One of the many defective chimneys in the big village. Photo / Alan Gibson
It’s nearly Christmas, when Santa prepares to descend chimneys around the nation.
But this Christmas Eve, he’d better be careful leaping down those structures at one of New Zealand’s newest, most upmarket five-star retirement villages.
Tauranga’s sprawling, popular $300 million-plus Bethlehem Shores has waterfront views and streets lined with designer villas occupied by Arvida Group residents.
But chimneys at some of those homes also have an unusual construction defect with exterior schist cladding.
Scaffolding has been erected around many of the chimneys topping villas after it became apparent stone cladding wasn’t doing what it ought to: staying firmly on the boxes as a statement of solidarity, style, and longevity.
Instead, some chimneys look more like patchwork quilts, stone dotted over structures in a pattern perhaps not visually pleasing.
Contractors have been engaged to hop up there, remove the stone from the structures and fix defects by applying new cladding. It’s being replaced either with stone or plasterboard, according to Jeremy Nicoll, chief executive of Arvida.
“We’re trying to fix it,” said the boss of the business, which this week declared $3.6 billion of assets — and rising.
Asked what went wrong with the chimneys at the village at 141 Bethlehem Rd, he said Arvida bought that village in a complete state.
He also indicated arrangements were in place to have problem chimneys repaired.
“It’s just how the schist was fixed to the chimneys. There’s weight. It’s the fixing system,” Nicoll said, indicating the method used to keep the stone in place was at the nub of the problem.
Was it glue or fixings and had any schist fallen? He isn’t saying.
But “quite a few places” were afflicted, he acknowledged.
“It’s something we knew about when we bought it and it was accounted for at that point in time.”
Arvida bought Bethlehem Shores and other villages from Tauranga retirement village pioneer Fraser Sanderson’s business in 2019.
Sanderson sold Bethlehem Country Club and Bethlehem Shores as well as the Queenstown Country Club.
Arvida funded the deal via a shareholder rights issue, placement to new investors and debt finance.
Back on the chimney front, quite how much it is costing to fix and how long the process will take remains unclear.
“It’s just an issue we’ve got to deal with,” Nicoll said, expressing reluctance to say more.
Arvida sees big potential in the village and has been expanding it, declaring in the 2022 annual report it had built an extra 24 villas.
It’s also planning a big new hospital there, saying “consenting and procurement is advanced for the construction of care centres at Bethlehem Shores in Tauranga and Queenstown Country Club”.
Bethlehem Shores’ expansion will have 54 new care suites and 53 apartments built, with construction due to start in the second half of the 2023 financial year.
Marketing says living there “is like living in a five-star resort”.
A 50-seat movie theatre, chevron oak dance floor, piano bar and schist stone fireplace in the library are just some of the features, along with motorhome parking.
A new 20m x 8m heated swimming pool, gym, shower facilities, hairdresser, massage and manicure rooms are also on offer to residents.
All up, Arvida houses more than 6750 residents throughout New Zealand and employs about 2700 staff.
But in June, staffing shortages prompted it to shut its Timaru hospital at the Strathallan village.
Nicoll said this week that had been an opportunity to bring builders in and renovate that part of Highfield village.
Building defects at retirement villages are not uncommon. Metlifecare had mounting leaky building issues, which it declared in its financial statements before being delisted from the NZX.
In 2017, the Herald reported how that company’s leaky building bill had more than doubled from just over $20 million to $44.1m. That company was also part of a $200m lawsuit over weathertightness issues.
Back at Bethlehem Shores, the luxury chandelier in the main foyer cost about $50,000 and is an object of great admiration. The Herald reported in 2020 how properties ranged then from $795,000 up to $2.3m.
As for the chimneys, Nicoll says they’re all being taken care of.