Ca'Bella has to drop jobs

By ANNE GIBSON

Auckland civil engineering business Ca'Bella Civil has abandoned jobs worth $10 million following its receivership, sparked by the collapse of an associated building business.

Its associate, Ca'Bella Construction, has also abandoned most of its $30 million of jobs.

They include a contract to build Columbia, an 18-level student tower for Sanctuary Developments, although it is still considering continuing work on the 18-level Bluestone Tower in Auckland's city centre.

Receiver Richard Agnew of PricewaterhouseCoopers said that he had spent the past fortnight assessing the two companies' contracts and would now chase up about $1 million worth of retentions from six jobs Ca'Bella Construction had completed where money was still owed.

This included Redwood Group's 97-unit Eden Two apartments.

Leaks and rotten balconies were found there in September and the builder was called in to make repairs and remove balustrades to allow timber to dry.

Ca'Bella Civil and Ca'Bella Construction - whose director was former Auckland rugby star Glenn Rich - went into receivership this month, with at least $30 million worth of civil and building work on around the city.

Ca'Bella Construction was started three years ago and headed by former Hartner Construction chief Nigel Ainley.

Agnew said the feasibility of all Ca'Bella Civil's jobs had been assessed since the companies went under, and he has now despaired of continuing with any jobs.

The company simply did not have enough money to continue to do any work, he said.

At first, he hoped most of the work could be finished, such as a big job to do groundwork at Waitakere Hospital, where Ca'Bella Construction was the builder.

"Except for two, 10 jobs could be completed by April, so we did a feasibility study and detailed financial analysis into whether the company could continue with those 10 jobs.

"It was concluded that it would not be feasible, so we closed down the operations last Thursday," he said.

Agnew said only two staff remained at Ca'Bella Civil, which had employed about 40 people and had offices in Henderson.

The remaining staff were assisting with administration and chasing up debts, he said.

Many of Ca'Bella Civil's 12 jobs - mostly involving on-site drainage and ground works - were at Ca'Bella Construction's sites, Agnew said.

These included:

* Groundwork on the site of the new $60 million Waitakere Hospital. A hospital official said the main contractor was Multiplex Construction and the two Ca'Bella companies were subcontractors.

Work is expected to be unaffected by the Ca'Bella collapse.

* Groundwork at Columbia, the 18-level student tower in Whitaker Place for Sanctuary Developments.

* Groundwork at Bluestone Tower, on a tiny site between Wyndham St and Durham Lane, in front of the historic Bluestone Store.

Work has also stopped at most of Ca'Bella Construction's five building sites around Auckland, and Agnew said it had been forced to abandon one big job to build an 18-level student accommodation tower at 15 Whitaker Place in the CBD.

Groundwork was under way at this tower, to be finished by November.

"We didn't think the company could complete it under the terms of the original agreement," Agnew said, adding that work was running a little behind schedule.

Other jobs were still being assessed, with the hope that work could resume, but this was yet to be decided.

Ca'Bella Construction had about $30 million worth of work on, Agnew said.

Its jobs included a church for the Tongan community in Margan Ave, New Lynn, which had been completed in the past fortnight, and the construction of Bluestone Tower, which was at groundworks stage and still being assessed.

Agnew said he hoped to complete and release a detailed report on both Ca'Bella companies at the beginning of next month.