Finishing touches for giant food depot
It’s big enough to put most sheds to shame, and will help put food on the table in more ways than one.
Countdown’s new $100 million distribution centre in Palmerston North is nearing completion and will generate 70 new jobs for the supermarket chain.
The 38,000-square-metre depot is three times the size of the old distribution centre on Makomako Rd – vast enough to house four rugby fields. It will supply Countdown, Freshchoice and Supervalue stores from Gisborne to Wellington.
It was originally slated to create 50 new jobs for Manawatu¯ residents, but Countdown has decided to hire another 20 people.
National property and development manager Brucewaite said the original number was based on several assumptions and the centre’s initial design.
‘‘However, once we got deeper into the [specifics] of how things will run, and developed our daily shift pattern, our new calculations told us we’d need more people to join our team than we originally thought.’’
Recruitment for the new jobs, which are amix of part-time and fulltime roles, commenced in May.
Despite the disruptions and extra precautions that came with working during a pandemic, contractors had remained on target since construction began in June last year, Waite said.
The building will be finished in early July. This will be followed by landscaping work and tree planting, before Countdown starts working the new centre into its supply chain in a few months’ time, he said.
‘‘It’s one of our bigger [distribution centres], although the ones in Auckland are the biggest.’’
The old depot will keep running until the new centre is fully on its feet, with some overlap when both will be operating in late October or November.
Once all 100 of the Makomako St staff members transfer over to the new centre, the nearly 200 employees will move about 450,000 cartons of food a week through Countdown’s network.
Project manager mark Pearson said the centre was designed to reduce Countdown’s impact on the environment, and the company aimed to earn a four-star Green Star rating for the completed facility.
Green Star is an internationallyrecognised rating system for the design, construction and operation of buildings, fitouts and communities that is administered by the New Zealand Green Building Council.
Pearson said the distribution centre would have energy efficient lighting, rainwater harvesting and low-use energy and water fittings.
‘‘Extensive energy and water metering will also mean real-time data is on hand to see how well the building is performing.’’
Dedicated parks for fuel-efficient vehicles as well as electric vehicle charging stations and bike storage with easy access to showers will also be provided to encourage staff members to take more environmentally friendly transport options.