Wanganui Enterprises building on market as economy bites

Wanganui Enterprises has put its building on the property market. Photo / Bevan Conley

Wanganui Enterprises has put its London Street building on the market as the charitable trust faces economic pressure.

The building at 41 London St sits on a 2666sqm site.

“It’s probably reached a stage where we’re going back to basics and saying, ‘what are we going to be doing for the next period’,” board of management chair Peter Robinson said.

Wanganui Enterprises provides employment and training for people with disabilities.

“We had a Reserve Bank tightening the credit rules and we also had an international economy which was going backwards, particularly for the rural areas,” he said.

“Whanganui is a rural support area and we rely a lot on our sheep and beef farmers who are doing it tough.”

Orders for dog kennels and runs, two of their most popular products, have fallen.

“We don’t want to end up with a huge stock of inventory waiting for the economy to improve,” Robinson said.

“We are facing compliance costs and a substantial insurance bill this year and the indication is that there’ll be more compliance costs coming up over the next couple of years.”

The building is also too big for its operations and if sold, Wanganui Enterprise would look for somewhere more suited for manufacturing.

Robinson said the board would look at different ways to use the existing location if the building didn’t sell.

“This may involve reorganising the way we do our manufacturing operation, may involve doing some different work in different areas,” he said.

“We may also change the focus in the work that we’re doing at the moment to branch out into other areas.”

E-waste recycling was being considered, with expanding the manufacturing operation to include outdoor furniture.

Preliminary research has also been done into branching out into IT work.

Robinson said the direction they take would be tied to the direction the country takes over the coming months.

“If the new government suddenly puts money in the farmer’s pockets and we have orders coming out of our ears for kennels and runs then we would be gearing up to do those.

“However, if we were to sell the building or get an offer on the building we would focus as to what we take with us and what we do next,” he said.

Finn Williams is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. He joined the Chronicle in early 2022 and regularly covers stories about business, events and emergencies. He also enjoys writing opinion columns on whatever interests him.