City Gardens Apartments: Ministry investigating, barrister tells residents ‘don’t leave’

Contractors yesterday entered the City Gardens Apartments in central Auckland to carry out remedial work following an Auckland Council's dangerous building notice. Photo / Jamie Lyth

The Ministry of Building, Innovation and Employment is now investigating whether Auckland’s City Gardens Apartments is a dangerous building, following an application from the barrister acting for the block’s body corporate.

A ministry spokeswoman said today: “An application for determination has been lodged in relation to the dangerous building notice issued ... MBIE has yet to decide whether a determination will be made. The Building Act requires that decision to be made within 10 days.”

That was in response to body corporate barrister Tim Rainey’s application to the ministry which he said suspended the need for evacuation. He says residents don’t now have to leave by Monday.

He told the Herald late yesterday he would challenge the council’s decision to issue that notice because he argued the tower with 199 apartments does not meet the definition of a dangerous building.

“The advice I have from our fire experts is that all of the concerns have now been addressed and the building is safe to be occupied,” Rainey said. A fire door handle had been replaced and the building’s alarm system was once again connected to Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

The MBIE spokeswoman said the application for a determination put on hold the evacuation order.

“When a determination is being considered, any decision or exercise of a power by council is suspended, but only in relation to the matter being determined, unless the chief executive directs otherwise. MBIE may make a direction when the matters involve life-safety. In some circumstances council or another party will request MBIE make that direction.

“MBIE has been advised that more information will be provided today, and that information will be reviewed before making a decision about the suspension of council powers.”

Residents in the building at 76 Albert St were threatened with having to leave by Monday.

However, Auckland Council building control manager Ian McCormick told Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan most issues have been resolved.

The City Gardens Apartments are in Albert St in the Auckland CBD. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

He said there was a good chance it will pass its inspection tomorrow and about 90 per cent of the problems have been addressed.

RNZ also reported yesterday the building’s management said they were short more than $30 million needed for long-term fixes to some fire hazards and recladding.

The building has not had a warrant of fitness since 2017 and the council has issued several notices to fix (NFTs) and infringement fines.

Yesterday, apartment owners told the Herald they were dismayed at the lack of transparency from the building owners, managers and body corporate, as it’s not the first time issues have been identified.

One resident told the Herald he had no idea where he would live if the building was deemed unsafe and hadn’t been advised whether his accommodation would be paid for or not.

“Whether or not the fire alarm goes off, that means nothing to me because we all watched the Grenfell building with the same cladding on, go up in minutes,” a resident told the Herald.

Auckland Council was due this morning to return to the building to make a further inspection.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.