Building for the Future
In celebration of 140 years in business, Helmores returned to the High Street of Rangiora in November 2024. Over the past five years the firm has steadily grown to the point where it had outgrown the former premises at 9 Good Street, Rangiora.
A continuous focus on client service delivery and a strong desire to continue to support the North Canterbury region underpinned the decision by the partners to invest in a new premises at Level 1, 190 High Street, Rangiora.
In collaboration with developer Andrew Wenborn, the new building was designed to accommodate the growth aspirations of the firm. More office space, comfortable staff facilities and numerous meeting rooms featuring state of the art media facilities, positions the firm to build for the future. A feature of the new premises is the inclusion of a panoramic board and presentation room overlooking the High Street which has a seating capacity for 50 guests and boasts an audio-visual multimedia centre, ideal for presentations, hosting auctions and staff gatherings.
The partners wanted to ensure that the firm kept abreast of the needs of its clients, particularly those clients in the professional services sector who were needing more sophisticated facilities to complement the services offerings Helmores provides.
The building itself is a bold reminder of the rich heritage of the firm, its strong roots in the community and the desire to anchor its future in the service of Cantabrians. But for Helmores, the future is not merely about ‘bricks and mortar’. The partners of Helmores are energetically looking to add depth to the associate and solicitor tiers within the firm as they seek to increase capacity in corporate, commercial, property and agribusiness sectors.
The growth in the Waimakariri and Hurunui districts has not only led to more clients coming to the firm but also, clients in need of solutions of increasing complexity. The firm adopts a ‘team orientated approach’ to developing solutions for clients where continued access to partners is assured while at the same time, endeavouring to ensure the work is done as efficiently as possible.
Over the many decades of being in North Canterbury, Helmores has acquired immense corporate knowledge in businesses and farms across the region and this has helped the firm to identify issues, think laterally and to be nimble in the delivery of professional services. A key component of this thinking is to blend its advice with those of other professional services companies, particular with accountants and business advisors so that clients received a comprehensive solution beyond addressing purely legal risk. There is an ever-increasing need, particularly amongst farmers, whose enterprises are often complex and layered, needing a one stop solution for their legal requirements and Helmores aspires to deliver accordingly.