Auckland Airport and a private Epsom hospital are the latest businesses to confirm they could have construction jobs supplied with fire doors caught up in the asbestos scare.
An airport spokeswoman said the company had told contractors to stop installing the doors.
Aimee Bourke, chief operating officer of Allevia Hospital Epsom, said it was examining whether it is affected.
Allevia is 40% owned by Sir Stephen Tindall interests, and its renamed Epsom hospital has undergone New Zealand’s largest private medical redevelopment with a $190 million expansion bringing the vast new Gilgit Wing with 10 new operating theatres.
Fletcher Building said last week it was “undertaking investigations” and issued an NZX announcement.
Fire doors were installed at SkyCity Entertainment Group’s under-construction NZ International Convention Centre and may be impacted by asbestos contamination.
On Thursday, the Herald reported Massey University staff may have been exposed to asbestos in the air after contaminated doors in a new vet school building were drilled into.
Christchurch City Council said it was also testing 104 doors at its new $700m Te Kaha stadium, due to open next year.
The Herald has reported how Pacific Door Systems, the country’s largest fire door manufacturer, is at the centre of the asbestos scare after contamination was found in some of its doors.
The scale and timeframe of the contamination is not yet known, but it dates back at least one year.
The Auckland Airport spokeswoman said it was in talks with the door company.
“Auckland Airport is aware Pacific Door Systems has acted as a supplier on some of our construction projects. The health and safety of airport workers and travellers remains our priority and we are taking the matter seriously.
“We have asked our contractors to cease installation of doors supplied by the company until we know more,” the spokeswoman said.
She did not specify which projects were supplied with the doors.
However, billions of dollars worth of new buildings have been built at the airport’s new business park, The Landing, in the past few years.
Long leasehold deals have been struck with the airport’s tenants in those new buildings.
Some of the biggest new developments lately on airport land include:
Whether any of these projects are affected remains unknown. The spokeswoman did not name a single project.
But she did talk about investigations.
“We are in direct contact with Pacific Door Systems and are closely monitoring updates from both WorkSafe and our Asbestos Assessor specialists to ensure we have the latest information on potential contamination risks and how they are best managed.
“WorkSafe has confirmed that doors with fire-rated boards fully encapsulated and intact, pose no to negligible asbestos exposure risk,” she said.
Bourke of Allevia described what is happening with the big Epsom hospital.
“We are aware of the issues you have raised, and like much of New Zealand who have installed fire doors in the past four years, we are waiting for official information as to the full impact and next steps.
“We are treating all doors as potentially impacted until we receive guidance to the contrary. We are currently following the latest advice we have received on the issue,” Bourke said.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s head of building system delivery and assurance, Simon Thomas, said the issue is under an “active investigation”.
They are working with multiple agencies and suppliers to “gather further information and determine the next steps”.
He noted that installed doors are safe if undamaged and unaltered, and have not been recalled.
Pacific Door Systems said on August 22 via its website that it “recently became aware of a contamination issue impacting one of the categories of fire-rated door ‘cores’ previously used by PDS in production of Pyropanel fire-rated doors”.
“It is important to stress that FRB core and the potentially impacted PDS fire door categories do not contain asbestos ‘by design’,” Pacific Door Systems said.
This was a “contamination event” and it is still seeking an explanation from the third-party manufacturer, the company said.
Probing fire door scare
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.