Pak’nSave Highland Park is set to open on Tuesday morning. Video / Cameron Pitney
New Zealand’s largest supermarket business has settled with Auckland’s water utility over opening the $100 million Pak’nSave Highland Park.
Lindsay Rowles, Foodstuffs North Island’s general manager of retail and property, said next Tuesday’s opening would go ahead as scheduled and was no longer endangered.
That is despite Watercareseeking that Foodstuffs sign an agreement before opening that it would install a 250,000-litre water holding tank for fire-fighting water supplies, otherwise, it would put too much strain on the system.
Wade Brown at the new Pak'nSave Highland Park, which opens on February 25, 2025. Photo / Foodstuffs
Rowles said earlier this month the February 25 opening was “at risk” due to Watercare’s demands.
It appears the two parties are still negotiating over that tank which would cost around $1m and be sunk under the loading dock at the now-completed store. Both parties have agreed a way forward with the store being granted a water connection to enable it to open on time.
“We’ve worked closely with Watercare, with support from local MP Simeon Brown and Councillor Maurice Williamson, to agree on a way forward. As a result, the store has been granted a water connection, enabling us to open on time. The next step is to determine a permanent solution, which we will work on together in the coming months,” Rowles said.
“This milestone marks a significant achievement for our team and we’re incredibly excited to welcome our first customers and become part of the local community. I’d like to extend my thanks to everyone involved in making this opening possible,” he added.
Turning their backs on the competition - the existing Woolworths (left) right beside the new $100m Pak'nSave Highland Park in east Auckland. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Watercare chief strategy and planning officer Priyan Perera said earlier this month the utility provider had been liaising with Foodstuffs since last June when it applied to connect to its services.
“While we were unable to approve their application due to a significant change in their water demand, we acknowledge and support their desire to open later this month. We have offered an interim solution that will allow the supermarket to open on its intended date, but Foodstuffs has not yet confirmed it will proceed with this option,” Perera said in a Herald article on February 11.
But Rowles said that in July 2023, Watercare had signed off documents allowing the store to be built “but did not ask for flow rates of water being drawn to be used on the site at that time”.
One deal which was being discussed earlier this month was that Foodstuffs sign an agreement to install the tank within 12 months, then it could open.
Lindsay Rowles of Foodstuffs, which can open its new store on time next Tuesday morning. Photo / Michael Craig
But Rowles indicated earlier that was not a palatable solution: “The tank would be the size of three buses, hold 250,000 litres and be underground “but that’s extremely difficult for us now, because we’ve built the new supermarket and its carpark”.
Rowles also disputed the need for the tank.
“If the building catches on fire, Watercare is saying we’ll cause a problem in the network due to the amount of water we’d need. We’re saying that’s not true. Our daily use is below that and even if there was a fire, our use is less than the capacity available,” Rowles said on February 11.
But Perera said earlier this month that problems arose last winter.
“When we reviewed the engineering plan approval application in 2023, it did not specify any special requirements for firefighting flows, beyond the standard requirement for 25 litres per second to be available in the network to meet the NZ Firefighting Code of Practice.
Groceries coming soon: Lindsay Rowles and Nick Hanson inside the vast new Pak'nSave Highland Park. Photo / Jason Oxenham
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t until Foodstuffs applied to connect to our water network last June, and we sought additional information, that they then told us they needed 90.5 litres per second for firefighting flow, which is significantly more than the standard requirement in this area,” Perera said on February 11.
Precisely what the two have now agreed remains unclear.
Pak’nSave Highland Park:
Anticipated land, building valuations on completion: $100m;
Store owner/operators Wade and Diana Brown;
Address: 503 Pakuranga Rd, east Auckland;
Site, building owned by Foodstuffs North Island subsidiary Wai-iti Developments;
Builder: Legacy Construction;
Staff: around 250;
Car parks: 329;
Extra shops: up to five in an extra retail area of 450sq m;
Opens 7.30am, next Tuesday, February 25
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
