CARPET layer Kevin Hodges places tiles in one of the new units at Hillview, Te Kūiti.
FINISHING touches to Project Hillview are providing a nod to the rural friends and supporters of the Te Kūiti residential rest home. Hillview chair Claire Grainger said the board chose wool-based flooring to acknowledge the Te Kūiti farming community who had offered so much support to the expansion of the facility. “Originally we started talks with C P Wool through their local rep Daryl Croad,” Claire said. “We were going to make carpet to use throughout Hillview with the upgrades, and also in the six units we are building [as a retirement village], from wool of farmers from our local area.” However, when C P Wool merged with Wools of NZ, the team from Hillview attended one of the company’s local road shows. And there Claire and her colleagues learned that a superior wool carpet tile was being developed as a new product for the commercial flooring market. “We had discussions with Daryl and Aaron Wells and their North Island market development manager,” Claire said. “Following that and some of our own research, we came to a decision to use these wool tiles throughout our existing home and also for the upgrades.” Then, when Wools of NZ decided to use Flooring Xtra stores as outlets for their products, Claire began working with Murray Hunt Furnishers, Ōtorohanga. “We are actually the first in New Zealand to install these newly designed tiles,” she said. “Wools of NZ CEO John McWhirter, national wool manager Simon Averill and South Island wool manager Mark Greenlaw, have visited Hillview to see their end product being laid. “We are very happy with our decision, and they look wonderful “Wool is a fantastic insulator – it’s a natural product, very warm, fire resistant and unfortunately farmers are getting poorly paid for their wool clips. “New Zealand must take advantage of the availability of this natural product and all its great attributes. We need to find more ways to use it and make it more readily available. “Some of the Hillview trustees are farmers and if not, they work in the rural sector. We wanted to ‘support rural’ and the drive to promote the wool story, especially as we live in a rural community.” At present, the Hillview Board was involved in a telephone pledging campaign, in which a large group of local farmers have been targeted. Claire said she wanted to acknowledge and thank, “all the farmers who have supported us by donating to Project Hillview to date”.
