Customer service worker Paetriot Ashby, right, takes a break from the forecourt while Jayden Zielinski helps a customer at Ngāpuhi Service Station in Kaikohe. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Customer service worker Paetriot Ashby, right, takes a break from the forecourt while Jayden Zielinski helps a customer at Ngāpuhi Service Station in Kaikohe. Photo / Peter de Graaf
A makeover of a Kaikohe service station is aimed at instilling pride and reminding members of New Zealand's biggest iwi that they own the business.
Ngāpuhi Asset Holding Company bought the former Renton Motors, now a Mobil service station, at the bottom of Broadway 10 years ago.
Chief executive Paul Knight wanted to mark the milestone while also lifting the profile of all things Ngāpuhi, so he enlisted Kaikohe design firm Ākau to come up with a plan, together with students from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe.
On the outside it still looks like an ordinary service station but inside it has had a Ngapuhi-themed transformation.
Stock manager Katrina Wharerau checks out a map of Te Whare Tapu o Ngāpuhi (The Scared House of Ngāpuhi), part of Ngāpuhi Service Station's makeover. Photo / Peter de Graaf
The walls feature the 11 maunga (mountains) of Te Whare Tapu o Ngāpuhi (The Sacred House of Ngāpuhi) which are placed according to their locations, while two rākau (trees) represent the kohekohe trees which gave the warrior Hone Heke and his mother sustenance during a siege — hence the name Kaikohekohe, later shortened to Kaikohe.
Visitors can walk inside one of the trees, where panels tell the story behind Kaikohe's name and descending lights symbolise the tree's berries.
Project co-ordinator Miriama Maihi said two Year 13 students in particular, Symphony Morunga and Dante Kelleher, came up with the design.
''There was also lots of consultation with kuia and kaumātua to make sure we got it right,'' she said.
The 11 maunga of Te Whare Tapu o Ngāpuhi (The Sacred House of Ngāpuhi) are represented on the walls according to their geographical location. Rākaumangamanga is at Cape Brett in the Bay of Islands. Photo / Peter de Graaf
All the work was done by Mid North contractors with, for example, an Ōpua company making the plywood trees using computer-controlled cutting equipment.
Part of the store had been set aside for Ngāpuhi-branded clothing, while another area would be used to showcase local products and services.
''Ngāpuhi has owned the business for 10 years but a lot of our people don't realise they own it. There's more of a feeling of ownership now, and a feeling of pride about the place,'' Maihi said.
Profits from the service station went back to the iwi and its social services.
Maihi said older customers understood the Ngāpuhi references, such as the maunga and where they were placed, straight away.
''We had one guy in here in his 60s who was almost in tears.''
The use of te reo would be increased in signs and greetings and forecourt staff would use the language to identify pumps and vehicles.
From the outside it looks like a normal service station - it's the inside that's different. Photo / Peter de Graaf
During Monday's opening ceremony, Knight said anyone walking inside should sense the difference.
''You should feel to some extent that you own this, that this is you. Even if you're an outsider, a tourist or a Pākehā, you should have a completely different experience from any other service station.''
Knight added that the makeover was a work in progress, with more still to be done.
In another point of difference, site manager Carl Lucas said the service station would continue the forecourt service — from Monday to Friday at least — which had been scrapped by its competitors.
The business remained open during the two-week makeover.
Powering up Kaikohe
Ngāpuhi Service Station is tapping into the sun to cut its power bills and reduce Kaikohe's demand on the grid.
In winter an array of 120 solar panels covering just over 200sq m of the building's roof produces about a quarter of the power needs of the service station, Malaahi Cafe, Paper Plus and Ngapuhi Asset Holding Company offices.
In summer that figure rises to more than a third.
Ngāpuhi Asset Holding Company chief executive Paul Knight said the system was installed by a Kaikohe company in February this year.
The pitch and north-facing direction of the service station roof, like most buildings in the town, made it ideal for solar panels.
The company had looked into solar power several times before but this was the first time it stacked up from a commercial as well as an ethical standpoint.
The service station was a high power user so the savings were significant, with a payback period of just six years, he said.
