The apartment building at 76 Albert St. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
The apartment building at 76 Albert St. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Auckland Council has withdrawn the dangerous building notice on the 16-level City Gardens apartments, saying it is satisfied the 199-unit CBD tower is no longer deemed unsafe under the Building Act.
“This means that all the fire safety systems are compliant and will provide early warning to all residents in the event of a fire,” a council statement said.
No owners were forced to leave the tower, although they were on notice last week that they might have to go as early as Monday this week.
That never occurred.
The council statement said all owners of the tower at 76 Albert St had been told the notice was lifted, but warned ongoing remedial works were required to make the building even safer.
Enclosing the car park stairways to provide protection to evacuating residents;
Passive fire lining and penetration works continuing in areas which are not escape routes;
Combining the apartment and car park fire panels into one system on both sides of the building’
Work to address the aluminium composite panel cladding, plumbing system and fire safety systems to further mitigate the risk from fire spread.
“The council has recommended that the focus on the above works is prioritised by the body corporate and apartment owners along with the regular inspection and maintenance of the building’s warrant of fitness systems,” the statement said.
A dangerous building notice has been lifted from City Gardens Apartments, 76 Albert St. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
The council would continue to inspect the ongoing work regularly to ensure it was completed in a compliant and timely manner, it said.
Ian McCormick, building consents general manager, said 15 inspectors visited the tower last Friday with specialists from Fire and Emergency NZ.
“We are pleased to say that good progress has been made and based on our observations we believe the building is no longer dangerous. Owners were able to demonstrate that crucial life-saving systems including the alarm systems, sprinklers, smoke and heat protectors and fire doors are all working compliantly.”
Tim Rainey, the barrister who acted for the body corporate, also confirmed the notice had been withdrawn.
He has withdrawn his application to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to make a determination on whether the building was dangerous.
“That was done in response to written assurance from the council that when the application was withdrawn the council would withdraw the dangerous building notice, having been satisfied that all of the issues raised had been addressed so that the building was now safe for occupation,” Rainey said.
“That has occurred and as I understand, the dangerous building notice has been formally withdrawn by the Auckland Council.
“There are ongoing works to the building to improve compliance but as matters stand the dangerous building notice has been withdrawn because the council is satisfied the building can be safely occupied. It is a good outcome for everyone.”
The Herald reported this month that the building has not had a warrant of fitness since 2017 and the council has issued several notices to fix and infringement fines.
