My Account
Damage to the structural steel of The Nautilus apartment building in Orewa is more serious than previously thought, which has led to time and cost overruns in its repair.
Prendos NZ is project managing the work and contractors began repairing the 12-storey leaky structure a year ago. The project, which includes completely re-cladding the structure and repairs to the roof and podium, was expected to take two years.
Prendos director Philip O’Sullivan, who has oversight of the repair work, says once cladding was removed at the rear of the building, it became clear that the damage was more serious than initially thought.
“Even though the damage was assessed, until you get the cladding off it’s hard to know the extent of the problem,” he says. “There has been extra work that we didn’t expect, mainly more corrosion in the structural steel than was expected. It’s just as well we’re doing it now, because the building was losing structural integrity.”
He says that the company’s best estimate at this stage is that the repairs will take another 18 months – six months longer than anticipated at the start.
A further complication is that the cladding originally used on the building was the type that was in the news earlier this year after the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in London where many lives were lost.
As a result, Auckland Council is now working with Prendos to ensure appropriate safety measures are put in place during the re-clad. Mr O’Sullivan says the existing, fire prone cladding is aluminium coated plastic and this is being replaced with laminated aluminium to ensure it is up to the standards of the Building Code.
“The additional work has put us behind and we are taking steps to change the process – doing more things at the same time, rather than sequentially to speed things up.”
Prendos will also have to apply to the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board for an extension of time to use a portion of the Orewa Library’s carpark.
“Naturally as more time and work is needed, this means it will cost more too,” he says.
The High Court ordered Auckland Council to pay around $25 million to repair the building. It was hoped at the time that this sum would be sufficient to cover the work.
Mr O’Sullivan says that the Nautilus body corporate has been kept updated.
The work at the south western end of the building (the rear/tail) should soon be complete and more scaffolding should go up on other parts of The Nautilus shortly.
