Keystone has recen
tly welcomed a new sponsorship partner – but they are no strangers to the trust, in more than one sense.
Southbase joins a stellar list of Key Scholarship partners.
Among them is Built, who Southbase has a joint working venture relationship with.
And it’s this connection that has seen Keystone alumnus Joel Palmer – who earned a key partner scholarship with Built – taken on by Southbase. Joel will shortly start his career as a quantity surveying graduate at their Auckland office.
The connections run deeper: the independent commercial construction company already has some Keystone scholars in their workforce. Holly Findlay, currently completing her Quantity Surveying degree at Otago Polytechnic, is one of two Southbase scholarship recipients for 2026. Isaac Petrich, who is studying a Bachelor of Construction and Quantity Surveying at Massey University, has recently started work at Southbase.
The decision to become a Key Scholarship partner – their first official sponsorship – made sense, says Josie MacKenzie, Southbase head of people and culture. “Built recommended we get in touch with Keystone due to the high calibre of students presented. When I looked at what they do, it felt like a good alignment with who we are because of our shared values.”
It soon became clear it was the right thing to do. Southbase puts a high value on supporting continuing education within its workforce. Thirty percent of its workforce is under the age of 30; many started as cadets or graduates.
Group chief executive officer Quin Henderson, who founded the company in the aftermath of the 2013 Christchurch earthquakes, is a massive supporter of education and having bright young people in the business, says Josie. “He’s passionate about the business and the people in it.” The company also places great store in inclusion, diversity, innovation and technology. It is actively involved in social and commercial initiatives that support regional growth and development around New Zealand. The company has delivered some major projects, including the Christchurch Bus Interchange, Tūranga the central library, the Crossings and the Hagley Oval, in addition to many schools. In Auckland, delivering the Innovation Complex at Massey University helped Southbase move to a tier 1 construction company.
Josie is herself a true illustration of the benefits of study and continuous upskilling. Originally from Scotland, she spent 14 years as a diplomat with the British Diplomatic Service before moving with her family to NZ in the early 2000s, where she began working in Human Resources.
But she had no formal qualifications. At the same time, she had three young girls to raise. “I thought it was important as a role model to my daughters to have a tertiary education,” she says. And so she went back to school at Massey University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Business Studies with a double major in Employment Relations and Human Resource Management.
Educating young and talented people has always been a key part of the career pathway Southbase has had, says Josie – which is why Keystone is such a good fit. It’s one the company looks forward to maintaining for many years to come.
