Most banks are shrinking their physical footprint. Bank of New Zealand doing the opposite.
I’ve been quietly following Anthony Parkin's LinkedIn updates over the last year and it’s been cool to watch the momentum:
Tauranga. Hamilton. Ashburton. Ōtāhuhu. Wellington. Palmerston North. 7+ refurbished branches, and counting.
What I rate is their care and community partnerships in the process of refurbishing branch stores across the motu.
Anthony consistently shines the light on the people behind the work, and the little decisions that add up:
repurposed floor tiles
materials reused instead of binned
working alongside local schools
and shout-outs to the teams delivering it
Last year I judged the Toitanga category at the Best Awards, and winners of the category for best projects aren’t were not because they were just “good-looking” — but that they had so much integrity in the engagement to build process that generated net positive benefit to the communities around them.
That’s what these rollouts reminded me of.
And yeah — in many of these branches you’ll spot Critical. Cleanstone in the counters and panels (recycled fishing nets + soft plastic bags). I'm proud to be a small part of a much bigger story.
Kia ora Anthony, Kelly Galbraith, the Bank of New Zealand delivery team and the many others who made this happen — your manaakitanga is evident 👏
And whānau, if you’re rolling out retail spaces and want materials that support real impact, reach out on cleanstone.criticaldesign.nz and I'll send you samples.
#SustainableDesign #Aotearoa #CircularEconomy #RetailDesign #DesignLeadership #BNZ