Road closures set to ease around Auckland apartment building

The Victopia Apartments on the corner of Victoria Street and Nelson Street central Auckland with a missing panel that fell to the ground during high winds. Photo / Will Trafford

Road closures around the Victopia apartment building where a panel blew off – resulting in days of CBD gridlock – could be eased over the next few days.

Sections of Nelson and Victoria Sts have been closed since the panel fell from the building – which had been undergoing remedial work due to leaks – on Thursday.

The gridlock around detours has caused frustration for thousands of motorists, including long waits to exit the nearby SkyCity carpark.

Examinations have highlighted 40 other panels which need extra reinforcing to protect against any chance they too fall from the building.

Engineers yesterday worked on placing netting across the affected part of the Victopia building. The at-risk panels have also had protective patches placed on them for added protection.

Scaffolding - already in place as repairs are conducted further down the building - is also being extended up the side of the building to the loose panels.

A spokesperson from Auckland Transport said workers had made "good progress because the weather's been good" on Saturday.

Some closures are expected to ease on Sunday.

On Friday, Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said he wanted answers about safety issues with the Victopia building after the panel blew off.

Goff told the Herald that public safety has to be the paramount consideration after engineers inspected the apartment tower and discovered more loose panels.

"Steps need to be taken to deal with the risk of further panels falling and we hope that can be done as quickly as possible," he said.

"I expect council officers to be asking hard questions of the building owner about the safety of the panels on this building."

On Friday there were fears that the thoroughfare in central Auckland could remain closed for at least a week - and possibly considerably longer.

Auckland motorists and commuters have faced significant delays due to the closure of Victoria St West between Nelson and Hobson Sts.

Nelson St was also closed to traffic from the Victoria St intersection to Fanshawe St

A spokeswoman for WorkSafe also said on Friday the country's health and safety regulator had not been notified about Thursday's incident.

"The incident occurred less than 24 hours ago and there were no injuries involved in the incident, so we might yet be notified. It does sometimes take businesses a day or two to notify, particularly when there are no injuries involved."

The Victopia building has been at the centre of New Zealand's biggest leaky building litigation.

The leakage issues are set to cost $40 million to fix.