Amotai continues to support Māori and Pasifika economies in large Central Auckland redevelopment project
3 March 2023
Working with Icon and supported by Amotai, Kāinga Ora is currently undertaking a redevelopment of its site at 139 Greys Ave in Central Auckland. The project has strongly supported the Māori and Pasifika economy, creating hundreds of jobs, and delivering significant social, cultural and economic benefits to the wider community.
Amotai provides Māori and Pasifika businesses with connections to buyers such as Kāinga Ora and Icon, who recognise the added social value that supplier diversity can create in our communities.
“Opportunities such as this, to connect and create entry points into larger scale projects for Māori and Pasifika businesses, is what’s moving Aotearoa into a stronger social and economic future,” explains Jarrad MacKay, Supplier Diversity Lead (Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland) at Amotai.
He says supplier diversity is about economic development, and it is Amotai’s role to unlock procurement opportunities and enable meaningful connections for their suppliers.
“It is our job is to connect them with organisations such as Kāinga Ora and Icon. Projects like the 139 Greys Ave redevelopment create real growth within the Māori and Pasifika economies. It gives the businesses a good level of cashflow as well as consistency in their mahi, which gives them the confidence to get new equipment and hire additional staff,” he says.
“They recruit within their local communities which also creates opportunities for our youth. This project has been a real mana-enhancing concept, with many positive flow on effects on the wider community.”
Useful introductions
Pat Wulf's security company was one of the suppliers for this project. Wulf Security Ltd had done a few jobs for Icon before and when Amotai contacted Pat to see if he would be interested in an introduction for the 139 Greys Ave development, he was happy to utilise the opportunity.
“I was already in contact with Icon, but the connection with Amotai was the icing on the cake. Amotai has been great, and their networking opportunities are useful,” says Pat, who is of German/Samoan decent and has a team of 20 full-timers and 20 casuals.
For Pat, whose team is majority of Pacific Island decent, the most satisfying part is being able to provide hours and incomes for other people. He says that when they do a good job as a team and get good contracts, everyone wins. Although the 139 Greys Ave project, mostly due to its location, was challenging at times from a security point of view, it gave his team almost three years of solid experience.
Helping people into homes
The 139 Greys Ave development is an important project for Kāinga Ora. Replacing a building that was built in the 1950s and no longer fit-for-purpose, the site has been transformed into a modern, quality building including 276 apartments and 3000 sqm of shared, communal, retail and commercial space.
Inside the building, is more than 2000 sqm is designated for communal space, purpose-built to help create a sense of home and community. The ground floor has a Kāinga Ora office and there is around 1000 sqm of lettable commercial space.
“The building will run under a single site supported housing model, providing housing and 24/7 on-site support services for some of the most vulnerable Aucklanders, including those from the rough sleeping community,” explains Jane Jujnovich, Project Director of 139 Greys Ave for Kāinga Ora.
“With our focus on supporting the Māori and Pasifika economy through supplier diversity, it is a model we can use across a number of projects across Aotearoa,” Jane says.
“For Kāinga Ora, it’s really important that we are setting an example for the construction industry and creating opportunities to support smaller businesses.”
Exceeding the target
Kāinga Ora included six broader outcomes into their contract with Icon, one of them being supplier diversity. Dan Bosher, General Manager at Icon NZ, says it is extremely important to work with the right partner to achieve the desired outcomes and for Icon, and that was Amotai.
“With the focus on supplier diversity, which was a key point for Kāinga Ora, we were able to give Amotai suppliers access to a bigger scale of construction and an entry point, which was a fantastic opportunity. It's about creating a level playing field,” Dan says.
“Our target for supplier diversity was to achieve 5 percent of the total construction spend going through diverse suppliers. It ended up just shy of 8 percent. If you take the not for profits, social enterprises and women owned businesses into account, we ended up closer to 10 percent.”
