eKourier Jan 2017

WHO’S WHO

10 Questions... With Duncan Newington - Centre Manager, Tauranga NZ

What interests/hobbies do you have? We hear hunting is one of your favourites? I do love hunting. I hunted since I was a boy (My father was a professional Deer Hunter) but in recent times I have reverted to more family friendly activi- ties such as sailing and fishing and playing guitar. We have a 6 metre Farr 6000 Trailer-Sailer Yacht which we love going on holidays in to local lakes such as Lake Tarawera. We can spend up to a week on the yacht without needing reprovisioning and this Christmas we are towing the yacht to Auckland to cruise the great Hauraki Gulf. We hope to see Dolphins, Orca and fish lots. Tell us a bit about your family? I am married to Friederike and we have two lovely children; Eva, nearly 11 and Alec who is eight. I also have two grown up children; Ben, 31 and Alyce, 27. I have also been blessed with two beautiful grand-daughters; Layla who is four and Lori, two. Is there anything on the wish list for the future? We will need a bigger Trailer Yacht in the next couple of years as the kids continue to grow. Friederike wants to travel. Looks like I will be working FOREVER...

Achievement Dinner. How would you describe your journey with Kennards so far and what have been the highlights for you? I think it would be fair to say that I had a few rough edges that needed some ‘polishing off’. There have been a number of milestones since joining Kennards, but a couple of highlights in particular were attending PEP (thanks to all involved) and getting the Tauranga site to High Performance in December, 2014. What changes have you seen at KSS over your five years? Most noticeable is that our business in New Zealand has grown dramati- cally in the last five years both in square meterage (with the large Wellington site acquisition) and revenue growth due to improved economic/trading conditions. Also of note is our ongoing commitment to moving forward with technologies while retaining our ‘People’ focus, both internally (team) and externally (clients). What unusual storage items have you seen people store? My work colleague and Assistant Manager Calvin, pointed out recently that a number of our clients are paying to store nothing. Signing up for spaces and paying month by month yet have nothing stored in their units or out on their Open Car/Boat/Camper space.

What year did you start with Kennards Self Storage? I joined Kennards in July 2011 during the Global Financial Crisis. Tauranga occupancy was 63.4%. Andrew Kirkham, our NZ Operations Manager hoped I was up for the challenge of growing the site to High Occupancy. I don’t think either of us realised how challenging the next few years getting through the GFC were going to be, but five years on our Tauranga site is generating strong revenues for Kennards. What field of work were you in before this? I came to Kennards from the industrial recruitment sector where I was a Temp and Permanent Recruiter and OH&S Rep for the Bay of Plenty region for Tradestaff Recruitment. Prior to that I held various positions including owning and operating my own businesses. Have you always lived in Tauranga? No. Our family lived in Tauranga when I was a boy, but Dad moved the family to Auckland for work reasons. I finally escaped ‘the big smoke’ of Auckland about 13 years ago and after some overseas travel and marriage to my German wife Friederike, we returned to the Bay of Plenty to settle down and start our family. You were recently recognised for Five Years’ of Service at the Kennards

To sum up KSS in one word? FREEDOM.

3

Kennards Kourier Jan 2017