Repairs at justice precinct cost $5.5m
More than $5.5 million has been spent on maintaining and repairing Christchurch’s new justice and emergency services precinct.
The Ministry of Justice said the cost of repairs was not out of the ordinary given the size of the complex, which houses Civil Defence, Corrections, court staff and first responders.
But the Public Service Association says its members are annoyed at the disruption, and the building not only has too many repairs but is too small.
The precinct, constructed by Fletcher Building, opened in September 2017. There have been more than 1800 unplanned repairs since – excluding the 86 times vandalism damage has been fixed.
More than 500 callouts were to repair the air-conditioning.
A union official working at the precinct said it was not a nice place to be. The man, who did not want to be named, said the constant repairs were disruptive and stressful and he no longer felt safe. ‘‘From the building issues that we were made aware of during the process, having to replace all of the glass because of not being up to spec or fitted incorrectly. There are just so many problems around that, I don’t have a lot of faith in the building at all,’’ he said.
The PSA’s national secretary, Glenn Barclay, said the problems were major and there had been hundreds of leaks in the two years the building had been open.
‘‘It has been plagued with problems throughout that time, causing disruptions and stress to staff,’’ Barclay said.
The Justice Ministry does not accept there is a problem, telling RNZ the amount of repair work was expected.
Aside from that, Barclay said the 40,000-square-metre building was nowhere near big enough for 1100 staff and the estimated 900 people who visit every day.
‘‘The building was too small right from the beginning and all non-court services are moving off site, the public defenders are moving out as a service, as are non-court based staff. So that is a recognition by the ministry that the building is too small,’’ Barclay said.
The union official working in the building said the precinct was also designed to be an online workspace but the ministry was still bogged down in paper files.
‘‘The building was built back when there was supposed to be a full electronic system online, we did not even have any paper files.
‘‘But that failed to be delivered. So now we are going in this building with paper files everywhere it was not designed for and more people than we thought we would need,’’ he said.
The Justice Ministry has confirmed 50-60 staff are being shifted to offices, about three minutes’ walk away. It acknowledges the space is under pressure with extra staff brought in for the new Canterbury Earthquakes Insurance Tribunal, as well as for family violence work and youth legislation changes. – RNZ