| |
INNOVATIVE exporter Northern Project Management will continue to call Townsville home because of continued demands for development in regional Queensland.
NPM has won the Townsville Region Exporter of the Year Award and Services Award announced by Premier Peter Beattie. NPM managing director Tom Cummins said he was excited to win the awards and expected an increase in the company's growth next year. "Business in the local area is strong and is expected to stay strong for a while because of the resources boom," he said. "We employ 160 people in Townsville, 31 expatriates in Fiji and 950 Fijian locals for our operations in Fiji." NPM manufactures modular housing for North Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia.
The Rockingham County Planning Board approved a rezoning request, by a 5-3 vote, for a new subdivision at the intersection of Bethany and Moore roads despite more than a dozen people who came out against the development. Planning board member Anthony Brown abstained. The property up for rezoning was a 25-acre tract just north of the new Bethany Elementary School in the southwestern part of Rockingham County. Ken Ferguson, owner of Ken Ferguson Construction Co., said he plans to build 15 homes on 15 lots. Ferguson said the homes would be designed with a minimum of 1,600 square feet, not including planned two-stall attached garages. "Our purpose is to build homes $180,000 to $220,000," Ferguson said. "No modular, track or mobile homes. We plan to build custom stick-built homes that will be an asset to the county." Moore Road, a power line and a 150-foot utility easement all cut through the property at different angles, creating difficulties in forming the residential lots.
BECOMING an export-ready business can be approached a number of ways but at the core of success for most exporters is an ability to think outside the square, to assess what is missing in an overseas market. After that, it's using the same unique thinking to effectively market the overseas-bound Aussie good or service. Exporters come from predictable sectors to the more exotic business groups, and last year, this new age of exporting was brought home in an unforgettable way when the Wiggles were named top exporter. The Deputy Prime Minister and former trade minister Mark Vaile hailed the Wiggles International as the 2005 DHL Australian Exporter of the Year. "These great Australian entertainers have had outstanding export success and thoroughly deserve to be named overall winners of this year's Australian Export Awards," Vaile said.
CLAREMONT, N.H. The housing slowdown in New England has prompted a modular home company in Claremont (New Hampshire) to lay off workers and close one plant. Customized Structures Incorporated laid off 23 of its 200 employees and will close a factory in the city. C-E-O Richard Krant said the company will operate entirely out of a second plant in Claremont. With the number of building permits and new homes dropping, Krant said the company had to make adjustments. ___ Information from: Eagle Times, http://www.eagletimes.com Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. .
TODAY Behind-the-scenes tour exploring unique restoration projects including Eagles Auditorium and The 5th Avenue Theatre; registration required. 10 a.m.-noon; Rainier Square Atrium (tour start), 1333 Fifth Ave. (Level 3), Seattle; $10-$12 (206-667-9184 or www.seattlearchitecture.org). Everett Fall Home Show THROUGH SUN View hundreds of home-improvement, remodeling and decorating exhibits and a gift court at Snohomish County's largest home show. 10 a.m.-7 p.m. today, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, Everett Events Center, 2000 Hewitt Ave., Everett; $7.50-$8 (425-322-2600 or center.com/">www.everetteventscenter.com). Classes Wrapping up the holidays TODAY Find a look, then see how to mix-and-match papers and trim for the holidays; registration required.
General Motors. Corp.'s first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle aimed at the mass market joined the Saturn lineup this past summer. It's the Saturn Vue Green Line, derived from Saturn's popular five-passenger, gasoline-only Vue sport utility vehicle. The hybrid drivetrain uses a 170-horsepower, 2.4-liter, four-cylinder gasoline engine for primary power and a small electric motor to boost acceleration, as well as to increase fuel economy by about 20 percent. This essentially allows the vehicle to have the pep of a six-cylinder, but with even better fuel economy than that of the regular four-cylinder Vue. That gives the Vue Green Line EPA fuel-economy ratings of 27 miles per gallon in the city and 32 mpg on the highway, compared with ratings of 22 city/27 highway for the 2.2-liter four-cylinder Vue (with automatic transmission) and 20 city/28 highway with the Honda-built 3.5-liter V-6.
|
|
