Ryman Healthcare was founded in 1984 and is one of New Zealand’s leading retirement and rest home operators. With 28 villages around the country and more under construction, Ryman employs its own dedicated construction team to ensure it can rely on the finished product.
Matt Smith, Project Manager for Ryman, has been with the company for six years and has seen it grow over the years. Matt’s involvement in seven villages to date has seen him managing projects in both the North and South Islands where he sees relationships as crucial to their success. “We are in the business of designing, building and operating retirement villages and it is imperative we have strong relationships with our key suppliers - like Firth.”
“Our first involvement with Ryman was back in 2001 when we supplied all the concrete and masonry for the Grace Joel Retirement Village project in St Helliers Road in Auckland,” said Francis Leslie, National Asset and Logistics Manager for Firth. “We have had a good relationship with them ever since.”
“Firth products give a strong, reliable product which is affordable and the support across the country has been great,” explains Matt. “Steel and concrete block offer us the structural integrity we need while contributing to a competitive build cost.” Paul Cumberland tends to be Matt’s first port of call at Firth and Paul makes sure Ryman get the service they need.
Ryman Healthcare has eight development sites in its New Zealand land bank. The company is building five new villages in Auckland and one in Petone and there is more than four years’ of work in the pipeline for the Ryman construction team.
The villages cost in the order of $100 million to build and the new villages will house more than 4000 retired Kiwis. So the relationship with Firth looks set to continue for quite some time.