It’s a name that may not ring bells for many north of the Cook Strait, but it has quietly become one of the largest family-owned businesses in the country.

This year, the wealth of the group – which declined to speak with the Herald for this profile – was reported by the National Business Review at $600 million.

What began as a modest haulage and building firm has, through steady expansion and savvy diversification, become a sprawling conglomerate with interests in transport, fuel, construction, property and tourism.

The company’s roots took hold in 1939 when Invercargill builder Robert Richardson made an investment in Niagara Sawmilling Company, later forming R Richardson Ltd in 1944.

In 1948, R Richardson Ltd was purchased from Robert by his son, Harold, and in 1951 became H G Richardson & Sons.

While steadily growing its portfolio in Southland in the ensuing decades, the company was eventually split between Robert’s grandsons, Bill and Ken, and in 1984 was renamed H W Richardson – the initials are Bill’s full name, Harold William Richardson.

In 2025, HWR Group is co-owned by Shona Richardson, her daughter Jocelyn O’Donnell, and Jocelyn’s husband Scott O’Donnell.

Scott O’Donnell was good friends throughout high school with Bill’s son, Harold Richardson, who was tragically killed in a car accident the same year he and Jocelyn were married in 1995.

Jocelyn and Scott serve as directors, while Albert Brantley is director and Anthony Jones is CEO of the group.

While some ventures now reach across the country, the group’s presence is most deeply felt in the city of its founding – in fact, its influence is nigh impossible to miss.

At the helm of this business giant sits the privately owned HWR Group, headquartered in HWR Tower – an eight-level high-rise on Esk St, the city’s tallest building, complete with a private penthouse at its apex.

The $26m mixed-use complex was completed by Naylor Love in June 2023, winning the Gold Award at the NZ Commercial Project Awards in May this year.

With over 2500 employees across 49 companies in New Zealand and Australia (according to its 2024 sustainability report), and annual revenues exceeding $2 billion, the group’s reach extends far beyond Southland.

Yet their hold on Invercargill remains tight, shaping much of its economic and physical landscape.

Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark said Jocelyn and Scott O’Donnell were “outstanding citizens”.

He said the group were the council’s biggest partner in redeveloping the central city, which stemmed from their passion for Invercargill.

“They run a whole lot of other businesses in town that are beneficial to the city. They’ve got two transport museums, one for trucks and cars and one for motorbikes. They also have Digger World … They have Laser Strike, which the kids love doing … They also have trampoline park … You could argue there’s not a lot of money to be made in some of those things, but that’s just their passion for the city.”

In 2022, Invercargill was in line to host what could have been the world’s largest green hydrogen plant, a project capable of producing liquid hydrogen from water for use in trucks, trains, and potentially aircraft, Clark said – although high electricity costs in New Zealand have stalled the venture for now.

HWR has nonetheless doubled down on the technology.

According to its 2024 sustainability report, it reported a 17% decrease in fuel used per kilometre travelled across its New Zealand operations, and has rolled out eight dual-fuel hydrogen-diesel trucks capable of cutting carbon emissions by up to 34%, with a further 39 on order.

The company is also building Southland’s first commercial hydrogen refuelling station, due to open in 2025, with capacity to produce 450kg a day.

“They are absolutely fantastic people. You could meet them somewhere and you would never know the influence that they have, they’re very humble about it,” Clark said.

Carla Forbes, director at the Invercargill-based marketing company Naked Creative and former president of the Southland Business Chamber, describes Scott and Jocelyn O’Donnell as “two of Invercargill’s most committed champions, quietly shaping our city’s future while preferring to remain out of the spotlight”.

Their influence, she said, “cannot be overstated – they have fundamentally changed the skyline and breathed new life into our city, always with one unwavering focus: making decisions for the betterment of Invercargill and Southland”.

One of the clearest examples of this vision is the redevelopment of the Invercargill city centre.

In 2017, HWR Property and Invercargill City Property Ltd (Invercargill City Council-owned) formed HWCP Management Ltd to spearhead a sweeping CBD overhaul.

The plan involved acquiring nearly 90% of the properties in the block between Esk, Dee, Don and Kelvin Sts, demolishing dozens of heritage and other buildings, and replacing them with a revitalised retail, hospitality and entertainment hub.

It’s hard to mistake the impression that the Richardson Group’s diversification has been deliberate.

Over the years, they’ve acquired fuel distribution networks, concrete suppliers, contracting firms, and property holdings, steadily consolidating their grip on industries that underpin much of the country’s infrastructure.

Allied Concrete, for example, has pushed New Zealand’s cement-replacement rates to around 9% – well above the national average of 2-3% – avoiding an estimated 9500 tonnes of CO2 in 2023-24, the equivalent of planting 175,500 native trees.

Companies owned by HWR include Allied Petroleum, Allied Concrete, Southroads, Southern Transport, Allied Bulk, Freight Haulage, Southdrill, Southrail, Hokonui Rural Transport, Dynes Transport, Christchurch Ready Mix Concrete, Andrews Transport, Clearaway, Bulk Energy NZ, Bulk Liquid Solutions, Cromwell Bulk Distribution, Dunedin Carrying, Gibbs Firewood & Coal, Heavy Haulage, Herberts Transport, Icon Logistics, Kapuka Heenans Transport, Phillips Transport, Purdue Bros Cranes, Ranfurly Transport Ryal Bush Transport, Ryal Bush Transport Ashburton, Te Anau Healy Ltd, Transport Repairs, Transport Services, Upper Clutha Transport, Winton Cranes, Specialised Environment Services, Allied Materials, International Speciality Aggregates, Kilmog Quarries, Southern Aggregates, Pacific Fuel Solutions, NZ Independent Cement, Change Fuel Technologies, Mytransport and HWR Hyrdrogen.

One of their most visible, and arguably most strategic, assets is Transport World – a transport museum-cum-tourism attraction that draws thousands of visitors annually and injects valuable tourism dollars into the region.

HWR’s footprint also extends into community initiatives that don’t directly turn a profit but have high local impact.

The company funds Chatbus, a free mobile counselling service for children in ten Invercargill schools; supported the creation of the Hawthorndale Care Village for dementia patients, and sponsors the Stewart Island beach cleanup.

Smaller projects, like helping build the Lynley Hogg Memorial Playground in Mandeville or backing the Street Smart driver training programme for teenagers, are seen within the group as part of “impact investing” in Southland’s future.

But the family’s reach is not without controversy.

Last month, Scott O’Donnell – long-time HWR director and former managing director – was appointed to KiwiRail’s board for a three-year term ending in 2028.

The move was praised by Minister for Rail Winston Peters for bringing freight and logistics expertise to the state-owned enterprise – yet Treasury raised reservations, as reported by the National Business Review.

A conflict-of-interest management plan now requires O’Donnell to recuse himself from KiwiRail matters south of Oamaru.

O’Donnell is one of four directors on the board of Dynes Transport Tapanui, which in July 2024 donated $20,000 to Peter’s party, NZ First.

The company is also a key partner in a government co-invested regional infrastructure project: an $8m loan toward developing an inland port in Mosgiel.

Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.