Wainuiomata Shopping Center - Wellington

Built in the 1970’s, the Wainuiomata Shopping centre appeared well past it’s best before date by 2019. With only 2 of the 24 retail spaces occupied at the time, the mall was on the tipping point of complete abandonment. 

Woolworths initiated the process of redeveloping the area and by August the Hutt City Council granted consent for the $60 million redevelopment. Ward Demolition Wellington team, led by Gerry O’kane, were then brought onboard for Stage 1’s deconstruction of the first half of the mall. Thus clearing space for the new Countdown to be built while the old Countdown remained operational.

Deadlines are no match for ward demolition

Once the new Countdown was up and running in 2021, Ward Demolition was brought back in for Stage 2.  Separating the structure from the MacDonald’s before completing the demolition of the old countdown and remaining mall. This stage was given a tight deadline of only 3 weeks. This should have been daunting but not for the experienced crew of Gerry, Tim, Dalton, AJ and the rest of the Team, who worked long hours and through weekends to get the building down in 2 weeks, leaving plenty of time to load out and tidy up. All while maintaining a recycling rate of 90%.

Big Improvement for Wainuiomata

 The new development includes 3,600 square meters of supermarket, retail shops, childcare and medical centres. Creating a huge facelift for Wainuiomata and the surrounding communities, alongside reducing the need for people to travel over the hill to Central Lower Hutt/ Petone.