Focus Live: The latest on the New Zealand International Convention Centre fire
Six years after the New Zealand International Convention Centre fire, litigation is due this winter between the parties over who was to blame.
Fletcher Building’s case against two subcontractors it blames for the 2019 convention centre fire is due to be heard in the High Court at Aucklandin three months, although the parties being sued deny liability.
Subsidiary the Fletcher Construction Company is taking action against two waterproofing businesses it blames, with a 14-week trial pending.
The contractors are MPM Waterproofing Services and JEL Waterproofing and part of the case could hinge on professional indemnity insurance.
A court daily diary note about a telephone conference on Monday, March 17 referred not to MPM but to XAM because MPM changed its name. Companies Office records showed that happened on March 6 last year.
Black smoke from a fire at the SkyCity's convention centre construction site in central Auckland on October 22, 2019. Photo / Michael Craig
Justice Kiri Tahana heard that matter in chambers.
In February 2017, Fletcher entered into a subcontract with MPM for membrane roofing work at the Convention Centre. MPM in turn entered into a sub-subcontract with JEL in late 2018, whereby JEL was to perform some of MPM’s membrane works.
The fire started on October 22, 2019 and could not be extinguished until November 1, the judge said.
“FCC alleges that the fire was caused by MPM and/or JEL,” the May 10 decision noted.
Jack Hodder KC represents Fletcher and XAM is represented by Helen Macfarlane with others and JEL by Aaron Sherriff with others.
On May 8 last year, Justice Sally Fitzgerald noted the case was due to start this June.
She ruled in the case where the company now called XAM and JEL last year applied for a split trial: first, the case against them to be heard initially, then a separate case about Fletcher’s claim for losses subsequently.
“They seek orders that the liability claims and some other legal aspects of FCC’s claims are heard at a stage one trial in June 2025 and, to the extent necessary, all remaining issues, including the quantification of any of FCC’s losses able to be claimed from MPM and/or JEL, are heard at a later stage two trial,” the decision said.
Crews battling the 2019 fire. Photo / Michael Craig
Fletcher disputed there were any efficiencies by splitting the proceeding into two hearings and opposed that.
That ruling noted Fletcher listed various categories of losses.
Fletcher’s total losses from the fire are yet to “fully crystallise”, the judge said, but the company made a statement of claim last August where it estimated:
Fletcher Construction Company (FCC) direct losses estimated at $252,313,780;
Sub-contractor liabilities estimated at $11,486,219.99;
Liquidated damages payments estimated at $10,343,000;
What is referred to as the SP1 claim, being liabilities said to arise from a claim against FCC by SkyCity in relation to delayed delivery of car parks, estimated at $24,969,978;
What is referred to as the second tranche claim being a further claim by SkyCity against FCC for alleged delayed delivery of additional car parks, estimated at $17,863,990;
What is referred to as the MDBI claim, being another claim by SkyCity against FCC for reimbursement to SkyCity for alleged material damage and business interruption losses caused by the fire, estimated at $4,725,280;
Other unspecified losses or liability to third parties who are not involved in the convention centre project, referred to by FCC as third party liabilities, not yet subject to any particularisation or estimated quantum in FCC’s second amended statement of claim.
The judge rejected splitting the case into two but said a particularly troubling point was that some of Fletcher’s losses continued to accrue and were yet to be quantified.
Ross Taylor has since left Fletcher as its chief executive, replaced by Andrew Reding, who is the first New Zealander to head Fletcher Building since it was listed on the NZX in March, 2001.
Fletcher Building issued an NZX announcement saying its subsidiary alleged that the fire was caused by MPM and/or JEL and it was seeking recovery of its uninsured losses, “which are significant, some of which are described in the judgment”.
In 2020, a Fire and Emergency NZ report found that a gas torch accidentally left cardboard material smouldering on top of the convention centre.
The cardboard core of a waterproof roofing membrane roll smouldered for more than half an hour during a lunch break before it burst into flames, causing the fire.
The cardboard roll had been inadvertently exposed to a worker’s gas torch and it smouldered undetected for 38 minutes, according to investigators.
Fire and Emergency NZ released the report on its investigation into the fire, which started on October 22, saying it was accidental – but the report was rejected by one of the contracting firms, who says it needs to be retracted.
In February next year, SkyCity Entertainment Group is due to hold its first conference in the new centre.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
