From Drury to Wairau, New Zealand commercial property is entering an ‘era of resilience’
Recently, as Kiwi Property announced substantive progress on its major commercial centre development in Drury, Pak’nSave Wairau Park on the North Shore has also been undertaking a distinctive upgrade.
Recently, as Kiwi Property announced substantive progress on its major commercial centre development in Drury, Pak’nSave Wairau Park on the North Shore has also been undertaking a distinctive upgrade.
The supermarket, which suffered severe damage in the 2023 Auckland floods, has now begun installing flood barriers, flood warning systems and weather monitoring facilities, with the overall project expected to cost around NZ$1,000,000.
Compared with the past emphasis on expansion speed alone, more developments are now also considering long-term resilience.
Developers are becoming increasingly concerned about future uncertainty. Extreme weather, pressure on infrastructure and rising development costs in a high interest rate environment are all changing the rationale behind major commercial projects.
Drury: Auckland continues to expand south
Releasing its latest financial results this week, Kiwi Property reported significant progress on its major commercial development in Drury, South Auckland.
The new 53-hectare town centre is seen as a key hub in Auckland’s future southward expansion.
Over the past year, several major retailers, including Costco, have secured land in the Drury project ahead of time. Around 77% of the land for the initial large-format retail development is now under contract, indicating continued market confidence in South Auckland’s future population and consumer spending growth.
With continuing pressure from Auckland house prices, living costs and land supply, more people are moving towards the city’s outskirts. Drury is considered one of the most important areas for accommodating growth in southern Auckland over the coming decades.
Where people go, commercial activity will eventually follow.
From this perspective, Kiwi Property is doing more than advancing a commercial project: it is positioning itself for the city’s future shape.
However, another detail in these results also deserves attention.
Kiwi Property said the focus of the Drury development is now moving beyond sales to infrastructure construction.
Work on roads, drainage, public utility networks and utility services has officially entered the construction phase.
The first task for developers now is to ensure the whole area has the capacity to support its future population and commercial activity.
A flood forces Wairau Park to rethink survival
While Drury represents expansion, the changes at Wairau Park on the North Shore offer more of a reality check.
During the 2023 Auckland Anniversary floods, Pak’nSave Wairau Park became one of the city’s most closely watched flood-hit commercial premises.
Floodwater poured into the supermarket, leaving around 80 people temporarily trapped. Large quantities of food, shelving and equipment were written off, while Porana Rd briefly became a ‘river’.
Foodstuffs data shows the supermarket is one of New Zealand’s busiest Pak’nSave stores. In the week before Christmas 2024 alone, it sold more than 1,500,000 items.
Foodstuffs North Island has now announced it will invest around NZ$1,000,000 in a new round of upgrades at the supermarket.
This time, however, the work goes beyond a conventional refurbishment.
The project includes flood barriers, flood detection systems, a weather monitoring station and concrete flood protection structures. The supermarket will also add a new Click & Collect area for online orders. Features once rarely seen in commercial property development are now becoming important components of new projects.
Foodstuffs North Island’s head of property, Nick Hanson, said: ‘We cannot control the weather, but we can decide how to prepare.’
Behind this lies an industry-wide reassessment of extreme weather risk.
The focus of commercial development is gradually changing
New Zealand’s development industry has begun treating extreme weather as something that will recur.
Previously, major commercial property developments focused on foot traffic, location, parking, shop floor areas and rental returns. Now developers are paying increasing attention to drainage capacity, infrastructure capacity, extreme weather responses and the stability of long-term operations.
Drury is prioritising roads and utility networks; Wairau is installing flood protection and early warning systems; and the planned new Pak’nSave in Takapuna will even elevate the main supermarket above ground-floor level to reduce flood risk.
Observations and reflections
For many years, Auckland has been discussing urban expansion. When housing was insufficient, development continued; as the population grew, commercial activity spread outwards.
The 2023 floods made many people realise for the first time that infrastructure systems in some apparently well-established commercial areas were far more vulnerable than they had imagined. Meanwhile, development costs, insurance, financing and spending on public infrastructure are continuing to raise the barriers to major projects.
This is why more developments are now incorporating resilience into their plans.
From Drury prioritising roads and drainage, to Wairau rebuilding its flood protection systems and some future commercial projects proactively elevating their main buildings, these changes reflect the development industry’s reassessment of future conditions.
Auckland will continue to expand. Perhaps the question is no longer where it will expand, but whether the city will be ready to withstand greater pressure when the next wave of population growth arrives.
Compared with the past emphasis on expansion speed alone, more developments are now also considering long-term resilience.
Developers are becoming increasingly concerned about future uncertainty. Extreme weather, pressure on infrastructure and rising development costs in a high interest rate environment are all changing the rationale behind major commercial projects.