Chances are that as you read this you’ve already enjoyed a number of National Foods products today. National Foods manufactures, packages and distributes a broad range of basic foods including breakfast cereals, maize meal, flour (in your morning toast), rice, salt, biscuits, pasta, popcorn and a range of snacks. Red Seal, Gloria, Mahatma and Pearlenta are just a few of their most well-known brands which can be found in almost every household across the country. They are the leading suppliers of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) as well as a full range of stock feeds.
They have manufacturing and distribution centres in both Harare and Bulawayo and subsidiary concerns across the country. Their current headquarters are situated at 10 Stirling Road in Workington, Harare, which include their executive and administrative offices, logistics, milling and processing units, and their bakery research and development laboratory.
National Foods has its origins back in 1920 so they recently celebrated their centenary. Over the years the company has expanded exponentially and is registered on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. As part of their continual growth plan they have recently refurbished their old flour milling plant in Bulawayo. Phase two of their cereal line is complete and National Foods is due to commission new pasta and biscuit manufacturing plants in Harare in early 2024. They are constantly upgrading and modernising their facilities – we reported on the renovations to their laboratory and bakery done by Howes and Homes in 2018. In 2019 Howes and Homes went on to renovate the second floor of the office block including all the offices and the upstairs reception area, the boardrooms and meeting rooms, as well as the boardroom kitchen and the executive ablutions.
Late last year they embarked on building a new entrance and security office. The existing entrance and security set up, including the roof, were demolished and the reception and ground floor were renovated. The ground floor includes a meeting room, ablutions and a kitchenette – again the revamp was undertaken by Liz Howes from Howes and Homes. It not only improves their corporate image it helps to create a better working environment for the staff. The original décor had become a little dated and tired but it now has a fresh new look throughout.At the entrance a new wall was built up on the right hand side to match the height of the existing walls. It looks neater and more modern. A gentle ramp was installed on one side (with a railing supplied by Inner Living) with steps on the other side. New double doors were fitted at the entrance with a new portico roof. Newer more contemporary signage was supplied and installed by Compusign.
The security area has been revamped with floor tiles from Earthen Fire and a new window to the reception area
was installed. The existing internal signage was removed and the walls given a fresh coat of paint. A new cashier’s booth was built next to the security check in. The reception area has floor tiles in black, grey and white in a classical geometric design. One wall has been wallpapered in a Hertex wallpaper – selected and installed by Ivory Palm Interiors and supplied by the Fabric Studio.New ceilings and bulkheads were installed with down lighters.
Next to the reception is a large solid fixed window pane looking out to the busy yard and reminding visitors of the industrial nature of the space.The reception leads to the large open plan sales and marketing office. New pale floor tiles have been installed here and throughout the rest of the smaller offices and most of the rest of the ground floor.
Floor plug sockets were installed so there’s no need for messy and awkward cables and each workstation has access to power. The concrete ceiling has been painted a dark charcoal grey while the supporting bulkhead beams are white.
The slightly dated large format printed banners were taken off and the walls painted giving a more contemporary look and feel to the space. One wall has been painted a sage green which matches the new office chairs. Vertical blinds were fitted by Ashleigh Smith Interiors.
From the open plan sales office, a wide passage leads to offices and a meeting room on one side and ablutions and a kitchenette on the other side. The offices and the meeting room have windows out to the yard in front on one side and glass partitions to the passageway on the other side.The partition walls have frosted National Foods logos supplied by Signs of the Times. The meeting room/boardroom has similar wallpaper to the reception area – the same pattern but in a slightly different shade. Modern square LED panel lights were installed in the acoustic ceiling.
Both the men’s and the ladies’ ablutions were completely gutted and new wall and floor tiles (from Earthen Fire) were installed as well as new sanitary ware and basins on granite counters. The ladies’ ablution area was reconfigured to create a small entrance foyer providing more privacy.
In the kitchen the entrance doors were replaced and cabinet doors were repaired or replaced as needed. New handles were fitted and an aluminium kick plate was installed around the base of the units for easy cleaning. New wall tiles were fitted to refresh and brighten up the area.Throughout the ground floor the electrics were tidied up and new DB boards fitted as needed necessary.
All the walls and ceilings were painted and new tiles with tiled skirting fitted. Some of the old fluorescent lights were replaced with downlighters or LED panels fitted into the acoustic ceilings.
In addition, the stairs leading to the first floor were refurbished with full body tiles which are very hard wearing and aluminium edge trim was installed to prevent chips.
Howes and Homes has total totally revamped and modernised the whole ground floor to make it more attractive and functional – all done with in a time frame of four months.
Text by Michael Nott
From: S&D ISSUE 63
