Specialist vet hospital for Sir Peter Jackson’s new Miramar development

Friday, 3 October 2025

An artist rendering of the new specialist vet hospital planned by WingNut PM and ARC vets for Park Road in Miramar.

A specialist state-of the art veterinary hospital is to be built in Miramar’s Park Rd by WingNut PM ‒ the property arm of Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh’s business.

On Friday, they revealed designs for the major new development, part of their ongoing new projects and long-term initiatives in Wellington aimed at boosting services, growth and investment in the capital.

At the heart of the development will be a purpose-built facility for ARC Vets, a leading veterinary service currently based in Auckland. The hospital will provide advanced diagnostic equipment, 24/7 emergency care and specialist treatment not previously available in the Wellington region.

ARC Vets directors Dr Karl Mathis and Dr Fiona Park said they were excited to bring their services south, noting the project would offer Wellington pet owners access to care that previously required long-distance travel.

“Peter and Fran have been tremendous supporters of our Auckland operations, and we’re thrilled to be embarking on this new venture with them.

“The new hospital will reflect the highest standards of design and allow us to deliver world-class specialist and emergency care.”

Jackson and Walsh said animal welfare was a subject close to their hearts, recalling times they had to take their own pets to Auckland for urgent treatment.

Sir Peter Jackson has filed a resource consent for a museum at the Shelly Bay officer's mess.

“We think Wellingtonians and their pets deserve to have a facility of this calibre close to home.”

Renovations are underway at the Chocolate Fish Cafe in Shelly Bay. The old submariners barracks is being renovated and extending, meaning the Choc Fish cafe will have a fancy new conservatory and extra indoor seating.

The Miramar facility is expected to be completed in early 2028 and forms part of Jackson and Walsh’s broader vision of strengthening the suburb as a hub of creative and commercial enterprise.

Jackson has backed a number of other initiatives in the area. In 2008 he had planned a film museum at Shelly Bay until a split between him and landowner the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust. The split came after then-trust chairperson Sir Ngātata Love’s partner Lorraine Skiffington approached Jackson’s people wanting $750,000 plus GST including $250,000 up front.

More recently, The Post revealed Jackson and partner Dame Fran Walsh spent $136 million on a large block of land in Lyall Bay with rumours of a planned film or aviation museum.

The celebrity, blockbuster-making couple are also bankrolling the renovation and extension of old submariners’ barracks which house the Chocolate Fish Cafe at Shelly Bay, north of the planned museum.