Planned new Pak'n Save supermarket in Christchurch would cater for disasters

Tuesday, 9 October 2018

Foodstuffs wants to build a big new Pak'n Save supermarket with facilities for disaster response and emergency.

The supermarket operator has applied for resource consent to build the new supermarket on its north Christchurch property, next to its head offices and former distribution centre.

Foodstuffs would replace its Pak'n Save supermarket at Northlands shopping centre with a New World if its resource consent bid for a new Redwood supermarket succeeds.

The new supermarket would be designed to function as a lifeline hub in an emergency, distributing goods including food, fuel and drinking water and accommodating Civil Defence.

The property, on Main North Rd in Redwood, is zoned for industrial use. A previous bid by Foodstuffs to have it rezoned for commercial use was declined.

The new supermarket would include a petrol station and could be used as a disaster relief hub in an emergency.

An artist's impression of the new Pak'n Save supermarket which Foodstuffs has applied to build.

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The decision, made by an independent hearings panel, said the area was considered appropriate for neighbourhood amenities and not for a big supermarket. Construction of the city's new northern arterial road which will shift highway traffic from Main North Rd also had an impact on the decision.

Foodstuffs has previously sold off some of the site to property developers, but has unsuccessfully tried to sell or lease the rest for industrial use.

Some of the site's brick factory buildings, built mid last century as an Ovaltine factory and later the Helene Curtis site, are earthquake damaged and vacant. They would be demolished if the supermarket was approved.

The company would close a bottling plant still in operation and would retain its head offices on the site.

The emergency facility Foodstuff has proposed would be available for Civil Defence to use for briefings and organising resources, landing helicopters, refuelling emergency vehicles, and dumping effluent. There would be a generator on the site and six 30,000 litre fresh and waste water storage tanks.

Foodstuffs spokeswoman Antoinette Laird said they did not have a construction building schedule for the planned development.

The company already has five Pak'n Save supermarkets in Christchurch, and also owns brands including New World, Four Square, Liquorland, Raeward Fresh and On The Spot.

If the plan is allowed to go ahead, Foodstuffs would convert its existing Pak'n Save at the nearby Northlands shopping centre into a New World supermarket.

'Foodstuffs consider the New World brand to be a better fit with Northlands than Pak'n Save, because the former tends to attract visitors that are more likely to undertake cross-shopping with other mall stores,' the resource consent application says.

The new 6890sqm supermarket would have 278 parking spaces, more than half of them in an underground car park, and a petrol station with eight pumps. It would link to a block of shops, now vacant, on land owned by Foodstuffs on the corner of Northcote and Main North Rds.

The plan includes includes creating a new intersection with traffic lights and a pedestrian crossing on Main North Road. The supermarket would also have traffic access onto Northcote Rd.

The resource consent application says the development would make good use of the site, which is near several areas earmarked for growth.

'The subject site is a relatively poor fit with most industrial uses, and there is ample industrial land available anyway,' it says.