Latest news with #Winstone
NZ Herald
21-07-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Fletcher Building quitting $60m site, Christchurch developer Wolfbrook's North Island hiring run
Penrose is a valuable site which has hit the market in the downturn. Auckland Council values 37-41 Felix St, Te Papa at $60m and shows how immensely under-developed the site is: 5.08ha of land with only 3100sq m of floor area on it. An aerial view of Winstone Wallboards' new $400m factory in Tauranga. Photo / Supplied The new Tauriko site in Tauranga is more than twice that at nearly 13ha, showing just how much manufacturing has changed. Tauriko began production in September 2023, pumping out more wallboard faster and more efficiently than the old plant. Winstone controls 94% of the New Zealand market and wallboard is heavy to import – so such a big investment made sense. Colliers' Greg Goldfinch is advertising the vacant wallboard site: 'Occupiers, investors and developers must consider this opportunity, given it's been many years since such a land holding in this precinct was available.' Hamish McBeath (from left), Stewart Vaughan and David Thomas at the new plant. The company's Tauriko site is 12.78ha with a massive 6.7ha of floor space on it. The site was picked with the concept of expansion in mind. Winstone Wallboards' new Gib manufacturing plant opened at the Tauriko Business Estate in 2023. At 440m in length, the main manufacturing and storage building stretches nearly half a kilometre and is 110m wide. The reason it's that long is because of the process of making a wallboard. The compounds within the plaster need a certain length of time – running for at least 330m at a certain speed – before they enter giant kiln-style ovens to be fired. About 2.6 million square metres of plasterboard can also be stored in the new plant's main building, bringing manufacturing and distribution under one roof for the first time. Winstone offers 22 different types of products, including EzyBrace, Aqualine, Noiseline, Wet Area, Fire, Tough, Reverberation Control, Radiation Shielding and Rondo products. It first started supplying board into the market from Tauriko in early August 2023. 'By the end of August/beginning of September that year, 75% of the board range was being manufactured off the Tauriko line. By the end of December 2023 or the start of 2024, we were in full production with the remaining board range,' a Fletcher spokeswoman told Property Insider. Winstone Wallboard's history shows it moved into what was in 1971 a newly-built Penrose factory. That property served the manufacturer for 52 years. We are due to hear more from Fletcher next month when its full-year result for the June 30, 2025 year is out on August 20. Wolfbrook hunts north Christchurch's Wolfbrook Residential has recruited about six staff from Auckland and Tauranga lately. CEO Guy Randall cited a string of reasons for people heading to his city. 'It's due to lower house prices, less traffic, a perception of less crime, lifestyle reasons and the energy in Christchurch is pretty good. People come down for the weekend to a music festival and go 'let's move here',' Randall said. Guy Randall is chief executive of Wolfbrook Residential which has its headquarters in Christchurch. Photo / Guy Randall Wolfbrook has built 1100 new townhouses and apartments but is moving to more standalone places around Halswell. Property management has become a big business after buying Du Val's book and two others to give it more than 2000 homes to look after. And Wolfbrook bought its first Queenstown property, at Shotover Country on Ladies Mile where it plans 42 terraced homes, Randall said. It has built more than 200 new Kāinga Ora homes in the last few years and Randall said when the market turned down, Wolfbrook had picked up all those contracts. Christchurch remains its HQ and where Wolfbrook is building 70% of its new homes. Kāinga Ora is no longer in the market for new homes. 'The market is flat but there are always opportunities there,' Randall said. Far worse than the GFC When a liquidator says things are bad, you know it's grim. Gareth Hoole of Ecovis said: 'I've never seen people suffering the way they are.' The global financial crisis in 2007/08 was mainly property-related, whereas this downturn is far wider and affects more people, Hoole said. Falling house prices would be a shock to many: 'People always thought property won't go down in value, but guess what? It did.' Car vending machines Singapore already has a car vending machine, opened by Autobahn Motors last year. Photo / Telegraph Eye-catching multi-level glass car vending machines in many countries overseas are yet to arrive here. Mark Francis of luxury car storage business Matchbox doesn't expect them here soon. 'I have looked at this concept. It's possibly a bit gimmicky and I am not sure if New Zealand is ready for that,' Francis said. Last decade, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and United States car maker Ford unveiled an unstaffed car vending machine in China's southern city of Guangzhou. The machines in Asia and North America are often about five storeys tall. Matchbox members' lounge and storage facility. Matchbox Auckland. The Chinese ones had 42 cars, of various models, including the Ford Explorer SUV and Mustang. Francis and fellow car enthusiast Zlatko Filipchich started Matchbox, which is this country's first members-only luxury car storage building. It is at Penrose's Great South Rd. Anne Gibson has been the Herald's property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Eamonn Holmes lifts the lid on working with 'horrible' and 'false' former co-stars
