Unit developer pulls plug

The company that built a Wellington apartment block involved in the leaky buildings fiasco went into voluntary liquidation the day after a report into the problem nationwide was published.

Trebe NZ, formerly Ebert NZ, went into liquidation on September 18, 24 hours after a highly critical report into "systemic" failures in the building industry which led to more than 21,000 leaky apartments and houses.

Trebe NZ is the sole defendant in a lawsuit filed in the High Court at Wellington last December 20 by the body corporate representing the 40-unit Marion Square Apartment complex.

Under its former name Ebert NZ, the company built the central Wellington block between 1995 and 1996. The suit relates to claimed building defects.

Companies Office records list Trebe NZ's sole current director as Kelvin Hale of Wellington.

Mr Hale is also shown on such records as a director of other companies, including construction firms Ebert Construction (Auckland), Ebert Construction (Central) and Ebert Construction.

Mr Hale is in the South Island on holiday and could not be contacted for comment yesterday.

The High Court at Wellington will begin hearing the Marion Square lawsuit on October 8.

Body corporate chairwoman Rose Percival declined to comment with court action pending.

"We're taking legal advice. It's a very delicate situation and we're trying to work through the issues and resolve this."

Liquidator Richard Simpson of Grant Thornton confirmed Trebe NZ had gone into voluntary liquidation. He said he was still awaiting news from any potential creditors, and did not know how much, if anything, might be owed.

Trebe NZ notified the Companies Office of its liquidation on Wednesday last week, the day after the Hunn report, commissioned by the Government-appointed Building Industry Authority, was issued.

The report found that a "systemic breakdown" among developers, builders, architects, suppliers and others in the industry had left thousands of near-new houses and apartments rotting.

It estimated repair costs at up to $240 million, but it emerged yesterday that the true cost could be nearly $3.7 billion, based on Local Government NZ figures.

On Monday, the lobby group's chief executive, Peter Winder, had said it estimated the cost of repairing leaks to rotting near-new homes and apartments was $36 million, but he agreed yesterday that the figure had been incorrectly calculated.

He said the true highest cost could be $3.655 billion, although the group would have to check that councils had properly interpreted the survey.

- NZPA

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Further reading
Feature: Leaky buildings

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