Regions

rom a construction site in Shenzhen, China, a behemoth is rising: a futuristic, imag­ Finative firing of white, leaf- shaped roofs and exquisitely curved walls rising from a vast, man-made pool. At 120,000sq m, this global headquarters for Chinese fashion giant Marisfrolg is bigger than three Te Papas and an architectural match for anything dreamed up by Antoni Gaudi or Frank Gehry. Perhaps most surprisingly, the project has been designed down to every last sculptural detail in Dunedin. To reach the offices of Architecture Van Brandenburg – the mad geniuses behind Marisfrolg – I take a taxi from the airport, which boasts a more tradi­ tional sculpture in bronze: the Southern Man, forever linked to Speight’s beer and its TV commercials, despite the brewer dropping its craggy high-coun­ try heroes – and “pride of the south” catchphrase – for a more metrosexual look in late 2012. The drive to town takes in another memorial of sorts: the site of New Zealand’s first major freez­ ing works, Burnside, in the Kaikorai Val­ ley. The last operation there ceased in 2008 and, after a recent fire, it’s now a WHERE TO, smoke-blackened eyesore. Marisfrolg and Burnside tell two very different Dunedin stories. In the 1880s, the Burnside works supported a cutting- edge export business in frozen meat. It DUNEDIN? was a big employer, in a then-bustling, business-minded city. Architecture Van Brandenburg (AVB) is also export focused, although it employs only 12 people. But AVB is typical of the nimble, innovative companies Dunedin is betting on as it seeks to rebrand itself and remain relevant. It’s a race between Heritage, high-tech the past and an uncertain future – with business and academia the outcome, for now, too close to call. are holding hands in Dunedin might seem an unlikely location for a project as grand in scope Dunedin and heading as Marisfrolg. But for Fred van Branden­ boldly into the future. But burg – a Dutch-born, apartheid-era will this collaboration be South African immigrant-made-good in enough to boost prosperity New Zealand – the decision to set up a and population growth Dunedin office was perfectly calculated. Otago Polytechnic, with its 3D printers in the southern city? and modelling experts (“a phenomenal­ Peter Feeney reports. intellectual value”, he says), helped with PETER FEENEY IS A NORTH & SOUTH CONTRIBUTING WRITER. PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEN DOWNIE. the original 2007 Marisfrolg proposal. Of the company’s staff, only Fred and his Dunedin mechanic Rob Milburn out for a winter surf. He loves “the hills, the harbour and the ocean, the beaches, the environment, the people. It’s easy getting around. It’s a stunning place.” NORTH & SOUTH | SEPTEMBER 2014 | 73 son Damien are architects; the rest are whose company Medikidz provides product designers, interior designers, medical information to children, even boat builders (handy when it through a comic-book model, and is now comes to all those curves), and all bar based in London. two are polytechnic graduates. Luca, Never mind the America’s Cup defeat another van Brandenburg son, handles in San Francisco – this year Ian Taylor’s media. ARL won an Emmy Award (in the Out­ The van Brandenburgs are relative standing New Approaches, Sports Event Johnny-come-latelies to the Dunedin Coverage category) for their America’s innovation scene. Ian Taylor’s Animation Cup mobile app, which allowed fans to Research Limited (ARL) produced the engage with the event anywhere, any­ first real-time sports graphics in the time. ADInstruments was voted the world. A former North & South New number one place in the world to work Zealander of the Year, Taylor also heads in life sciences in 2012 by The Scientist Taylormade, a 60-strong, multi-media magazine, ahead of companies like production company which since 1989 Dupont (with 70,000 employees). BLIS has produced animation, film and new Technologies was the Food and Bever­ media content. Natural History NZ, the age 2010 Global Entrepreneurial Com­ successor to TVNZ’s Natural History pany of the Year. Natural History NZ Unit, has been making documentaries has quietly garnered close to 200 inter­ from Dunedin for international broad­ national awards over its 37 years in casters since 1977. ADInstruments business. has been providing computer-based Such companies are genuine success physiology-monitoring equipment for stories – but are little known outside of more than a quarter-century. “From day Dunedin. John Christie, chief executive one, it was an export business,” says of the