Matthew Grainger, Woolworths' property director, photographed in Wiri in 2021 when a new building was rising. Photo / Sylvia Whinray
Matthew Grainger, Woolworths' property director, photographed in Wiri in 2021 when a new building was rising. Photo / Sylvia Whinray
Population growth and disruptions in the last few years have prompted supermarket giant Woolworths to apply to increase the size of its national distribution centre in Auckland by 188%.
Property director Matthew Grainger said the business had sought consent to increase the floor area of its building at 60 KerrsRd, Wiri, from 27,000sq m to 78,000sq m to keep up with growing demand.
The expansion would not happen immediately but was prompted by two factors, Grainger said: growth combined with previous years’ disruptions.
“As New Zealand grows, we’re always looking at our network to ensure it has enough capacity to keep up with demand well into the future. The last few years of international disruptions have shown even more clearly the need for Woolworths to maintain a modern and resilient supply chain,” he said.
Auckland Council notified General Distributors' resource consent application to develop the new ambient national distribution centre for all product lines that don’t need chilled storage.
Notification means anyone can have input into commenting on its plans.
That said the existing building wasn’t large enough.
Back in 2021, when Matthew Grainger was at the site of the then-new $100m+ 20,000 square metre (2ha) Countdown fresh distribution centre being built in Wiri. That has since been completed. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
“The distribution centre will comprise an extension to the existing distribution centre on the site, which is now of insufficient size to effectively fulfil its purpose. The new facility will utilise an efficient product storage system and feature a degree of new technology in filling orders for distribution,” according to the assessment of environmental effects submitted to the council by planners Campbell Brown.
Grainger said Woolworths would use undeveloped land.
“We know that in the future we will need to expand the capacity of our Auckland network, which will require significant investment and lengthy construction. We have been looking at options for doing so, including the possibility of expanding our Auckland national distribution centre in Wiri onto the empty plot of land behind our existing site. To understand the viability of this option, we have submitted resource consent to the council,” he said.
But Woolworths might not build “for several years. At this stage, we are simply exploring what’s possible with the resource consent process informing future development and network plans”, Grainger said today.
The consent application said the site is on the southern side of Kerrs Rd and is 15.5ha, dominated by the existing national distribution centre, which occupies the northern half.
Opened in 2021: Foodstuffs North Island's new headquarters at The Landings, Auckland Airport.
The southern part is undeveloped and has been used for both cropping and grazing in the past.
A small watercourse is in the southeastern corner and drains into a culvert that is laid through the adjacent school site before being open again on the land to the east.
Campbell Brown’s document on the latest expansion plans by Woolworths said: “The driver for the proposed distribution centre is business growth.”
Increases in sales from population growth and the quality of retail offering had reached a point where further investment in supporting infrastructure was required, Campbell Brown said.
“It is becoming more difficult for the existing distribution centre on the site to efficiently service the current level of demand. The redevelopment project has been designed to use the available land as efficiently as possible, primarily through vertical storage of product in the racking system within that part of the proposed building known as the high bay warehouse,” it said.
A warehouse footprint of 110,000sq m would be required to achieve the same storage and distribution capacity if a conventional warehousing and racking system were to be utilised, the application said.
Chris Quin inside Foodstuffs North Island's new distribution centre, opened in 2021. Photo / Grant Southam
Rival Foodstuffs North Island moved into its giant new distribution centre and head offices at The Landing, Auckland Airport in 2021, taking nearly 8ha of indoor floor space, equivalent to eight rugby fields.
Chris Quin, Foodstuffs North Island chief executive, said at the time that two new buildings and the site at Māngere were leased for 30 years from the airport.
The 77,500sq m ambient distribution centre had the largest footprint of any building in this country, he said.
The 7.7ha centre where 350 people work stands beside the new 9000sq m headquarters or support office where around 950 people work on the same site at 35 The Landing Drive.
People have till February 26 if they want to submit on Woolworths’ latest proposal.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
