Company fights charges over troubled Kmart building

The Kmart building in Queenstown before it opened. Photo / Stephen Jaquiery, Otago Daily Times

Dominion Constructors and a former employee are seeking to have charges against them dismissed after being accused of carrying out building work without consent.

The company and Jason Buehler face one charge each under the Building Act, brought by the Queenstown Lakes District Council.

The charges relate to an allegation that starter bars were cut at the pre-cast concrete wall to foundation junctions at Block A of the Kmart building, at Queenstown Central, on or before August 2 last year.

The maximum penalty for the charge is a fine of up to $200,000.

Neither appeared before Judge John Brandts-Giesen in the Queenstown District Court today when the half-day hearing was set down for October 1.

The Kmart building is part of the first stage of the $100 million Queenstown Central development in Frankton.

The opening of the building was delayed by construction problems, with a "Notice to Fix" issued by the council in late August.

It finally opened its doors on October 18, two weeks after it was supposed to.