New World Victoria Park: Building starting 15 months post-fire, reopening next December

“There’s been a huge amount of work behind the scenes over the past year to get to this point, and we’re incredibly grateful for the support and patience of our customers, neighbours and the wider Victoria Park community.”

Steve Purton of New World Victoria Park, Auckland. Photo / Foodstuffs

The cost has not been revealed.

Freemans Bay/Ponsonby/Herne Bay/St Marys Bay residents have fumed about what they see as a dead site.

They have been contacting the Herald demanding to know of progress, one claiming it must be the council that is causing delays.

Foodstuffs has referred customers to the newly-built $73 million New World Pt Chevalier, which is 2700sq m.

Smoke from the New World Victoria Park last June. Photo / Jason Dorday

But the shoppers say that is some distance from where they live and they now lack a larger store like their old one.

Their closest alternative is the far smaller $30m Woolworths Metro Herne Bay, they say.

Nick Hanson, Foodstuffs North Island head of property and development, said today that the project of the scale of New World Victoria Park took careful planning.

“Securing resource consent allows us to move confidently into the construction phase.”

The new store would largely retain the existing footprint but aimed for better customer flow and accessibility.

Public sessions are planned at Grafton Cricket Club to give updates on the redevelopment and answer questions.

Plans for New World Victoria Park. Photo / Foodstuffs

Sessions are to be held at 5pm on September 23 and 26.

The official investigation into the fire found the fire alarm system did not activate automatically and “may not have functioned as designed”.

New World Victoria Park was on fire in June last year. Photo / Jason Dorday

Instead of the alarm going off automatically, a manual fire activation was received.

The report by Fire and Emergency New Zealand specialist investigator Colin Paul Melville redacted the fire cause and declared it was accidental.

Smoke at the store in June 2025. Photo / Jason Dorday

The report said the first fuel ignited by the fire could not be identified with a degree of certainty, given the extent of fire damage within the area of origin.

“It is possible, however, given the rapid fire spread, that building paper, build-up of dust, paper particles or pipe lagging within the area of origin was the first fuel ignited,” Melville said.

Those elements would allow flames to travel along the surface or within wall cavities.

The store was undergoing the most costly upgrade of any New World in New Zealand at the time of the fire. Photo / Jason Dorday

Drop-down of burning particles to the readily combustible paper products underneath would exacerbate and support rapid spread of the fire, he wrote.

The fire started in the mezzanine floor area where construction was taking place.

Internal alterations were underway, including installing travelators from the basement car park, extending entries from Victoria and Scotland Sts, and modifying the basement layout.

These works created an environment with exposed building materials and cavities.

New World Victoria Park

Was a 4261sq m supermarket on a 7698sq m siteLocated at 2 College Hill, Freemans BayOwner/operator Steve PurtonThe store was undergoing a $28m refurbishment, said to be New Zealand’s largest supermarket refurbishment, at the time the fire ignitedIt was being reclad and upgraded to give it a sharper appearanceNew lighting, refrigeration, racking and air conditioning were to be installedThe introduction of a click-and-collect system was plannedSeismic upgrade planned for the three-level structureFire occurred on June 17, 2025Store estimated to have $100m annual revenue, net after tax profit of $4m-$6mGN Construction to build a new store on the siteNot due to open till December 2027.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 26 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.

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