Otago Chamber of Commerce, is founder Michael Macknight (see page Dunedin-born and bred. “Dunedin 82). ADInstruments now has offices in doesn’t shout what it’s doing from the 11 countries, from the US and UK to rooftops,” he says. “We’re a city that does Brazil, Pakistan and China. the hard graft. Sometimes it can be A staunch Dunedinite, Macknight is difficult to discover what’s going on.” quick to describe a couple of recent In response, Paula Hellyer of Glow company head-office departures from Consulting dreamed up the Long Lunch, his city as “illogical business decisions” which regularly brings together Dun­ – besides doing nothing for NZ Inc. edin’s creative entrepreneurs in inter­ Intellectual capital is crucial to his esting city locations. “We put people business and the University of Otago is together in the hope that they will find From left: Designer Griff Humphreys, with Damien, Fred and Luca van Brandenburg. Top: A model Top left: Michael and Kelly Macknight. Top right, Dunedin Mayor a wellspring of bright young minds. of AVB’s Marisfrolg fashion house HQ, currently on display at the Venice Architecture Biennale. common ground, get to know each other Dave Cull. Above: The Speight’s building and factory. Most of his staff are local graduates, and and collaborate,” she says. “Success sto­ the university is both a customer and a ries here like to hide; they don’t think source of expertise. It’s a symbiotic what they do is particularly special.” association that’s become common in land Employers’ Association, the uni­ Macknight says Dunedin’s reputation ed in 1861, is still locally owned, the only tained the momentum. Companies like Dunedin. In 2001, the University of versity and polytechnic came together has been tarnished over the years by un­ meet Jeremy Smith in the early- major New Zealand daily newspaper Shacklock (which became Fisher & Otago set up the Centre for Innovation, to form a long-term blueprint for the dergraduates fleeing their uninsulated 20th-century time capsule that is not swallowed up by overseas media in­ Paykel), Hudson’s (which merged in 1930 the first purpose-built biotechnology city, a strategy to further empower the student flats to spread tales of privation his office at historic Olveston terests. A few years back, Ian Taylor with British chocolate maker Cadbury’s) incubation facility in New Zealand. coupling of the tertiary institutions to in the Ice Station Zebra of New Zealand IHouse. Our chat begins with the spoke out on the subject of executive and Speight’s were all founded and still BLIS Technologies and Pacific Edge, business and industry was the inevita­ academia. The EDS is the blueprint be­ surprising confession that he ran away salaries, saying, “They should be meas­ operate in Dunedin. The first export now multimillion-dollar companies, ble result. hind a raft of initiatives to encourage to the circus aged 16; an unlikely begin­ ured by how well [the executive] pro­ shipment of frozen meat sailed from Port were established there the same year, The resulting Economic Development graduates to stay, presumably in cosier ning for a career in heritage tourism. tects jobs, and should bear a direct re­ Chalmers in 1882, kick-starting a trade built on the commercialisation of raw Strategy (EDS) was adopted in 2010. The accommodation. One such is the Auda­ He tells me there’s plenty of old mon­ lationship to how well the employees that would help pull the colony out of university research. EDS plays to obvious strengths: access cious business awards, which reward ey washing about. “You wouldn’t know are paid.” the depression of that decade. Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull, elected last to a highly skilled workforce and relatively the best in student entrepreneurship it though, people just don’t flaunt it Innovation, risk-taking – and hard Freezing meat was the answer then to year to a second term, is a tertiary edu­ low wages and rents – factors already with cash plus prizes that include broad­ here.” As a recent example of public gen­ Scottish graft – none of this is new to the tyranny of distance. Today, in the in­ cation champion, calling the sector, “our attracting firms like AVOS Systems, a band-smartphone packages and legal erosity, Smith cites the 2012 campaign Dunedin. The city boasted many of the ternet age, good ideas can come from biggest industry… with more than a fifth technology company led by YouTube’s and accounting advice. Language Per­ that raised $3 million from the local colony’s notable “firsts”, like the univer­ anywhere­ – or so Dunedin’s strategists of [Dunedin’s] population involved.” co-founders and backed by Google Ven­ fect won the award in 2007; today they community to help keep neurosurgery sity’s medical, dental and arts schools, are wagering. But Dunedin has endured Two per cent of the city’s residents tures. Tourism remains important to the have more than 200,000 users of their at Dunedin Public Hospital. There’s an largely built on the proceeds of the coun­ a long interregnum in between. The city’s have a PhD – the highest rate in the region, but the central aim is to re-forge language-learning software worldwide. old-world way of doing business here try’s first big gold strike in Otago. Julius head-start turned out not to be decisive, country. So when the council, chamber the city as New Zealand’s high-tech First-ever winner in 2006 was medical too, in frugal and sometimes fractious Vogel’s public works of the 1870s and the or permanent. With the end of the Land of commerce, Ngai Tahu, Otago South­ Seattle of the South Seas. school student Kim Chilman-Blair, Dunedin. The Otago Daily Times, found­ golden fleece of sheep farming main­ Wars, the vector of development moved

74 | NORTH & SOUTH | SEPTEMBER 2014 NORTH & SOUTH | SEPTEMBER 2014 | 75 But with the first of their four kids north, gradually pulling head offices and starting high school, they moved back. firms with it. “Rob’s heart was in Dunedin,” says Even by the early 20th century, Dun­ Bernadette, then adds one of her edin’s relative decline against other cen­ trademark puns: “We tried to take fresh tres was unmistakable. Census results blood into Southland but we failed.” became the occasion of anxious editori­ Rob explains the Dunedin als – a theme that has continued to this connection: “My people were day. Fletcher Construction, Methven some of the first on the peninsula, Taps, the Union Steamship Company, farming. They started the first DIC, Coulls and Somerville Wilkie (later cheese factory there.” part of the Whitcoulls group) are just a Dunedin: what’s to like? “The hills,” few of the companies founded here that says Rob. “The hills, the harbour and have since moved on. There was even the ocean. The beaches. We like the negative growth for a time in the 1970s. environment, the people. It’s easy The city’s relative stagnation meant it getting around. It’s a stunning place.” largely missed the building boom that Bernadette: “We went for a gathered force from the 1960s elsewhere, walk across the hills yesterday – and which caused the demolition of so it was a 10-minute drive to native many historic buildings. In a visit in 1993, Arjun Haszard of Quick Brown Fox organic liqueurs runs a regular stall at the bush with stunning views of the I remember the downtown looking tatty, Saturday Otago Farmers Market at the historic Dunedin Railway Station. sea. What other city has that?” with the Robert Burns statue gazing for­ “Or you’re at a deserted peninsula lornly in the vague direction of the long- beach with a few penguins and some gone, magnificent Stock Exchange build­ seals,” adds Rob, a dedicated surfer. ing. Its destruction in 1969 is Dunedin’s plant and finally the much-scrapped- Since 2000, economic growth in Dun­ He’s out on his board right through guilty secret, the act that is said to have over Forsyth Barr Stadium – at a whop­ edin has exceeded population increase. winter in a 5mm suit. With no gloves… woken the citizenry to an appreciation ping price-tag to the city of $160 million But the population has only doubled The couple made a road trip up the of their city’s heritage assets. (out of a total cost of $266 million). since 1910 so the city has stayed small. North Island recently in their Dodge Athol Parks of City Walks sports an The spend-up has spurred tourism and Arjun Haszard of Quick Brown Fox or­ BLESSED IN DUNEDIN van. “The difference is that I’ll be encyclopaedic knowledge of Dunedin’s added to the quality of life, and also helped ganic liqueurs runs a regular stall at the surfing here with five people, not 50.” history, with impressive Edwardian make Dunedin’s per capita debt position Saturday Otago Farmers Market at the Middle class with million-dollar views – What do they think of the prospect mutton-chops to match. On a stroll second only to Auckland’s. Nevertheless Dunedin Railway Station. Here he serves the Milburns aren’t going anywhere. of oil being found off the coast? “A around the CBD, he shows me the scene – and somewhat to its own surprise – up alcoholic chocolate concoctions from necessary evil,” says