Community champion stunned by recognition

Joe La Grouw is credited with keeping Lockwood Homes based in Rotorua during its growth into a global exporter. Photo / APN

Joe La Grouw spent a week "in shock" after being told he would be made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

"I didn't expect anything like this," says the 70-year-old chairman and owner of Rotorua-based prefabricated building maker Lockwood, who has been honoured for his services to business and the community.

"It's very humbling because in the end there is a whole string of people that support me."

Over the years La Grouw has been a supporter of the arts, local schools and community organisations.

"I'm keen on [supporting] education for younger people because I got very little of it," he said, adding that he left school at School Certificate level.

La Grouw is chairman of the Geyser Community Foundation, which was set up to promote and support donations to Rotorua's community organisations.

His wife, Jo-Anne, is also an active supporter of arts and charitable groups in the city.

La Grouw's father - 97-year-old Jo La Grouw snr - arrived in New Zealand from the Netherlands in 1950 and set up Lockwood the following year with his Dutch business partner John Van Loghem.

The business flourished in New Zealand's post-World War II building boom and was soon exporting its homes - three were even "unwittingly" sold to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1970s and 1980s.

La Grouw became involved with Lockwood in the early 1980s when Van Loghem's share of the business was bought by the La Grouw family, giving them control of the firm.

He said he never planned to take over the family business.

"I had businesses in Auckland and had to come back to Rotorua," La Grouw said. "I guess it was out of necessity in a sense."

Lockwood now employs around 80 staff in Rotorua, where the firm's head office and manufacturing facilities are located.

La Grouw has been credited with keeping the company headquartered in the city, despite Lockwood becoming a major export business.

"The main thing is we like Rotorua and we like living here - it's a great community," he said.

La Grouw said Lockwood's sales in its main market - New Zealand, which accounts for around 50 per cent of revenue - were cut in half with the onset of the recession.

The company had combated the downturn in this country by increasing its exports to India, Japan, the Middle East and Pacific.