Auckland’s Victopia apartments: Scaffolding to go after $72m fix

Residents began moving back last October but by January 9 this year, people were able to return to level four as well as the levels below that.

Residents left late last decade, vacating gradually as work progressed.

Victopia Apartments on July 3 this year when the upper scaffold was still wrapped. Photo / Dean Purcell

An update from chairman Dariusz Koper was sent to owners on November 9.

Contractors would concentrate on removing scaffolding at the top of the block, he said.

A doughnut-shaped scaffold at the top of the building is scheduled to be removed by January 8.

Full site disestablishment was anticipated by February 3.

Documents were also to be compiled to seek a code compliance certificate from the council.

Construction workers on the site. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

A$4m loan had been secured to pay for the last works, Koper said, of which $2.9m had been drawn to cover the shortfall required to complete the project.

The $4m is understood to have been borrowed from Australian-headquartered MOD Finance, a specialist financier of body corporates.

“MOD Finance is New Zealand’s body corporate finance specialist and the first to develop a specialist lending solution for the local market. We simplify complex funding requirements with tailored funding solutions,” the business said.

When much of Victopia was covered in wrap.

Koper said glass balustrades were being installed on a number of levels in the final stages of works.

Recladding the tower with new panels is 85% complete, he said.

Owners are also able to get their carparks back in the two basement levels because those areas were transitioning from the contractors to the owners, Koper said.

The basement levels were used to store materials for the massive repairs.

“Contractor materials have been consolidated,” Koper wrote.

Although the apartments were built at the start of this century, the council required remediation to meet today’s standards.

“We thought that was unfair, but you can’t do anything about it,” one owner said.

In the winter of 2019, a 1.2m-wide by 2m-long fibre cement exterior panel blew off the block, resulting in emergency services closing part of Victoria St.

The panel was reported as falling from a bedroom on level 13, descending 36m to the ground.

Around 2012, specialist Maynard Marks undertook initial investigations and identified cracks in the cladding on the exterior and tiles cracking on decks on the upper levels.

“In some cases, the corners have fallen off,” owners were told then of fibro cement cladding.

In the 2016 court case, Victopia owners’ lawyer Gareth Lewis said the high-rise building “suffers from defects in the cladding, balconies and podium”.

Lewis said the body corporate estimated costs would be $42m, although some savings might reduce that to $40m.

Victopia Apartments

135 Victoria St WestBody Corporate 346799Built between 2003 and 2005Developed by Jung Sun Ha’s KNZ International Co203 unitsBuilt by Brookfield Multiplex as the main contractorDesigned by ADC ArchitectsIn 2011, Maynard Marks was engaged to investigate defects2012: body corporate starts court proceedings against those involvedIdentified four main defects: cracking of the Eterpanel cladding system, failure of balcony membranes, defective waterproofing to the ground level podium (carpark) and passive fire (fire stopping) defectsClaim for $53m settled out of court with no amount declaredTeak Construction has been repairing the block since last decadeScaffolding is mainly down, completion nearingRepair cost estimated to be $66m-$67m earlier this yearThe cost rose since then, stands at $72m now

Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.

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