In November 2017 Hill Laboratories completed the centralisation process for the company’s Waikato operations, reducing from five properties to one 7,000m² building in Duke Street, Hamilton. Resco’s product specialist Troy Henriques says, “Our whole team was very proud to be part of creating one of New Zealand’s biggest lab projects”. The facility, housing more than 300 employees, is head office for the company which also has laboratories in Christchurch, Blenheim, Wellington and Auckland.

Two types of Resco Compact Laminate bench tops were chosen according to the type of testing being undertaken. Resco’s toughest product, the ChemLab bench is in place in about one quarter of the area, particularly where acids and other aggressive chemicals are being used. BioLab benches are being used in the rest of the laboratory areas. Resco’s Multicom wall panelling has been installed in selected areas, mainly where the toughest degree of durability for a splashback purpose is required.

Hill Laboratories Duke Street Programme Manager Jon Harris said they knew from experience with some use of Resco products in previous labs that the Resco Compact Laminate was extremely resilient and impervious to water. Prior to the fit-out of the new facility, they obtained samples from Resco and put the surfaces to the test. “We needed to be sure before choosing,” says Jon.

“Now we have the new facility fully working, we are very pleased with the Resco products we have used. They are standing up to the wide range of analytical testing that we offer, and the ease of cleaning is a great advantage over some of our previous lab benches in other places.”

The scale of the fit-out for the Hill Laboratories super-centre in Hamilton, and the stage by stage move from the various other buildings while continuing to provide analytical testing for our customers was a “logistic challenge” says Jon. “We really appreciate how responsive Resco’s service people were to our requirements during the fit-out.”