Rob. “Those of the crime: the Stock Exchange re­ Dunedin has emerged in recent years as a miscellany of glass tasting vessels he’s he morning I visit Rob Rob and Bernadette are not wealthy, opposing the drilling will hopefully placement, the John Wickcliffe build­ a small city of enviable lifestyle with su­ picked up at local op shops. He tells me and Bernadette Milburn, but work has been steady. Parked make the recovery of oil and gas ing. It’s an insipid 1970s office block, perior infrastructure. It has undisputed how Strictly Coffee helped his start-up T they’re sitting down to down the driveway is the usual safer, which is a good thing. The and it’s hard to imagine the civic lead­ assets: the art deco beachside suburbs of by letting him roast and brew on their waffles for breakfast. Bernadette is mechanic’s line-up of miscellaneous environment is important, but creating ers of the day ever thought it might con­ St Clair and St Kilda, with their heated premises. Local beer baron Richard Em­ an occupational therapist, working vehicles, including a LandRover those kinds of jobs is beneficial to the stitute an improvement. salt-water swimming pool, cafes and play­ erson bumps into Haszard on occasion with the disabled; Rob’s a mechanic. for 4WD adventures and a 1989 working-class community in Dunedin.” Parks tells me the block today is strug­ grounds; the Otago Peninsula, a sanctuary and offers advice on everything from Their house is an unpretentious Dodge van: “Our holiday home They opposed the destruction gling for tenancies, unlike the Ware­ for sub-Antarctic wildlife; a CBD that labelling to marketing. four-bedroom brick and roughcast on wheels,” says Bernadette. of Carisbrook. The working man’s house Precinct down the road, where boasts, by default, the greatest concentra­ Dunedin’s compact size enables crea­ in Brockville which – a whole 10 Nestled on the slopes of the Kaikorai stadium, Rob calls it. “There was newly renovated offices are being tion of heritage buildings in the country; tive collisions of this kind, the sort of minutes’ drive from the Octagon Valley, they have “million-dollar absolutely nothing wrong with it.” snapped up. Dr Hayden Cawte heads and world-class tourist attractions such accidents Len Brown wants to encour­ – rates as an outlying suburb. views” of the harbour. “Everything’s After breakfast, they were software development start-up AREO, as Olveston House, which was this year age with his various sub-city Auckland There’s a biting southerly but close,” declares son James, 19. “There’s going fishing, then for a picnic at typical of the kind of tech company with voted New Zealand’s number-one travel hubs. It’s why Dunedin’s new incubator, Bernadette, in a typically insane a good community feeling here,” adds Aramoana. Where they had the offices there. “The area is rife with in­ attraction on TripAdvisor, and the pri­ Startup, opened up shop this August on Dunedin way, insists it’s balmy. Bernadette. “You know everyone.” massacre? “That was a long time novation, ambition and optimism,” he vately owned Larnach Castle. the edge of the university and polytech Actually it’s numbingly cold. But Rob was born in Dunedin and met ago, Peter,” says Bernadette. In fact, says. “As the saying goes, new ideas need History has also bequeathed under­ precinct. Project manager Dr Henk the Milburns live proudly in a house Bernadette when she came from 1990. “It’s the best place to wave old buildings.” utilised space in heritage buildings, Roodt, who’s been a business coach for with no central heating. “I like the Wellington to study. They attended goodbye to the cruise ships.” In 1994, in a landmark move that was which property developers like Steve the Audacious awards for the past two cold,” says Elizabeth, their 21-year- the same church; Rob’s father invited She’s joking, surely? “No! It’s to signal future interventions, the coun­ Macknight (brother of Michael) are years, looked at similar spaces in Finland old daughter. I believe her. By my Bernadette home for lunch. “She like having an apartment block sail cil bought and then spruced up the rail­ snapping up and restoring. Auckland and Denmark, and discovered the most cellphone reading, it’s warmer outside was served up on a platter really…” past. It’s thrilling. The tourists on way station. The sale price was a bargain leads in capital gains but gross rental successful were close to a tertiary base. than in her downstairs bedroom. But Bernadette laughs: “His father the boat pay thousands to wave at $1 (though the do-up was