Media Release
Embargoed until 10.00am Friday April 4
Three Year Old Commitment Results in New Trimble Office Opening in Christchurch
Three years after fire destroyed their Christchurch offices, Trimble New Zealand will celebrate the opening of a new,
high technology, purpose-built facility on Birmingham Drive.
Trimble’s president and CEO Steve Berglund and Christchurch Central MP Nicky Wagner will officially open the 6,040
square metre facility today.
The building is the first structure in the world to incorporate three damage-avoidance technologies developed jointly by
the University of Canterbury and the Structural Timber Innovation Company. The post-tensioned rocking Laminated Veneer
Lumber (LVL) frames, post-tensioned LVL rocking shear walls and timber-concrete composite floors that can significantly
reduce the risk of building damage from seismic activity by dissipating the energy and controlling movement in the
structure itself.
Trimble New Zealand is a significant research and development centre for Trimble’s world-leading productivity solutions.
The company employs 230 people in Christchurch, 260 nationally and an additional 60 people in an affiliated company
Trimble Loadrite, based in Auckland.
“When our Christchurch offices burnt down in March 2011, Steve Berglund, Trimble’s president and CEO, immediately
re-affirmed the company’s commitment to Christchurch,” said Corinne Haines, managing director of Trimble Navigation New
Zealand Limited. “It is fitting that he has travelled to Christchurch to take part in the official opening of the new
building.”
“Consistent with our philosophy of innovation, Trimble’s new facility pioneers building technologies developed at
Canterbury University that leverage New Zealand’s natural resources and can provide a higher level of building
resilience. In addition, the building is monitored by Trimble technology that will allow for informed decision-making
regarding building safety in the event of future disasters,” Haines added.
City Care Construction built the new Opus designed facility on behalf of landlord Ian Kennedy of Birmingham Drive
Property Limited.
“When I received the call about the devastating fire in 2011, it was a simple decision to immediately make a commitment
to the business, the staff and the city that we would re-build,” said Steve Berglund.
“Trimble New Zealand plays an important role in the research and development of new technology and applications that
contribute to Trimble’s global business. The commitment of the staff to delivering against our business needs throughout
what has been an extremely difficult time for people in Christchurch re-affirms the value of our New Zealand operation,”
added Berglund.
“Thanks to the vision and investment of Birmingham Drive Property Limited, Trimble New Zealand can now enjoy
state-of-the-art premises with the latest damage avoidance technologies,” he said.
The official opening ceremony will be followed by technology demonstrations across a variety of industries that Trimble
serves including agriculture, building design and construction, civil infrastructure construction and the geospatial
industry.
The Trimble solutions on display will include:
• Collaboration tools and 5D Building Information Modeling (BIM) technologies that are being applied to the Christchurch
rebuild
• Productivity tools in use in New Zealand for projects ranging from the Roads of National Significance to housing
developments to maintaining our ports and harbours
• The latest advances in surveying and mapping systems
• Solutions for more productive, sustainable agriculture to improve water management and conservation
ENDS.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Trimble was founded in 1978 and is a U.S. publicly-traded company. Trimble’s 1991 purchase of Datacom Software Research
Ltd. in New Zealand was the company’s first international acquisition.
The acquisition of Datacom Software Research Ltd. was the beginning of a journey to transform Trimble from being a GPS
manufacturer to becoming a productivity solutions provider, which has grown from US$120 million in 1991 to revenues of
over $2.3 billion in 2013.
Trimble has five major business areas, Agriculture, Building Construction, Civil Construction, Geospatial (Surveying and
GIS), and Transportation and Logistics delivering hardware and software solutions across the work processes in these
industries.
Trimble’s primary focus is to transform the way the world works, through the application of information-based solutions
that increase productivity, safety, collaboration and sustainability.
Today Trimble has offices in 35 countries.
Trimble New Zealand develops and supports products for:
• Agriculture
• Construction
• Geospatial
Trimble products are used in over 150 countries around the world.
The company’s portfolio includes over 1,000 patents that serve as the basis for the broadest offerings of positioning
technology in the industry.
Trimble augments its organic product development with strategic acquisitions to bring new technologies to a wider
market. In the last 12 months Trimble has completed three acquisitions in New Zealand to broaden its offerings in
agriculture, forestry and construction.
ABOUT TRIMBLE
Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive.
Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture,
fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS,
lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless
technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back
office. Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.