By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The opening of its new 10,000 square foot headquarters by early April will complete SMG Millworks’ rapid recovery from last year’s devastating fire, its principal yesterday describing the future outlook as “fantastic”.
Darren Ginns told Tribune Business that he and his wife had in just eight months gone from “absolute devastation” to optimism about the company’s future prospects.
Now aiming to re-hire the 50 staff he had to find alternative jobs for in the wake of last August’s fire, which razed SMG Millworks’ Mount Pleasant premises to the ground, Mr Ginns said he was expecting to hire more employees once its replacement was fully operational.
Fulfilling his pledge to build the new headquarters building on the same site, Mr Ginns said: “We’re doing great. We’re really excited.
“Our new headquarters is being completed. It will be complete by the end of March or beginning of April, and we will be back up, completely operational in a new facility, after being absolutely devastated by the fire, the challenges of the fire and having to lay-off staff.”
Mr Ginns said he and his wife had drawn strength by the “outpouring of support” from SMG Millworks’ new and existing clients, plus contractors who had provided temporary jobs for the staff he had to let go.
“Baha Mar and Albany have been fantastic,” he told Tribune Business. “Now we’ve got through the depression of the fire, we have a new canvas to start building something fantastic.”
The site for the new SMG Millworks head office enjoyed a pre-Christmas blessing from Archdeacon Keith Cartwright, a ceremony attended by numerous staff members.
Mr Ginns added that the company had operated from a temporary office and shop for the past four months, yet maintained its reputation for top quality custom, Bahamian-made cabinets and finishes.
“We’re astonished by the quality of the product we’ve been able to produce out of that small shop, and to the SMG quality that clients expect,” he said.
The new headquarters, Mr Ginns promised, will be equipped with “state of the art equipment”, leaving SMG Millworks “better than we were last year”.
“We expect to be able to take the staff back, and expect to be hiring more still once we’re back up and operational,” he told Tribune Business.
“With the size of the new facility and the new technology, we’re expecting to be able to have greater growth each year as we build up momentum.
“The machines we had in our old shop were fine, but they were 10-12 years old. We’re having new machines, state-of-the-art for 2015.”
Mr Ginns added: “We took down the old building and the new one is going up. Straight after the fire you think your life is completely over and completely devastated, and now you look at 2015, 2016 and 2017.
“Moving into the future, the ability to produce high-end custom cabinets is amazing. We’re very excited for 2015. The support of the contractors and architects that we’ve been dealing with, especially last year, is making this year look good.”
SMG Millworks products are found in luxury residences and communities such as Lyford Cay, Old Fort Bay, the Ocean Club and Albany.
It has also been praised as a model for ‘knowledge transfer’, with skills passed on to Bahamians who are fully integrated into the manufacturing process.
Speaking to Tribune Business in the aftermath of the 2014 fire, Mr Ginns promised then that the company would rebuild “bigger and better if the opportunity is provided”.
“In the last 12 years we built a millworks company from three people to 50 people,” Mr Ginns said at the time.
“We were extensively booked through the rest of the year, and the first quarter of next year, doing great projects at Albany, Baha Mar and private contracts.”
He added: “The staff were absolutely devastated and in tears when they saw this place burned down.
“These guys have mortgages, families, and we’re going to do our best to find jobs for them to keep them going until we are operational again.”
That dream is close to becoming a 100 per cent reality.
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