Water damages penthouse

By ANNE GIBSON

Another Auckland residential tower leased to Australian hotel operator Quest is leaking.

It was revealed this week that The Quest Auckland in Queen St was being ripped apart to stop water flooding in.

Now an apartment owner at The Quest Darlinghurst, at 52 Eden Cres, is complaining about water damage to his unit and says attempts to fix it have been unsuccessful.

On Wednesday it was reported that the Quest Auckland, a 5-year-old, 17-level building at 363 Queen St, was having floors stripped in an $800,000 repair job expected to take more than six months.

Owners are taking legal action against the Auckland City Council, Brown Day Architects and Covington Group, as the developer.

Ian Williamson, a penthouse owner in Quest's high-rise Eden Cres apartment tower, said his unit in The Quest Darlinghurst also leaked.

"The carpet had been newly laid and when I had people from the construction company, Hawkins Construction, at the property, they commented on this," Mr Williamson wrote from his home at Noosaville in Queensland.

He bought one of the three penthouses for $650,000 in 2000. Hawkins had cut a piece out of the wall near the decking in a failed bid to fix the leaking problem.

"The deficiency that presumably the whole building suffers is that the balcony levels are set at the same level as the main floor level and, so far, remedial work - and the best sealants in the world - have failed to eliminate the problem.

"I am awaiting a report on what is being done to remedy the leaks."

Quest's New Zealand managing director, Stephen Mansfield, admitted that water had been a problem in the property, "but it's nothing structural. Sometimes in a big storm, the seals on the windows leak".

Quest did not lease the penthouse apartments at Darlinghurst, he said, so he did not know about Mr Williamson's problems.

Quest advertises 30 rooms in the art deco-style tower for between $144 and $236 a night.

Martin Hansen, of Hawkins Construction, said he knew of leaks at a Darlinghurst penthouse apartment about two years ago but the problems had been fixed.

The building was developed by Paul Doole, of Darlinghurst Properties, and Mr Williamson bought his penthouse from him.

Robert Hodgkinson, contracts manager for Hawkins, said the 75-unit Darlinghurst was "built with pride" and only one unit had leaked. That had been fixed two years ago.

He was surprised Mr Williamson thought there was still a problem.

nzherald.co.nz/property