Tradies slam ‘Jurassic Park’ centre
Nelson subcontractors are calling Stoke’s Greenmeadows community centre project ‘‘Jurassic Park’’, voicing their concerns over the project’s build quality and lengthy delays.
Auckland construction company Watts & Hughes won the tender in June 2016, undercutting local firms with a $4.6million bid. The total budget was originally set at $6.15m, however, this has since increased to $7.19m.
The Nelson Mail spoke to several local subcontractors who do not wish to be named. One subcontractor, frustrated by not getting a response from Nelson City Council over their concerns, forwarded a document outlining construction faults.
These include: incorrect installation of exterior ply and window flashing; incomplete waterproofing; pooling water on decks; and eaves left exposed to the elements. They also listed a number of concerns about the project’s overall management, citing a lack of qualified workers, poor methodology and substandard project management on the site.
Another subcontractor said the project, which had an original completion date of November 2017, had become infamous among local tradespeople.
‘‘We call it Jurassic Park, it looks like it goes backwards in time every time you go past it. I can’t understand the time frame, you couldn’t be on a job that long if you tried. It’s a simple construction, it shouldn’t take two years.’’
Another subcontractor pointed out the poor quality of the work. ‘‘It’s the shoddiest job. I have never seen a building that’s been as poorly or slowly built. You get dew point at night and the eaves aren’t enclosed, it’s not watertight.’’ Photos sent to the Nelson Mail show water dripping from an interior beam.
Subcontractors have said the construction problems will be costly and time consuming to fix. ‘‘I’ve walked around and seen some really s... workmanship. They’re going to have major problems later on,’’ one said. Another said there is a large crack in the floor, and that poorly installed exterior linings have been removed this week. ‘‘They were nailed to the structure so can’t be reused, so that’s thousands of dollars worth of linings that have to go into the skip.’’
Some subcontractors went to the site and discovered they were unable to complete their work because the construction quality left them unable to do their jobs.
‘‘We’ve lost hundreds of hours on the job because we can’t do our work,’’ one said.
Other contractors pointed to a lack of overarching project management, which has led to delays and jobs not being finished.
‘‘The people managing that job don’t know how to manage, they’ll do a little bit here, a little bit there, and not finish anything. It’s not a good way to run a job that big. It’s just incompetence.’’
Watts & Hughes has subcontracted the bulk of the construction work to an outside construction firm. Local subcontractors say the company’s workforce comprises mostly unqualified, unskilled labourers from the Czech Republic, and there have been incidents where labourers had asked for help from local subcontractors.
‘‘The guys they’ve employed to build are not builders. They don’t even have the right tools. It’s not their fault, they just want to earn money, but they don’t have the right skills,’’ one contractor said.
Nelson City Council media manager Paul Shattock said the council knew about the problems. ‘‘The contractor has been engaged to provide a building to the highest standard. Anything that does not adhere to the building standards will be remedied at the contractors cost.’’ Shattock said the centre was on track for its August opening.
Watts & Hughes declined to comment, and said all correspondence should be directed to the NCC.
‘‘We’ve lost hundreds of hours on the job because we can’t do our work.’’ Sub-contractor