Izone, Rolleston

Izone was proposed by Selwyn District Council in August 2000 to attract business to their district. The council bought 130 hectares (320 acres) of rural land in April 2001 to start the venture. One year later, the council signed up The Warehouse Group to have their South Island distribution centre established on the site. The distribution centre, which opened in June 2003, was built for the council by Naylor Love and later sold it to an investment fund. It was the largest single-storey building in the South Island at 34,000 square metres (370,000 sq ft) and was extended by another 15,000 square metres (160,000 sq ft) in 2016.[1][2]

By 2010, Izone was New Zealand's biggest industrial subdivision.[1] In 2015, Port of Lyttelton and Port of Tauranga both built container handling facilities at Izone. Port of Lyttelton did so because the Christchurch Southern Motorway had caused congestion on Brougham Street, slowing down access to Canterbury's port. Port of Tauranga did so because it owns a half-share in PrimePort Timaru. Both these South Island ports are accessible via the Main South Line.[3] The PrimePort facility opened in July 2015[4][5] and Lyttelton's MidlandPort opened in June 2016.[6]

Izone is framed on two sides by railway lines. The Main South Line forms the southern boundary and the Midland Line forms the south-western boundary. Parallel to and just beyond the Main South Line is State Highway 1, and beyond the highway is the township of Rolleston.[2]

The intersection on State Highway 1 that is formed with Hoskyns Road was signalised in March 2007.[1] As State Highway 1 segregates the township from its industrial subdivision, a bridge is planned to connect Rolleston with Izone to be constructed in 2021.[7]