The Foodstuffs North Island development at The Landing, Auckland Airport, includes a 75,000 m² warehouse and 8,500 m², three-story standalone head office building. As the largest warehouse in New Zealand, it serves as Foodstuffs North Island’s distribution centre for ambient supermarket products for over 100 supermarkets. The award-winning development replaced eight buildings, centralising grocery distribution in the upper North Island.

One of the key aims of the client was to approach the project from the perspective of all stakeholders – customers, suppliers, members and staff – to ensure the buildings reflect their values and provide a comfortable environment for all. The flexible design and enduring aesthetics enable people to connect and collaborate in a vibrant, innovative and future-thinking space where Foodstuffs can grow and evolve over time.

In 2023, the Foodstuffs’ distribution centre achieved an enviable New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC) 6 Green Star rating for its interior fitout. To achieve this level of sustainability, Foodstuffs approached the build as a long-term, once in a lifetime opportunity, embedding sustainability from design to construction and operation including:

• Diverting 83% of construction waste from landfill
• Recycling or reusing 93% of their existing furniture for the new fitout
• Building capacity for 67,500 litres of rainwater storage
• Using 53% less water than a typical office
• Recycling or reusing 93% of their existing furniture for the new fitout
• In its first two years, generating 11% more energy than it consumed from its 2,880 rooftop solar panels

The elegant Head Office building, designed by Monk Mackenzie Architects, aims to bring people together in a collaborative ‘activity-based’ setting. The space features a ground floor public area including a 300-person conference centre, a large atrium, collaboration workspaces, cafés, test kitchens, demonstration areas, a members’ lounge, wellness centre, outdoor courtyard areas and a large open-plan office over two floors, with formal and informal meeting spaces.

Working closely with the executive steering committee, tenant department representatives, external consultants, change managers, landlord and contractors, the RDT Pacific team provided strong leadership and a high degree of project governance, structure and continuity to a large pool of stakeholders to ensure Foodstuffs’ principles and other critical success factors, were maintained. Supporting Foodstuffs from inception to operations, using a highly coordinated mix of skills implemented at the right point in the process, was paramount to the project’s success.