Sir Eion’s wife Jan, Lady Edgar, and son Hamish recently unveiled a plaque on the ground floor acknowledging Sir Eion, who died in June last year.
Sir Eion spent nearly 50 years with the investment firm and, as part owner of the building, he was committed to the development and excited about it. Sir Eion visited the site early last year and could see how it was going to look, Forsyth Barr managing director Neil Paviour-Smith said.
Staff worked from the former National Bank building in Princes St until work was completed, which took about 18 months. Forsyth Barr occupied the top four floors of the 10-storey building.
The bulk of staff returned to Forsyth Barr House before Christmas, but the top floor — a lofty site for reception and hosting clients — had not been completed and those on the floor immediately below did not move in until April.
Functions would be held over coming weeks to invite people to look at the new space. Essentially, the building had been stripped back to a concrete shell. It had a new entrance, lifts, heating and ventilation, the common areas had been completely refurbished and there were new facilities, Mr Paviour-Smith said.
It was an achievement to get a project of such a scale completed within the timeframe, particularly given it was during the Covid-19 pandemic and building supplies constraints.
What the firm now had was "terrific" and the consensus was it had been "worth the wait". Conscious the nature of its business was helping clients with their money, Forsyth Barr’s default setting was for staff to work from the office, although there was flexibility if needed. To do that, it needed to provide a high-quality, professional environment for staff.
Asked about the current state of play for the firm, Mr Paviour-Smith said things were busy. There was always a perception that for a firm like Forsyth Barr when there was market volatility, it must get busier. For some aspects of what the firm did, that was right.
There was a lot of reassurance going on, reminding clients that markets did move up and down, that it had been seen before and not to panic.
There was growing demand for advice from people looking for solutions — advice around what to do with their investments, their money.
As demand for services grew strongly, Forsyth Barr had invested in its footprint and was benefiting from that.
It was actively hiring staff and areas such as IT and general clerical and administration staff had been the most challenging in what was a tight labour market, and a reflection that those people could work for a multitude of organisations, Mr Paviour-Smith said.
Covid-19 and what it had created had "totally" made people think more about their money. The response to the pandemic from governments around the world caused interest rates to become extremely low.
For those people whose investment strategy was as simple as money in the bank, or on term deposit, it became a real problem as they were not getting any return, and they were questioning what to do.
Assets also catapulted in value, whether housing, property, cryptocurrency or art, and there was a sense of fear of "missing out".
It possibly served as a reminder for people to think about their money generally, rather than in response "to what’s come along".
Now the consequences of the Government printing money and high inflation meant people were thinking hard about what to do.
It was an unsettling and stressful time for people as they looked for advice about what to do with their savings and hard-earned money.
In what was a complicated picture, the firm reminded clients of the benefit of taking a long-term view to see through short-term volatility.
"You almost need to turn the television off. Our job is to remind some people ‘this is what you’re trying to achieve — stick with it", he said.
