Confusion on heat pump installation
Council staff initially planned to install hundreds of heat pumps in cold, damp and uninsulated social housing units by summer – breaching a council resolution to complete the work by winter.
Christchurch City councillors voted in September to borrow $10 million towards the $16m cost to upgrade 909 social housing units with heat pumps and mechanical ventilation by winter 2020 but a January 8 email to councillor Yani Johanson from Margaret Clune, senior adviser to the chief executive, outlined a plan to spread work out to December.
The email, seen by The Press , said contractors would first install heat pumps, kitchen and bathroom ventilation in about 430 homes by May 2020. The remaining substandard units would receive the improvements by December 2020, the email said.
Johanson said that advice was revised last Friday and councillors were informed the upgrades for all units were on track to be completed by June.
Yesterday, council head of facilities Bruce Rendall said the information Johanson received on January 8 was incorrect. ‘‘Unfortunately this information needed to be updated as it mistakenly used a different number instead of the full number in the priority group (909).’’
Earlier this month, Rendall said he could not guarantee all units would be made warmer by June 1. About 430 units had been deemed ‘‘high priority’’ and would be first to receive the improvements, as they were likely to be colder than the others.
Work on the remaining units would definitely be done by December, Rendall said.
The news came as huge blow to tenant Stephen McPaike, who stood for mayor last year to campaign for improvements to council-owned social housing.
This week, he and fellow tenants were given fresh hope by mayor Lianne Dalziel, who insisted the council would have the work done in all units by early June, pending any unforeseen issues such as faulty wiring.
‘‘There’s been no step back. What we understood the case to be last year and what I’ve been advised all the way through is that the commitment was to deliver the heat pumps and the ventilation by the beginning of winter – that is still our objective,’’ Dalziel said.
The January 8 email to Johanson appeared to contradict the mayor’s comments, but Rendall said the mayor’s comments this week were correct.
Johanson said about messages.
McPaike said Dalziel called him yesterday to apologise for the miscommunication, which had restored his confidence. he was concerned the mixed