Duncan has had a varied career in the management of large scale rural lands including farming, forestry and an overseas appointment.He now operates his own business consulting in the rural property sector.His focus is assisting landowners to extract maximum value from their rural property holdings, usually through the identification of higher & better land uses.
He can project manage the subdivision process from start to finish including analysis of District Plans, engaging surveyors/planners, geotechnical and other consultants, managing works including the construction of roads and services, right through to the sale process and engagement of valuers, lawyers and real estate agents.A key component of this is costing the entire project and establishing an achievable timeline.
His career began with developing large farms with Land & Survey on the West Coast of the South Island, and progressing to supervision of large sheep, cattle and dairy operations for Landcorp Farming Ltd in the Rotorua/Taupo region including the management of large ram and bull breeding businesses. In the early 1990’s he was Deputy Regional Manager of the Northern Region with including over 60 properties over 80,000ha and 150 staff.
Duncan then accepted an opportunity as Operations Director for Molokai Ranch in Hawaii where he oversaw large cattle & cropping operations, and worked to develop recreational and real estate assets on the 21,000ha property.The key initiatives achieved included the development of a luxury camping network and the approval for new water supplies.
On returning to New Zealand he gained a role for Carter Holt Harvey managing their forest land holdings totalling in excess of 440,000ha at one point.He quickly identified the opportunity to convert forest land to dairy which has since become a major initiative by a number of large land owners.He also set about identifying other higher & better use opportunities within the estate, and progressed to other management roles in the business.In 2004-2007 he was part of a small team that sold the majority of CHH forests to Matariki Forests and Hancock Resources Group.
This range of experience provides Duncan a strong base to assist as owners representative in a wide range of potential projects that they wish achieve on their rural land holdings.
