Watts & Hughes were engaged as the Main Contractor to complete the construction of the new Green Star 5 Rated Woolworths Supermarket, located within the new Waimak Junction Development in Kaiapoi.

Ground Remediation was carried out first on the new building footprint by way of impact rolling and removal of any soft spots, along with alterations to the existing infrastructure, to form a new ring road and intersection around the new Woolworths Store site.

The new supermarket consists of large span steel portal frames, with pre-cast concrete panel walls, large front joinery windows and a Kingspan roof. The RC ground bearing strip foundations and pads provide support for the structure, and also the ground floor slab.

The new supermarket reflects the updated look Woolworths supermarkets have been rolling out over the past few years, including the rebranding from Countdown. The specification included a variety of cladding and finishes, such as timber and tiles. Shadowclad, stainless steel and polished concrete to the main floor. The main store is your typical supermarket, consisting of back of house, deli, fish, bakery, pharmacy, beer & wine section, and is approximately 3600 sqm.

The new supermarket also includes a 120sqm area dedicated as an Online-Store, comprising freezer, chiller units, and office, as well as a dedicated pick-up car park.

The total site area covers an area of 14,933sqm and consists of walkways, full landscaping, signage, canopies, loading docks, EV chargers and solar panels installed on the roof.

The additional works of the ground remediation resulting in an EOT did impact the programme. This was managed through the course of the project to ensure that we achieved the store opening and trading date of the 7th of December 2023. This was achieved with the co-operation of the client, client's fit-out teams, our own sub-contractors and resulted in pulling back some time from the delay incurred in the ground remediation.

Watts & Hughes worked closely with the clients fit out team, as the fit-out of a supermarket is a long process with many moving parts and lots of staff to achieve the installation of the specialist racking, freezers, chillers and stocking. We set mutually agreed handover dates and worked collaboratively to achieve the end goal of store trading.