somewhat yields in Dunedin, thanks to cheap real “It gives individuals easier access to there’s a cheerful log fire in the lounge, has always said he’s had to do at us; we’re waving for free.” more expensive). Later came a string of estate and a steady supply of student smart facilities, while still making it lit I suspect solely for my benefit. As everything for Rob.” “We’re very lucky,” says Rob, then expensive investments, all over a five- renters, are the highest in the country. easily accessible to entrepreneurs who I defrost I’m beset by chirpy truisms: That was in 1987. They moved to hesitates. “I’d say we’re blessed, but year period: a $42 million refurbishment Yet rents are still less than in any com­ are not part of the university.” The ven­ “You get more done if it’s colder” Invercargill in the 90s. “We had an we’d come across as icky Christians.” of the Town Hall complex; the $38 mil­ parable New Zealand city – almost the ture joins a crowded space: Upstart has (Bernadette); and “You sure appreciate opportunity to start a branch of the “We are Christians,” laughs lion Toitu Otago Settlers Museum do- only encouragement many artists, de­ been helping high-growth Dunedin a hot day when it comes” (Rob). family business there,” explains Rob. Bernadette. “But not at all icky.” up; a $78 million waste-water treatment signers and start-up entrepreneurs need. companies get started for 10 years, and

76 | NORTH & SOUTH | SEPTEMBER 2014 NORTH & SOUTH | SEPTEMBER 2014 | 77 Above: The 10-storey former Chief Post Office is being converted into a 120-apartment hotel and KiwiRail’s old Hillside engineering workshops, which closed in 2012, with the office space for Silver Fern Farms. The bottom floor is shown, before and after the renovation. remants of the demolished Carisbrook Stadium in the foreground.

has just merged with venture capital Macknight says: “If 10 jobs are lost, you proceeds, it will, he believes, “lead to the Singapore; we have a genetics research appears to defy logic. sold the properties they were going to investors PowerHouse Ventures. Since read about it. But if 50 jobs are created, virtual destruction of two world-class re­ hub not only focusing on agriculture, Says John Christie: “Government of­ sell to fund the new building at Lincoln. 2008, The Distiller, located in the Cen­ you don’t.” At times it must feel like death search groups [deer and sheep genetics], but a huge research hub here, period – fices can be here instead of everything And the University of Otago is actually tre for Innovation, has been providing by a thousand cuts. In February this year, dismantle collaborations deriving from private as well. Taking Invermay out gravitating to Auckland or Christchurch.”­ doing more work with AgResearch, services for pre-seed entrepreneurial Air New Zealand axed its latest direct the Dunedin agricultural research hub, not only weakens that mix, but gravely Michael Macknight agrees. “We don’t which is shifting researchers and ge­ tech ventures. flight of the day between Auckland and the loss of top scientists, and end, inevi­ weakens AgResearch’s ability overall to want subsidised jobs. We realise some neticists back out to Invermay. So it’s Dunedin – seemingly a trivial decision, tably, in the closure of Invermay.” service its customers: partly because jobs in manufacturing have to go. We just hard to know what will ultimately hap­ ut there’s another side to the but one that will mean an extra overnight Mayor Dave Cull recalls a recent con­ they are tearing apart something that’s want logic. Shipping out of here is more pen, especially when the AgResearch ledger, working in parallel to stay in Auckland for many Dunedin busi­ versation with Sam Robinson, chairman a genetic hub, but also because most of expensive, but other inputs like salaries staff are so resolutely against the relo­ the brave new world of high- nesspeople. In April, Bell Tea, citing the of AgResearch. “The last thing he said the Invermay geneticists won’t move, are cheaper.” cation… we’ll wait and see what politi­ Btech and innovation: continu­ bill for earthquake strengthening its to me was, ‘All our advice is that scien­ and the value of their work will be lost And, in fact, a month before the Bell cal reality imposes on the situation.” ing job losses. historic Dunedin building, ended a long tists are attracted to late-model build­ to the national economy.” Tea announcement, coffee and food pro­ The bigger context around Invermay In recent years, Dunedin has lost more association with the city, moving its re­ ings and the best kit they can get.’ Ironically, Steven Joyce (whose five ducer Cerebos-Greggs announced that is the value placed on regional develop­ than 100 full-time state sector jobs in maining jobs to Auckland. The company “But Invermay has the best building ministerial portfolios include Economic it would be closing down its Auckland ment. “Lip service” is how Cull describes hospital kitchens and the NZ Post mail was founded in Dunedin in 1898. and kit in all AgResearch’s facilities – Development) launched the city’s much- factory and shifting its New Zealand the government’s attitude. “Its actions centre. KiwiRail closed its Hillside en­ The last straw for many came in July it’s just had a $17 million upgrade. Their praised economic development strategy. production to Dunedin. It’s a move that belie the rhetoric. One of the issues dear gineering workshops in 2012, having last year, when Crown Entity AgResearch business case doesn’t stack up; it’s just “He commented that it was one of the will bring significant capital investment to the government’s heart is housing lost a succession of tenders to Chinese announced it would relocate 85 research sloppy. You have to conclude the deci­ best he’d seen and was achievable,” says and jobs to the city. “It’s entirely sensi­ affordability, and pumping more [people Northern to build new wagons and lo­ jobs from its Invermay facility near Mos­ sion has been driven by political rea­ Cull. “Then he allows AgResearch to kick ble,” said Christie at the time. “I’m sur­ and resources] into Auckland to push up comotives. Ninety jobs went, as well as giel, leaving only 30 positions remaining. sons: to bolster Christchurch in an elec­ one of the legs out from under it…” prised more companies don’t do it.” demand doesn’t seem to me to be help­ the expertise of a 111-year-old company. The proposal was against the advice of tion year, and prop up a faltering Ongoing blows such as Invermay ex­ Christie tells me that Fisher & Paykel’s ing that – in fact the opposite.” The big blow came in 2008 when Fisher AgResearch’s own internal change team university with a very poor research re­ plain why, despite its best efforts, Dun­ new Chinese owners, Haier, are creat­ Otago and Southland together have & Paykel moved its factory offshore cut­ and the wishes of almost all Invermay’s cord – Lincoln.” edin is still struggling to expand its GDP ing 60 new research jobs in Dunedin. close to seven per cent of the popula­ ting 430 jobs (although keeping their scientific staff. Using a multiplier effect, The Invermay decision, says Cull, is and population (currently 120,000). He’s not sure if that news made the pa­ tion but produce double that in export R&D division in Dunedin). The same then-president of the Otago Chamber of one that by law the government could While neighbouring Queenstown Lakes pers north of the Waitaki River… and he dollars for the country. year, operations at the Burnside Freez­ Commerce Peter McIntyre estimated overturn, if it chose to. “It’s not just District is the second fastest growing in may well be right. “The region is earning a living,” Cull ing works ceased. It’s been 14 years the losses would affect more than 300 about losing those jobs. It is going to the the country and Auckland struggles with Cull suspects AgResearch’s proposal stresses. “If you let regional support since any wool was spun at the once- individuals and businesses. core of where we think Dunedin’s econ­ infrastructure lag and rocketing house may implode under the weight of its capacity and centres wither, productiv­ famous Mosgiel mill. Jock Allison was director of Invermay omy is going… Dunedin has the biggest prices, Dunedin faces its own challenge: own inconsistencies. “They’re not plan­ ity in your regions is going to go back­ When Dunedin does make the national from 1978 to 1986, and a director of concentration of geneticists in the a centralising and consolidating tendency ning to do anything till 2017; they are wards. If the regions don’t prosper, the news, it’s often about layoffs. As Michael AgResearch from 1992 to 1999. If the move Southern Hemisphere if you take out in government and business that at times haemorrhaging good staff. They haven’t country won’t.”

78 | NORTH & SOUTH | SEPTEMBER 2014 NORTH & SOUTH | SEPTEMBER 2014 | 79 Photographer Ken Downie took this picture of buildings surrounding the Octagon from the clocktower of the Dunedin Railway Station (shown on page 73). The white building in the foreground with the flag is the home of the Otago Daily Times.

