Victopia Apartments on the Nelson St/Victoria St West corner in 2020 before wrap covered the entire building. Photo / Anne Gibson
Victopia Apartments on the Nelson St/Victoria St West corner in 2020 before wrap covered the entire building. Photo / Anne Gibson
Residents have begun to return to Auckland’s high-rise Victopia apartment building, estimated to cost $62 million to fix under a seven-year programme which started in 2018 and is not likely to finish until the end of this year.
Dariusz Koper, chairman of the block’s body corporate, said ownersand tenants were now back on the ground floor and two levels above that after the successful completion of repairs and upgrades to units there late last year.
The 204-unit block is 16 levels: 14 apartment levels above ground and two basements. People began moving back in October but by January 9, people will return to level four as well as the levels below that, Koper said.
Residents were first forced out in 2018 but left gradually as work progressed.
Victopia apartment workers on the site in July 2019. Safety precautions were being taken after a large panel was blown off in a storm. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Apartments were gradually being handed back by the body corporate and head contractor Teak Construction, as completion progresses from the bottom up, Koper said.
He has previously cited repairs as costing $62m, expressing disappointment about that.
“The total cost of the project is estimated to be ~$62m,” he wrote in a June 22, 2023 update to owners of the block on the corner of Victoria St West and Nelson St, opposite TVNZ.
In 2019, a panel blew off the exterior of the top of Victopia apartments in the central city. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
As of last June, Koper said the total estimated remaining cost to complete the project was $28.8 million, with “83 per cent of the remaining costs are construction costs for Teak, 12 per cent for consultants and 5 per cent contingency held by body corporate. This means that the total cost of the project is estimated to be ~$62m”, he wrote.
“I am very disappointed that the costs have escalated to that value, and it took significant time to agree to the fixed lump sum offer and related programme of works and negotiate fee increases demanded by some suppliers which delayed our forecasting and therefore reduced the time to raise funds. This is not what we hoped for,” Koper told residents.
In 2017, Koper and other owners won a $53m judgment in the High Court at Auckland against Brookfield Multiplex Constructions (NZ), Auckland Council and many others for Victopia’s defective design and construction. But the builder subsequently went into liquidation, meaning $23m of that $53m remains outstanding.
Today, Koper said he was pleased people were returning and that the job was nearing completion.
Victopia Apartments on the corner of Nelson St and Victoria St West.
In 2019, the repairs shut a street after a 2m-long fibre cement panel blew off the exterior, 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. Fortunately, no one was hit by the panel or hurt in the accident.
The block was designed by ADC Architects, developed at KNZ International and built by Brookfield Multiplex Constructions (NZ), which is in liquidation. The property is at 135 Victoria St and is a building distinctive for its upper-level feature where it juts out at the top.
Repairs were first investigated 13 years ago.
In 2010, Victopia residents were evacuated after unattended cooking caused a fire in the block. Photo / Dean Purcell
Around 2012, specialists 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.
Teak Construction’s description of the project on its website cited structural issues identified at Victopia, including failure of the facade fibre cement cladding, which it said was breaking and falling off.
That business was commissioned to fix those problems “with a full top-to-bottom reclad, as well as fixing problems with passive fire protection and membranes”.
“The building is fully scaffolded and served by three construction hoists enabling personnel and materials to move around the structure,” Teak said.
Koper’s project update last June gave the date of December 18 this year for completion of the building works. Today, he said that was still the plan. Code compliance would be sought once all building work is finished in 2025.
But the fight for the outstanding $23m to pay for the $62m fix is far from over.
Victopia owners are taking a class action against the Australian insurers of Brookfield Multiplex in Australia. Defendants include Zurich Insurance and Aspen Insurance. That action is being funded by litigation specialists Omni Bridgeway.
“The hearing is expected to start in the Supreme Court of New South Wales in the second part of 2024,” Koper said after the High Court of Australia rejected an appeal by Zurich against the action.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 23 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
