Global 100 2022 Award Article

Global award-winning Legacy Steel is a private, New Zealand owned steel fabrication and erection business based in Auckland New Zealand. With a combined experience of over 110 years, servicing both the local Auckland area as well as projects around the North Island. Specialising in residential, commercial and metalwork projects, also encompassing expertise and capability to undertake seismic strengthening & temporary shoring works. Originally limited to the Auckland region, Legacy Steel through expertise has expanded their capabilities, skills and services to enable them to broaden their demographics. 

To enable a flawless design Legacy Steel engages with clients at each crucial stage, building a comfortable rapport, ensuring the process is fully understood, therefore the client feels confident throughout, working with the project consultants to optimise project design and providing them with invaluable industry knowledge. 

To see this as much more than ‘just a job’ Legacy Steel prides themselves on their involvement in projects hence creating the Principal’s Legacy! When a business grows, so does the need for ongoing training and development opportunities for its staff. Supporting local companies and businesses, growing together and offering stability to aid one another, ever raising the NZ Made branding, which proudly separates Legacy Steel from other competitors that import steelwork from Asia. The reason behind companies doing this is essentially for costing purposes, it’s cheaper! Long term, staying local far out ways the cost of importing cheap materials. The effort, finish, support and knowledge is what keeps customers returning time and time again. We all know how effective word of mouth is in any business. 

Covid has caused a ricochet across the world, affecting us all as individuals and within businesses alike, back when all this started, we didn’t know what the future would hold. Navigating through these unprecedented times, through various lockdowns and closures caused a series of obstacles to over-come. Finding a path, rolling with the government restrictions as and when they came, this also meant new health and safety issues and supply chain disruptions. This is what Legacy Steel owner, Daryl Warren, believes to have been the most challenging time in his 25-year career. Having to adapt to the market and client requirements, which was taken on with a resounding support by clients who have stood by them and continued to work with them. 

“The government’s decision to mandate COVID vaccinations across their departments and projects has forced a large portion of the industry to do the same with their businesses. Obviously, this has impacted on staff and their right to a personal choice on the matter. As a company we have decided to allow our staff to make their own choices while still implementing best practice health & safety measures for managing COVID. As we have not mandated COVID vaccination onto our staff we have had to turn tenders away and even lost work”. 

As experienced as they are, this close team genuinely cares about the work they are doing, maintaining industry high standards. Each team member has been employed not only on their skills and knowledge but based on the person they are, their work ethics and team building characteristics. Holding one another up, with minimal requirement for the Foreman to direct them. 

“For us ‘Creating Legacies In Steel’ refers not only to the projects we’re involved with but the people who work for us and the future we can help create for them in the industry”. 

Daryl Warren as experience with all facets of steel construction including a thorough understanding of detailing software, fabrication standards with welding requirements, protective coatings and rigging practices. Daryl has worked in high volume steel fabrication businesses from the age of 19. He has experience in literally thousands of projects ranging from residential metalwork to Tier 1 major government infrastructure projects. Fulfilling roles in sales, workshop management, site installation and running steel fabrication businesses, this experience has meant Daryl has a depth of practical knowledge rarely seen in the industry. Additional to experience with steel fabrication, Daryl spent time working on several multi-storey concrete construction projects covering aspects from shoring, scaffolding and exterior building finishing. All of the projects worked on won multiple local awards in their fields. 

This year Legacy Steel will be starting work on a Material Requirements Planning (MRP) project that once completed will provide proactive and retrospective end-to-end tracking of projects that nothing on the market currently provides. This stems off management systems that are currently used but bringing them into a digital format that will be applicable to many other fabrication businesses. 

Additional to this they have started implementing changes around the management structure to improve communication and delegating responsibilities to lessen the workload on some of the staff. 

It should never just be about the work and Legacy Steel understands this, aiming to provide a healthy work-life balance for all staff members now and in the future.