On 1 February we changed the name of our organisation from Labtests to Awanui Labs.

Moving to become Awanui Labs is a significant milestone for our organisation and represents the nationwide network we are part of. Our new name brings all eight laboratory brands from in our network, from Northland to Southland, together under a unified Aotearoa New Zealand name for the first time. All our human laboratory brands throughout the motu (country) will change to Awanui Labs over the next few months.

As background, Awanui translates to ‘big river’ and was chosen to represent the coming together of our services nationwide and speaks to the proud history and strong connection to the communities we support.

We’re also proud of how we came to choose Awanui as our name. Alongside the 2,000+ strong team across our network who contributed to this mahi (work), we were privileged to have partnered with Te Reo Māori and Mātauranga Māori experts in health who offered their perspectives to guide and shape the final decision of our name and design.

Throughout the end of September and early October, you will see Awanui Labs and our new branding replacing Labtests on the signage at our collection centres and our Mt Wellington Laboratory, along with vehicles and staff clothing.

This will also show in our correspondence with you, for example, emails, laboratory results, request forms, and all other documentation. Our current website will automatically redirect you to the right place. Everything will be in the same place, just with a new logo and colour.

We look forward to continuing to provide the same great service, by the same people, at the same places, under our new name, Awanui Labs.

Ka tū mātou i muri ki te hauora o Aotearoa
We stand behind the health of Aotearoa New Zealand

Ngā mihi nui,
Chris Davey
General Manager, Awanui Labs – Northern Region