Waikato Business News April/May 2023

Alaska delivers high-end fitout for Craigs
Investment Partners’ Union Square offices
Multi award-winning construction and
fitout company Alaska has brought their
expertise to the new Craigs Investment
Partners’ offices in Union Square.
Joining other blue-chip
organisations such as
Rabobank and AA Insurance
Service Centre, BBO and
Baker Tilly Staples Rodway, it
was important to Craigs IP that
they created an office space to
match the landmark building,
while enhancing employee and
client experience.
Alaska director Liam
Osborne says the team oversaw
every detail of the build portion
of the project from inception to
completion, and in a very short
timeframe.
“It was a reasonably tight
programme, with a start date
just prior to Christmas, in order
to get the Craigs team into the
new spaces, as they had to move
out of their existing office by
late March.”
Liam describes the project
as high-end with lots of spaces
for client meetings with AV
and acoustic requirements, an
appealing cafeteria space positioned
on the level three corner
of the building and a bespoke
board room and reception area.
A job of this calibre meant
getting the best contractors at
the right price and Alaska has
experience in droves when it
comes to managing premium
office fitouts.
“As the main contractor,
we managed the build; from
obtaining pricing from all sub
trades and suppliers, negotiating
and letting the contracts
with them when the job was
awarded, and managing them
throughout the programme to
when we handed over the job
on time to Craigs,” Liam says.
Led by Liam as the contracts
manager, the project was
backed up by project manager
Matthew Wade running the
day-to-day site management
and quantity surveyor John Lillywhite
controlling all the costs
and awarding contracts.
With over 20 different contractors
to manage, it takes the
experience of a team like Alaska
to execute the visionary design
and architecture of this project.
Most of those contractors
are based in the Waikato,
including FB Hall Plumbing,
Zero Fire, Feist Electrical, Van
Dykes Flooring, Waikato Decorators,
CM Glassware, Impact
Tiling.
“I’d say 70 per cent of the
contractors on this job are
Waikato based,” he says.
The construction industry is
always fraught with challenges,
and Liam says they had to work
around some of their Auckland-based
contractors who
were impacted by the recent
floods.
Alaska is not new to working
in the Waikato, with a number
of quality builds and fitouts in
their portfolio, including Tainui
Group Holdings projects, Cambridge
Police Hub new build,
Hancocks Forestry Management’s
new Tokoroa office
build, IR Fitout in Hamilton,
KMPG offices and CTEK.
“We’ve been very active
in Hamilton and the wider
Waikato over the past ten
years.”
Building relationships and
connections is an important
part of being active in the
industry for the 17 years Alaska
has been operating.
“There are projects that have
presented opportunities, as well
as some repeat clients. We have
quite a lot of repeat business in
the Waikato,” Liam says.
Kiwi owned and operated
with offices in Auckland, Hamilton,
Tauranga, Wellington,
Christchurch, Queenstown and
Invercargill, Alaska has been
delivering excellence since
2006.
Alaska is known for their
‘user friendly’ approach and
delivering on time, on budget,
every time.