Eamonn Holmes has taken aim at Hollywood's obsession with image and the 'falseness' of celebrity culture, calling out the inauthenticity he's encountered during his decades in the business. Speaking on the latest episode of his Things We Like podcast, the GB News anchor sat down with actor Ray Winstone for a frank conversation about fame, fakery and the reality of working in entertainment. The pair, who between them have clocked up over 80 years in showbiz, shared war stories from their time in the spotlight — and didn't hold back. 'Why would you say you like someone if you don't?' asked Winstone, best known for The Departed, as he reflected on the forced niceties of red carpet life. 'Hollywood and Los Angeles are wonderful places when you're doing alright — but when you're not…' Eamonn chimed in, revealing that his own refusal to play the game has landed him in hot water more than once. 'That's what the business is based on,' he said. 'If I don't like someone, they'll know I don't like them. And there are so many horrible people you end up with.' He added: 'People say, 'Oh, he's lovely, he's fantastic'… If they say to me, 'What's that Ray Winstone like?' I'll say he is lovely and he is fantastic and people will believe me — because I wouldn't say it if you weren't. 'But so many are just false, false, false.' The conversation also touched on why Winstone chose not to settle in Los Angeles despite his success. 'Even the guy who puts petrol in your car works in the industry,' he joked. 'Every two minutes, it's all they want to talk about. We talk about birds and football and boxing — they talk about movies.' While both men criticised the showbiz bubble, Winstone offered some sympathy for younger stars who are still finding their voice. 'They're asked questions on telly and they're not quite sure how to answer… I've seen people on shows say, 'Everyone's lovely, everyone's wonderful.' No, they're not!' he said. His comments come after he recently revealed that he is now reliant on a wheelchair and unable to perform basic daily tasks due to ongoing mobility issues.
Irish Independent
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Eamonn Holmes opens up about ‘horrible' former co-stars he has worked with branding some of them ‘false'
The Belfast man was speaking on his Things We Like podcast he hosts alongside Paul Coyte, as Thursday's episode featured The Departed actor Ray Winstone and the trio got onto the subject around the world of showbiz. When asked by Holmes about why Winstone decided to leave Los Angeles and why he was not 'mixing and socialising' with his other celebrity pals, the 68-year-old Londoner told the former This Morning presenter it would be like 'living above the shop'. "LA... I couldn't live in LA. It's constant,' Winstone said. "Even the guy who puts petrol in your car works in the industry. It's like every two minutes, it's all they want to talk about. We talk about birds and football and boxing, you know, they talk about movies. "There's something else out there, you know, and I think to be successful in what you do, you've got to know what else is going on in the world rather than be wrapped up in your own fantasy world. "Hollywood and Los Angeles are wonderful places when you're doing alright, but when you're not." Holmes – an experienced figure in the world of showbiz – shared his own experience of 'fakery' in the industry, adding: "'I don't like this character. I don't like so and so. I like that person. I didn't get on with them'. "That's what the business is based on. I mean, I'm like you [Winstone]. I get myself into trouble because if I don't like someone, they'll know I don't like them. "And there are so many horrible people that you end up with. People say: 'Oh, he's lovely, he's fantastic'. "If they say to me: 'What's that Ray Winstone like?' I'll say he is lovely and he is fantastic and people will believe me because I wouldn't say it if you weren't, but so many are just false, false, false.' While Holmes didn't elaborate on who he was referring to during the discussion, the Belfast man has previously spoken about several high-profile feuds with former on-screen colleagues, including former This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield. Last year the 65-year-old claimed Schofield 'deserves to be in exile' from TV and said he was 'addicted to fame, absolutely addicted to fame'. Things We Like with Eamonn & Paul releases new episodes weekly and is available to stream and download on the major podcast streaming services.
