Our History

Culham Engineering was established in 1958 to meet the needs for engineering services in the rapidly growing Northland region. The business initially operated from a small workshop in Port Road Whangarei and moved to its current location on Hewlett St Whangarei in the 1970’s. Over the years, industrial land surrounding the Hewlett St property has been purchased and developed, and the business now operates from a site that covers an area of 8.3ha.

Rob Kirwan joined the business as an apprentice in 1980. Apart from taking time out to play professional rugby, Rob has been part of the business ever since. He was appointed General Manager in 2007, and he invested in the business and became Managing Director in 2015. Rob is the classic example of a young man starting out in business at the bottom and over a period of 35 years working his way up to the top.

During this time the type of engineering services supplied by Culham Engineering has expanded and the company has grown both in physical size and employee numbers. The Management team is always looking to adapt to technological advancements and innovations to improve productivity and quality of service. The company expanded into the Central North Island region in 2016, opening workshops in Kawerau and Tokoroa to supply and support maintenance activities to Oji Fibre Solutions at their Tasman and Kinleith mills. These workshops now form  the hub for all the Culham Engineering Central North Island activities.

In 2021 Rob and his business partner took over full ownership of the Group and although the founder passed away in 2011, his legacy of taking care of staff and working hard to achieve the best outcomes for customers in an honest and transparent manner are still ingrained in the very fabric of the values and culture of the Culham Engineering brand.