Southern property giant Calder Stewart turns 70: helicopters, marquee party for 500

Scenic helicopter flights for staff and a marquee party featuring country-pop music sensation Kaylee Bell were just two of the drawcards to a huge southern event to celebrate a 70-year-old business.

“It was a major event,” said a staffer at property construction giant Calder Stewart, one of New Zealand’s largest industrial landowners and one of its top builders, which turned 70 on Thursday.

“We were very, very, very lucky,” said one party-goer after celebrations on Thursday.

Executive director Alan Stewart said the company’s growth remained rooted in the principles established seven decades ago.

More than 500 staff and former employees were brought to the small township of Milton, in Otago, from around New Zealand, the company said when the Herald asked about the celebration.

The event showed off the firm’s latest developments, including its Revolution Hills business campus and nearby Millburn Quadrant, forestry operations and a privately funded cycleway that links into the wider Otago rail trail network.

Calder Stewart property director Ben Stewart said: “This milestone isn’t just about looking back, it’s about the next chapter. We’re expanding our operations into renewable energy, forestry and capital markets. As a private family business, we have the agility to pursue opportunities that deliver long-term value for New Zealand’s economy.”

One source told the Herald: “They went to great lengths making sure staff were rewarded for their loyalty to the business.”

The company confirmed Kiwi country-pop singer Kaylee Bell performed at the event.

The company was founded by Bruce Stewart and Lance Calder in 1955 in the small Otago town of Milton but has grown to be a national force.

Yet in true southern style, its upmarket head office remains on the outskirts of Milton, not even in the township but on the state highway.

It is controlled by Stewart Family Holdings, which says it is the largest industrial landowner in New Zealand. The business says it employs about 400 people.

The business has its headquarters at Revolution Hills, south of Mosgiel, outside Milton.

Last year, the company was ranked among the top 10 builders nationally, based on the value of work it started in 2023.

The BCI Construction League Report said that in 2023, Calder Stewart Holdings was working on 28 projects valued at $320 million.

It came in ninth after Naylor Love, Haydn & Rollett, LT McGuinness, Southbase Construction, Watts & Hughes, Icon Construction, CMP Construction and Dominion Construction.

Calder Stewart initially began building houses, then moved on to much bigger work.

Kmart Waikato, Mainfreight Ashburton and Balclutha’s new community centre are projects the business has highlighted lately.

The Kmart North Island distribution centre project story started with Calder Stewart’s relationship with Tainui Group Holdings, developing the Ruakura SuperHub.

“We had previously worked closely to deliver the PBT project at the site,” Calder Stewart said of that logistics warehouse.

Due to the scale of the Kmart project, a significant level of stakeholder collaboration and detailed pre-planning was needed to secure Kmart as a tenant for Tainui, Calder Stewart said.

“As this project began as a negotiated design-build process, the collaboration between Tainui and our team needed to be seamless from the start,” Calder Stewart said.

The Kmart warehouse is 40,000sq m, it includes 900 tonnes of steel and took 14 months from consent to delivery on a 10.1ha site.

Mitre 10 Mega Wānaka, a 1750sq m Honda showroom in Christchurch, Mainfreight Levin and a 20,000sq m storage warehouse at Rolleston’s Izone Business Park are other big projects it names.

Calder Stewart built Balclutha’s Te Pou Ō Mata-Au Clutha District War Memorial and Community Centre. That is a 3200sq m, 478-seat venue with retractable seating, 28 co-worker spaces and a flat-floor resilient stage.

Earlier this year, the builder and Fonterra broke ground for the new Fonterra Brands NZ South Island Distribution Centre at Hornby Quadrant.

The company says: “As we celebrate 70 years in business in 2025, Calder Stewart is proud to continue shaping New Zealand’s landscape by delivering large-scale industrial projects for local, national, and international clients,” it said in the 26th issue of Insite Magazine.

A list of the 10 largest non-residential property sales of last year’s second half was topped by a $66.5m Drury real estate transaction, according to CBRE’s Zoltan Moricz.

Calder Stewart Development sold a Drury property on Jack Stevenson Rd to industrial wholesale investment specialist FortHill Property Fund.

FortHill was set up in 2019 as a wholesale investment fund separate from Calder Stewart but associated with it. FortHill owns 20 industrial properties worth $426m+.

The Herald reported on the NZ Safety Blackwoods new distribution centre, which Calder Stewart is developing at 22 Jack Stevenson Rd, Drury.

The company is building the new Briscoe Group Distribution Centre at Drury, using structural steel manufactured and freighted from its Milton factory.

“Installation [is] progressing well across the warehouse and office areas. Work on the warehouse roof and cladding is well under way, fire sprinkler installation is in progress, and preparation for the warehouse slab is advancing steadily,” the company announced last month of the Briscoes project.

Calder Stewart has offices in Auckland, Hamilton, Christchurch, Ashburton, Milton and Invercargill.

In 2016, Mason & Wales Architects won a southern area award from Te Kāhui Waihanga NZ Institute of Architects for the company’s new head office.

“Set within a greenfield landscape, this large commercial building is accessed from the main state highway on the outskirts of the Milton township,” the citation said.

“One can see evidence of architect and client working closely together to create a functional and holistic office environment,” it said.

The building’s formation was based around cellular pods, which will allow the company to easily expand, with minimal interruption to the existing base, when the time arises.

“The interior timber and limestone finishes are crisp and welcoming and the rural outlook provides a tranquil setting for the development. A commendation, also, for landscaping that comprises sports fields and a walking circuit, which encourage staff to head outside and get active,” the citation said.

The company’s executive director is Peter Stewart.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.