They settled on a design, put it out for tender, appointed a builder — then the changes started. The plant room was too small, the insulation had to be replaced, and key equipment had a lead time longer than the build itself. None of it was in the plan. Early engagement is how you avoid all of it.
Many businesses are surprised how much extra energy a poorly maintained system burns through. Dirty coils, blocked filters, worn motors, incorrect refrigerant charge or faulty controls all force equipment to run harder and longer, driving up power consumption and operating costs. Regular planned preventative maintenance keeps systems at their designed efficiency — and is often one of the most cost-effective investments a business can make.
You’re an operations manager at a healthcare facility, it’s 11pm, and someone’s flagging a temperature alarm in a chiller room that holds lifesaving medical supplies. It’s critical you get it checked out immediately or you lose everything. Or you’re a property manager and the air conditioning has stopped working in one of your largest office blocks in the CBD.
Mould is one of those problems that sneaks up on you. One day everything's running smoothly, and the next you're facing health code violations, equipment failures, and potentially thousands of dollars in remediation costs.
Mould doesn't care whether you're running a commercial kitchen or storing wine at home. It thrives wherever refrigeration and cooling systems create the right conditions, and understanding ‘why’ puts you one step ahead of it.
When White Refrigeration sets out to solve a problem for a client, they don’t settle for something that 'could work'. They pursue solutions that will work, designed around how systems actually operate and how people use them. So when the opportunity arose to create their own workspace, the same standards applied. It had to be 90% plus. It had to be passion, not compromise.
"It was midnight when my phone rang. A Viaduct restaurant's walk-in cooler had failed," recalls Alex, a recently qualified refrigeration engineer at White Refrigeration. "Working alone, I diagnosed and repaired the system within three hours. I remember the chef was very happy. And from then at that point onwards, he remembered my name."
In a waterfront home in Auckland, there stands a wine cellar that tells a story of family, passion and perseverance. The cellar began as a father's pride and joy – a dedicated space for his carefully chosen collection of wines and ports. For over five years, he enjoyed his thoughtfully designed cellar, sharing his passion for fine wines and port with his adult children.
The 2008 fatal explosion and fire at Icepak Coolstores, a refrigerated storage facility in Tamahere, near Hamilton, was one of the worst industrial incidents in the country. The accidental ignition of highly flammable propane gas used as a refrigerant in the coolstore's cooling system caused the propane to leak from the refrigeration pipes and build up inside the building.
Too often, we hear stories about a worker doing a job in the workplace, and an incident occurs. Tom was working at a job when he slipped off the ladder he was using to reach the indoor units on the wall. He strained his arm while trying to support himself on the way down but thought it wasn’t serious, so he carried on working.
Whether you’re staying in a hotel, working in an office block or shopping in your local mall, you probably don’t think too much about building safety. And if you do think about it – ‘I hope this lift doesn’t break down (while I’m in it), do the fire extinguishers work, why is there a strange smell coming from the ceiling vents’ – you dismiss the thought because, surely, it is safe.
