market report: new zealand


As businesses strive to rebuild and


get back to normal after last year’s quake, aftershocks still rattle the city on an almost daily basis


injured. However, the block containing the Les Mills club will be one of the last to re-open to the public, as it is in the potential ‘fall zone’ of a high-rise hotel that is being demolished floor by floor. For Les Mills club manager Toni


McGregor-Tout, the human lessons have been as important as the business ones. “We are incredibly grateful that we


invested in our new building only about a year before the quake,” she says. “From a purely financial perspective, we spent millions on a building we haven’t been able to use for months and months. But if we had been in our old building, it’s highly likely that the lives of members and staff would have been lost.” “We were proud that, because our


new building was undamaged, it became a base for police, fire and civil defence for several days after the quake.” Communicating with staff and


members was vital, especially in the first few days, McGregor-Tout recalls. “Another earthquake a few months


EARTHQUAKE STATS


city, killing more than 180 people in the second most deadly natural disaster ever recorded in New Zealand (after the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake). The government declared a state of national emergency, which stayed in force until 30 April 2011. The magnitude 6.3 earthquake


T


struck the Canterbury region of New Zealand’s South Island during the busy lunch hour on 22 February 2011. It was centred between the port town of Lyttelton and central Christchurch, and came nearly six months after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake, which had caused significant damage to Christchurch and the wider region, but with no direct fatalities.


68


he February 2011 Christchurch earthquake severely damaged New Zealand’s third largest


The February 2011 earthquake


caused widespread damage across Christchurch, especially in the central city and eastern suburbs: aside from the loss of lives and buildings in the central business district, about 10,000 homes were seriously damaged. The impact was exacerbated by buildings and infrastructure already being weakened by the September 2010 earthquake and its aftershocks. It has been estimated that the total cost of rebuilding to the government and insurers will be around NZ$20bn. The February quake was the most


damaging in a series of thousands of shakes that have hit over a year and a half. A large aftershock on 13 June caused considerable further damage, while a series of large shocks on 23 December 2011 closed many shopping areas during the pre-Christmas rush.


Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital


earlier had closed our gyms for a few days, and luckily that experience showed us that we needed to review and upgrade our communications plans – making sure we had everyone’s correct phone numbers, emails and so on. “After the February quake, we put all


information on our website, sent out emails to everyone – staff and members – and sent text messages too, to keep people informed. But power was out and phones were dead, so people couldn’t always connect. And even though the text messaging infrastructure worked


throughout, that wasn’t ideal either, because many people left their cellphones behind when escaping the quake.” The Christchurch gym forwarded


the gym’s phonelines to the company’s headquarters in Auckland 1,000km away, and Christchurch staff went to Auckland to answer those calls.


uncertain times Les Mills NZ has been able to retain about 80 per cent of the original Christchurch staff who wanted jobs after the quake. Some are employed at Les Mills gyms in other cities; others are working with re-jigged job descriptions and working hours. McGregor-Tout continues: “Every


conversation our HR manager and management team had about wages, working hours and so on became an opportunity to connect with our staff on a more personal level – to check in with them on their housing situation, how their families were coping and so on. That emotional support has been vital, and the need for it lasts a long time.” Even as the Les Mills gym prepares to


re-open in Christchurch, uncertainty remains. The gym is one of only a few buildings still standing in the surrounding landscape, so it’s not entirely clear who will turn up to exercise in this vastly changed neighbourhood. Aftershocks also still rattle the city


on an almost daily basis. “We have our fingers crossed that the worst is over,” says McGregor-Tout.


healthclub@leisuremedia.com nikitin sallee


march 2012 © cybertrek 2012


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