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In Auckland, you’d want to keep the façade and build 20 storeys behind it.” Cull has a ruddy, lived-in kind of face: I ask Michael about the pros and not a bad poster kid for a city that’s had cons of basing an export-driven more than its fair share of knocks but ALL IN THE FAMILY company in Dunedin. “No matter refuses to get out of the ring. The day we The Macknight brothers weave together Dunedin’s where we put our HQ in the world, talk, he’s just met with Otago’s vice- strengths in technology and heritage architecture. we’re still a long way from most of chancellor, Professor Harlene Hayne. our customers,” he says. “We have They discussed, among other things, the sales people all around America university’s $358 million building pro­ ichael Macknight is CEO heritage buildings. Steve’s company and they face the same challenges, gramme, most of it in Dunedin. of AdInstruments, a tech has won the Dunedin Heritage Re-use and end up working remotely Top: Steve Macknight, a civil engineer and property developer, in the top “But she was also saying that one of company that produces Awards two years running. via tools like Skype, as we do. floor of one of his Dunedin buildings. Concreting the wooden floors, he says, the factors about hiring academic staff Mdata acquisition and Michael, Kelly and Steve talk “Our Sydney office has major strengthened the historic building. was the city’s lifestyle,” he says. “The analysis systems for the life science to me via Skype. I start by asking nightmares with staff not wanting to Above: Consultancy House, another of Macknight’s projects, is an early ability to cycle to work was frequently a industry. Few will understand what Steve how the maths stacks up in travel into the city for meetings, and steel-reinforced structure known as “New Zealand’s first skyscraper”. must-have. So it’s not just a matter of, is that actually means. But with the his line of work: heritage do-ups. wanting to start and finish at different The seven-storey building was reportedly the tallest in the Southern this a good place to do business? It’s also demise of traditional manufacturing He’s surprisingly relaxed about times to avoid traffic. Here it’s a five- Hemisphere when it was completed in 1910. about, is this the kind of place where peo­ in Dunedin, it is technology earthquake strengthening costs minute walk to see the lawyers, or ple working in research and innovation companies like Macknight’s that the (“Something that was going to happen the accountants, rather than an hour want to live and raise families?” city is betting its economic future on. anyway”). But he also feels that the in traffic. They were laying high- The New Zealand economy may be AdInstruments started as a spin- uncertainty around the legislation speed internet cable in the street can get... We want them happy downsides of other small towns.” experiencing a cautious growth cycle, off project to Macknight’s computer – there may be tax incentives in during our refit. It costs us about and enthusiastic, not bogged down I make the mistake of mentioning but it also faces an ageing regional pop­ science masters at Otago University the pipeline – is causing people to half as much to employ a person in in traffic and stressed over their the cold, drawing a passionate ulation – and a productivity challenge in 1986. Now he has 200 staff in 13 delay and slowing up progress. Dunedin as in Sydney, because the mortgage. Many are first-time response from Steve: “A big part to match. The tide may be turning in offices globally. His wife, Kelly, is head “We have some really well-built salaries are higher in Sydney, and the home buyers who could never of the negative perception about Dunedin’s favour, but perhaps we of PR. But the head office is still here, old buildings here so there’s a lot exchange rate, the office space and afford a house in Auckland.” Dunedin is based on the weather. shouldn’t expect anything too dramatic located in the Donald Reid building, more potential... Rents are less than the payroll tax all cost more there.” Michael and Kelly have 6.8ha of And a lot of it is plain wrong. We – that might be a little out of character part of the trendy warehouse district. $200 a metre; in Auckland and Kelly adds: “People overseas are land – and are 15 minutes from the have half the rainfall of Auckland, for the city. “Dunedin has always been Like many businesses, they bought Wellington and Christchurch they also quite interested in moving here office. “If you’re looking for a lifestyle we have less wind than Auckland. a pretty steady place,” Michael Mac- an old warehouse to refit instead of are $500-$600 for the same quality because they get the lifestyle, but that gives you an extra hour or two Most people’s houses are warm. knight tells me. “It hasn’t had the booms renting: the do-up was undertaken by space. We are able to buy these because we’re a global company a day to yourself, this is it,” says “If you look at the numbers for an or the busts. People who live down here Michael’s brother, Steve Macknight, a buildings cheaply, do them up, rent they’re still progressing their careers.” Michael. “And being a university active outdoor lifestyle, Dunedin is a are hugely positive about the place civil engineer and property developer. them and still make a return: a two- “Absolutely,” agrees Michael. town it comes with all those facilities, far better place to be. It snows maybe though. They want to be here.” + Together they own five significant storey building can make a return. “We want the cleverest people we that vibe… Dunedin doesn’t have the once a year.” +

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