A partially collapsed cool store in Hastings does not pose a danger to the public, but access to the area will be restricted in coming days.

Part of the old Whakatu cool store building on Caroline Road, near the Mitre 10 Mega store collapsed at around 11.45am on Monday.

A resident who lived nearby, Philip Newton, said he was sitting at his kitchen table when he heard a loud noise.

JOHN COWPLAND/STUFF No-one was injured when the roof collapsed.

"We couldn't make out if it was a train or something coming along the road. Then we came out and looked up and saw all the roof had just caved in," he said.

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Another neighbour, aged in his 80s, said the building was about 30 years old.

JOHN COWPLAND Neighbours of the coldstore heard a loud noise and rumble at about 11.45am.

"It was quite loud, quite a rumble. There was dust in the air," Newton said.

"From where I'm standing you can see the whole roof on the Napier side is out of sight, and the walls are bowing out," he said.

The 3,260 sqm cool store was previously used by McCains. It was now owned by an Auckland-based company and was leased by Polarcold.

SUPPLIED The cool store suffered substantial damage when part of its roof collapsed.

Polarcold chief executive Stephen Foote said no staff were in the building at the time and there was "no risk to health and safety".

"All we know at this stage is that part of the building has failed. The landlord has been advised and he and his engineers are on their way to the scene," Foote said.

He said the collapse occurred in a part of the building that was empty and there was no loss of goods.

JOHN COWPLAND/STUFF A large section of the roof on the coolstore on Caroline Road, Hastings, collapsed.

Anthony Bourke from Seeds & Cereals, next door to the building, said he was closing shop for the day due to the electricity being shut off.



He didn't see the collapse but one of his customers did, he said.



A police officer at the cordon said it was still early stages and emergency services could be here "ages".



Caroline Road has been cordoned off due to the fear that more of the building would collapse, causing power lines to topple, he said.



"It's so unstable it could potentially give way...that amount of weight has been enough to push that whole wall out."



Power had been cut off around the block because of that reason, he said.



The fire service was trying to contain the building as it was now, to prevent it collapsing further, he said.

A council spokeswoman said the council was satisfied the building did not pose a danger to the public and a council representative would with the building's owner on Tuesday to further assess the situation.

Hawke's Bay Civil Defence said access to Caroline Road would be restricted to residents for several days.

GOOGLE The Whakatu Coldstores building on Caroline Rd, Hastings, seen here before the roof collapsed.



