GoldenEdge MDF fits out Christchurch’s ‘Pop Up’ Mall

When Christchurch’s City Mall ‘popped up’, nine months after the February earthquake,  GoldenEdge MDF was part of the action. The Pop Up Mall fulfilled the promise of having the city centre open by Cup Week in early November, with retailers and cafes clustered around the centerpiece of the Ballantynes’ department store.
The Pop Up Mall was created from shipping containers, and when South Island NPIL Representative Ken Spicer heard word of it he talked with some contacts of his at Placemakers Riccarton.
“They gave us the opportunity to put in a price and we won the contract to supply 25 packs of 12mm GoldenEdge MDF to Leighs Construction as the interior lining for the containers,” he explains. “Timber battens were fixed to the interior of the containers and then the MDF sheets were put in place and sprayed with a white paint finish to achieve a top class surface.”
The container fit out is by far the largest post-quake contract for raw MDF supply. Ken Spicer says the shopping complex is an extraordinary achievement, given that it was built in an eight-week time frame.
“Really when you’re there and inside the shops you wouldn’t know they were shipping containers,” he says. “It’s been very good for morale to have Ballantynes open and the mall up and going,  even though you can see the Grand Chancellor coming down over the fence.”

Praise for NPIL energy savings

NPIL has made major energy savings in a project that is partly funded by the Electricity Commission. They figure it is more efficient for government to help industry to introduce energy efficiencies, than to build new power stations.
The ECCA website now carries two stories about our projects, one featuring the switch to Variable Speed Drives as an energy saver on our fans, and the other about modifications to the compressed air system. Process Engineer James Cameron says even more savings could be made if operators go easy on the compressed air.
“Compressed air is at least 10 times more expensive than supplying other forms of energy, with most of the energy sucked up in producing heat in the compressor,” he says. “Typically a plant wastes as much as 50 percent of its expensive compressed air on inappropriate uses like cooling, artificial demand and on leaks so we are very interested in reducing its consumption as we work to reduce energy use at NPIL.”

Take a look at the ECCA site yourself at  10 ecca likes us 2

Significant for the region

The new NMIT Arts and Media building was officially opened by the Minister of Tertiary Education, Steven Joyce on March 31.
NMIT Chief Executive Tony Gray said the opening was a significant event for the region, with the building being the largest ever capital investment in the arts in the Top of the South.
The building, which was designed by local architects Irving Smith Jack and engineered by Aurecon, is sustainable, environmentally sensitive and local, with the design and resources all being sourced within 100 kilometres of Nelson. It’s a world-first for both its timber earthquake resistance design and its unique Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) primary structure design.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry gave a $1 million grant towards construction costs, to support the forest industry to meet objectives for climate change mitigation as well as creating sustainable resources for commercial building construction.

Support for Earthquake Appeal

The Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11 came hard on the heels of the Christchurch quake on February 22.
Nelson MP and Environment Minister Nick Smith visited our site on May 6 to receive a donation from Nelson Pine Industries Ltd to the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal. NPIL matched the Yen 5 million  (NZ$80,000) donated by its parent company Sumitomo Forestry Company Ltd in Tokyo to the Japanese Red Cross for their own earthquake and tsunami appeal.Nick Smith said we should be proud that one of Nelson’s largest corporate businesses is contributing so generously to the appeal.
“I met with Nelson Pine Industries’ owner, Sumitomo Forestry, in Tokyo last week and discussed with Chairman Ryu Yano and senior executives earthquakes and this donation.  The tragic earthquakes this year in both Japan and New Zealand have brought our two countries closer together,” he said. “It is so encouraging that even in difficult financial times businesses like Sumitomo Forestry and Nelson Pine are being so generous.  This company has a long record of not only investing hundreds of millions in our economy and providing over 200 jobs, but also of supporting our local sports, arts and community.  This donation continues a long established culture, led by Managing Director Murray Sturgeon, of Nelson Pine Industries being a responsible corporate citizen in Nelson.”
Mr Sturgeon said the donation was a compassionate move: “They are our neighbours and while we were untouched, they are devasted,” he said.

Silver Anniversary

On May 11 1986, 25 years ago, the first board rolled off Line 1. NPIL has come a long way since then, and is proud of the fact that many of the staff have been with us right through that journey. Over the past 25 years NPIL has processed 440,000 truckloads of logs, 170 a day, with only half that many making the trip to the port, after bark and moisture have been processed out.