Down your tools: Building on Hastings state houses stopped over power line clearance

Unison spokesman Danny Gough said the buildings were not compliant with WorkSafe standards that required a minimum clearance of 2.1 metres between conductors and buildings. Photo / Blair Voorend

Unison has agreed to move its power lines after work on four new state houses in Hastings was ordered to stop because the buildings were too close to the lines.

The houses being built on Bledisloe Place are among 25 new state houses under construction in the area.

Workers on site were told to down tools this month after Unison Networks became aware of how close the buildings were to to power lines on the street.

Unison spokesman Danny Gough said the buildings were not compliant with WorkSafe standards that required a minimum clearance of 2.1 metres between conductors and buildings.

"One of our fault guys was in the area and saw the site and seeing it didn't look as if it was meeting the minimum clearance talked with the site manager and we had the site shut down within a short amount of time."

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Unison cut power around the homes so work could continue safely, Gough said.

"It meant that they are still able to continue work without any risk even if that means they run off generators for a short while."

Residents in the area said they had seen a few line workers come in but didn't see progress slow down with construction at the site.

Gough said that in February Unison had plans to move the lines further from the buildings by using a different configuration of cross arms.

It would need to be funded by Housing New Zealand, Gough said, but he would not disclose the cost, saying it was a commercial matter.

Gough said the situation was unfortunate, but that Housing NZ and its contractors had acted professionally "and have been committed to resolving this issue in an expedient manner".

Kāinga Ora (Housing NZ) programme director Nick Seymour told Stuff: "From the start with this part of the site, we knew that we'd need to relocate some of the high voltage overhead cables near four houses.

"To deliver the state homes that are much-needed in Hastings, the plan was always to commence the build, then look at options with the overhead wires, which may include undergrounding," he said.

"That's what we're doing now and this will not slow down the delivery of new, quality state homes in Hastings."