The scale of the slip beneath the house in Brigantine Drive, Beach Haven, is visually startling. This is how it looked on Friday last week from a drone. Photo / Jason Dorday
The scale of the slip beneath the house in Brigantine Drive, Beach Haven, is visually startling. This is how it looked on Friday last week from a drone. Photo / Jason Dorday
Foundations are exposed beneath a clifftop Auckland house, as well as the piles for a palisade wall that was designed to protect the land from collapsing.
Paul Cowling, Auckland Council’s team leader of compliance response and investigations, outlined the situation.
The Beach Haven house perched above the cliff had beenred stickered but not condemned.
“The site currently has a red-placard status,” Cowling said.
That means entry is prohibited because the building has suffered moderate or heavy damage due to a natural disaster, according to the council’s explanation of red placards.
This drone image taken last week shows the neighbourhood and the scale of the slip beneath Ben Wilson's place in Beach Haven. Photo / Jason Dorday
The Herald saw an alarming sight when it flew a drone over the sea last week, looking towards the home.
The building appears to teeter on the cliff edge. Ferry-goers have also been astonished at the sight and expressed concerns about it.
But the council reiterated the house was not condemned, nor was there any plan for demolition.
“There is no danger to other properties due to the slip. There would only be a potential danger to the environment if the property were to totally fail, however, we are not aware of any further movement currently,” a statement from the compliance team said.
Asked if the cliff and clay were polluting the water, compliance said: “No, the area below is a natural cliff face as with most of the surrounding area”.
52 Brigantine Drive after a massive slip that occurred on July 15, 2022. The slip followed non-consented vegetation removal and stair construction works. A geotechnical engineer partly attributed the collapse to rainfall. Photo / Chris Keall
How it looked after the January 27, 2023 flooding. Photo / Chris Keall
How it looked last week, nearly 10 months on from the floods. Photo / Chris Keall
Asked if the owner had received any money from the council’s flood fund, a spokeswoman for the team said: “No funding has been paid out to anyone currently.”
Asked if it would be paid to the Beach Haven homeowner, she said: “Any payment in the future is yet to be determined.”
The council and the Government have a $1b+ package to pay hundreds of homeowners whose places have been flood damaged. The money is for hundreds of uninhabitable properties.
Another view of the July 15, 2022 slip
Cowling said the owner of the Beach Haven home had applied for property categorisation. That will denote what risk level or category is assigned to it, ranging from low to high risk.
The council information on this says: “What happens after a risk category is assigned to your property? Some details will be determined by the Government negotiations. Auckland Council also needs to make decisions specifically for Auckland, such as whether we agree with the Government co-funding offer and how things such as property valuations are set.”
A title search by the Herald has shown Benjamin Mark Wilson and Smith & Partners Trustee Co on the title to the Beach Haven home. Questions were put to Ben Wilson last week but were unanswered.
Cowling cautioned against alarm at the sight of the house in relation to the cliff when seen from the water.
“Sediment erosion from cliffs and other landforms into the sea is a natural and commonly occurring phenomenon. The cliff failure at this location is one of many that has occurred around the region after significant storm events earlier this year,” he said today.
“The site will be assessed by geotechnical engineers in future and if there are signs of significant failure, then the council will work with the owners and insurers on any preventative action that may be required.”
Last year, Wilson said he was “consumed with a family matter” and referred the Herald to the council for information.
Kerri Fergusson, Auckland Council’s compliance response and investigation manager, said last year that movement beneath the house was not the owner’s fault.
“After completing the investigation into the cause of the slip, it was deemed that there were no breaches committed by the property owners at Brigantine Drive. Therefore, no enforcement action will be taken. The slip was deemed to be a natural occurrence following periods of unsettled weather and severe rain, and there is no further practical action that can be taken. A letter has been sent to the property owners urging them to be mindful of future possible risks, should the slip regress further,” Fergusson said last November.
The Heraldreported on the situation at the property overlooking Charcoal Bay where on July 15, a massive slip occurred on the cliff that Paul Carter, a senior geotechnical engineer, attributed partly to rainfall.
Last August, Ross Roberts, Auckland Council’s engineering resilience head and a geotechnical engineer, said the new house was “very unlikely” to have had any effect on the cliff beneath. Council staff were continuing to monitor the situation, but he held no fears for people’s safety.
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.
