Parkwood building to be reclad for second time
Furious tenants forced to find accommodation for 15 months
A multimillion-dollar, eight-storey apartment block overlooking Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Domain is hidden under plastic wrapping while it is reclad for the second time in 15 years.
It’s understood the residents have all moved out until the reclad is finished, possibly early in 2025.
The Parkwood apartment building at the Morgan and George Streets intersection in Newmarket was first reclad in 2009 after leaking.
The Herald reported at the time former Prime Minister Dame Jenny Shipley lived there and had become the latest victim of the leaky-homes scandal which plagued numerous apartment buildings and houses from the era.
The reasons for the second reclad are a little different to the first but no less frustrating for residents.
James Carmichael, chairman of the body corporate, said the owners were all “extremely disappointed — well, worse than that — in terms of having to go back and redo the building again”.
He said the weathershield cladding being replaced was a fibre reinforced cement board and similar to the cladding used in the Victopia apartments in the Auckland CBD.
Victopia is a 15-storey apartment building which hit the headlines in 2019 when a 2m-long panel blew off the exterior in high winds, reportedly falling 36m to the ground from level 13.
The Victopia has been wrapped in plastic but in January residents had begun returning to the building, which was estimated to cost $62m to fix under a seven-year programme which started in 2018 and which was not due to finish until the end of this year.
The story cites the main contractor, Teak Construction, as describing structural issues with Victopia, including the failure of the facade fibre cement cladding which it said was breaking and falling off.
Carmichael said the concrete structure of the Parkwood was sound but the exterior cladding system had been the issue.
The new cladding going up was a 100 per cent aluminium system, he said, and was compliant: “It’s a Symonite product, similar to what’s on the Hilton Hotel down at the waterfront.”
There have been engineers, peer reviewers and consultants involved and the building consent was fully approved by the Auckland Council, he said. “You name it, every specialist out there in the building sector has been well and truly involved in the remediation design.”
Since the leaky building scandal, the problem had swung the other way, he said, so the work had to comply with various codes, including seismic codes, “so as a result of that the remediation is very, very extensive”.
Carmichael confirmed there had been a payout to owners from the Auckland Council — on top of a payout gained for the first reclad — but would give no more details due to a confidentiality agreement.
When asked if the residents were out of pocket, however, he said: “Well, I haven’t heard of a settlement yet where residents aren’t out of pocket”.
The residents moved out last year and Carmichael indicated the whole process has been stressful. “How stressful? Let me put it this way, I’ve been dealing with 20-plus owners who are really, really fed up with the building sector in terms of we have had to do this a second time. There’s no question that people are fed up and it’s not just the cost of the remediation.
“Remember, there’s nobody living there now. Everyone is either leasing or renting or they’ve got to find their own accommodation for 15 months or thereabouts.”
Carmichael said the apartments were tightly held because of the superb location overlooking the Domain and the facilities of Newmarket.
He thinks the building was one of the first apartment developments in Auckland back in the mid-1990s but it ran into the leaky era: “I just blame our whole building sector for all of this.”
One of the apartments sold last year for $2.079 million with Ray White agent Eden Thomson’s marketing describing it as being in an “exclusive dress circle” location with breathtaking expansive views.
Dame Jenny Shipley declined to comment.