$150m coolstore wins top industrial property award in New Zealand

Maersk’s Hamilton coolstore beat 13 contenders to take out the Excellence and Best in Category CBRE Industrial Property Award at the Property Council of New Zealand’s prestigious annual awards on 14 June 2024.

The 18,000 m² integrated cold chain facility at the Ruakura Superhub opened earlier this year and represents the Copenhagen-headquartered Maersk’s largest investment in New Zealand infrastructure, with about NZ$140–150 million invested in the site.

Andrew Evans, the chief judge of the awards body, said the new facility is having a massive impact on productivity.

“Overall, it means taking approximately 6000 trucks a year off the road. The site can send freight directly to a ship in either Auckland or Tauranga via the inland port, via rail or via road.”

“This building has so many carefully thought out, sustainable elements to it, following the trend of putting sustainability at the heart of local property development.”

The judging criteria included economic and financial, project vision and innovation including degree of difficulty, design and construction, owner and user satisfaction, and sustainability and efficiency of operation.

The Maersk coolstore provides storage for 21,000 pallets of frozen and chilled products and counts New Zealand’s largest dairy company Fonterra as a tenant.

Maersk partnered with Apollo Projects on the facility’s design and construction and TMX Transform for property advisory and end-to-end project management.

“TMX played a critical role in the Hamilton new build from the outset. From managing design specifications and contractor engagement through to project delivery, all aspects of the program were on schedule and within budget. Driving the program to achieve the best outcome and to satisfy our customers was prioritised by TMX from the start,” said Robert McLeod, Regional
Head of Cold Chain Logistics for Asia Pacific at Maersk, earlier this year.

The Property Council New Zealand Rider Levett Bucknall Property Industrial Awards recognise excellence in property projects, developments and refurbishments across New Zealand.