is firmly fixed on the future he says he loved working for Arrow. “They had an amazing culture and I met many fantastic people and clients over the 19 years I was with them. The sad thing about the company going into voluntary administration is the human side – that is 250 staff affected. The company’s South Island projects were tracking very well. Unfortunately it was some major projects in the North Island that caused the issues the company faced.”
However, through the advent of MAXIS Projects the southern region has retained the expertise and experience of Nick Hamlin.