No air-con for summer

Buyers of pricey Grey Lynn apartments face 18-month wait over power mix-up.

The buyers of an upmarket apartment building have been told they will be without air conditioning for up to 18 months because of a shortage of power capacity in Grey Lynn.

Developer David Southcombe has informed buyers at North Apartments of the problem, blaming all the developments along the Grey Lynn ridgeline for the capacity issue.

This is disputed by power company Vector, which said there is no capacity issue and the “customer” had been advised at the time of application the development needed a bigger power connection.

In an email to buyers last month, Southcombe said “although we have run additional capacity to the building, I am now told it is insufficient to simultaneously run all the electri- cal requirements plus forty aircondition units”.

He has proposed running a power cable under the road to the North building from a sub-station he plans to build at another one of his developments where construction is due to begin early next year. It could be 12-18 months before the sub-station is operational, the email said.

The North development, comprising two buildings with a central connecting atrium, has 37 apartments and six townhouses, priced from $700,000 to $1.8 million. It is one of several apartment buildings replacing car yards and commercial businesses along the Grey Lynn ridgeline on Great North Rd.

One buyer, who did not want to be identified, said owners faced the option of a long wait for airconditioning or a refund. The buyer was not looking forward to the pros- pect of living through a hot summer without air-conditioning.

Remuera breast surgeon John Harman, who is developing a luxury 58-apartment block in St Marks Rd, Epsom, said he had to write out a cheque for $120,000 to boost the power capacity in the street for his development.

“I agree it’s a cost of my develop- ment but on the other side of this, developments are falling over all over town because of costs, and this is just another cost,” Harman said.

He said he was also using up half of the sewerage capacity in the street, which might have conse- quences for future developments. These cases raise the issue of whether Auckland’s infrastructure can cope with greater intensification.

Auckland councillor Chris Fletcher said the council’s Unitary Plan, providing for more than 420,000 new homes over the next 25 years, had huge implications for transport, water and power infrastructure, not to mention overcrowded schools.

There would be a lot of surprises coming Aucklanders’ way, she said.

Infrastructure New Zealand chief executive Stephen Selwood said while most people celebrated the passing of the Unitary Plan allowing for greater density, current planning would create infrastructure challenges, particularly a major increase in traffic congestion.

The greatest concern, Selwood said, was on both sides of the Tamaki Estuary, “the most transport constrained area in the city” and major density planned for Takapuna, Belmont and Northcote along the seriously congested Lake Rd and Esmonde Rd corridors.

Developments are falling over all over town because of costs, and this is just another cost. John Harman