Lakewood Plaza has about 500 residents in 151 units. Photo / Tom Dillane
Lakewood Plaza has about 500 residents in 151 units. Photo / Tom Dillane
Residents of high-rise Manukau apartment building Lakewood Plaza, developed and managed by Du Val, were without electricity this morning while building managers worked to resolve the issue.
“Lakewood Plaza is currently without electricity. Building management is currently on site trying to resolve the issue and is a pointof contact for all residents. Please note we are treating the restoration of electricity with the utmost of urgency,” owners were told in the early hours of this morning.
Residents have complained to the Herald, saying there is no hot water and this is not the first power outage at the 14-level block.
A spokesperson for Du Val Property Management later informed residents, saying power was restored at 7.57am.
“The issue was external and due to a Vector fault. Building management will be urgently escalating the matter to gain further information regarding this,” the spokesperson said.
Du Val is in statutory management after Cabinet voted on that last month, with PwC’s initial report identifying accounting irregularities, complexities, lack of auditing and concerns about a trust in the name of founders Kenyon and Charlotte Clarke.
Lakewood Plaza has previously been reported to be home to about 500 residents in 151 units.
A written notice sent shortly after 4 this morning says services affected by the power outage were:
“Lifts — If you can please use the stairwells to enter and exit the building;
Hot water once reserves are used;
Electricity to the apartments and common areas;
Gym on ground level will remain closed until outage is restored.”
However, services that remain fully functional in the power loss include active fire systems such as smoke detectors, manual call points, fire sprinklers, and apartment entry door access points.
Residents were evacuated from Lakewood Plaza today, as well as in 2021.
The notice said the team running the building was working “with the utmost urgency to restore all services”. Power was hoped to be restored this morning.
The notice was sent by Du Val’s reception/portfolio administrator, Urshula Boon.
Du Val’s head office was also in the building at 8 Lakewood Plaza.
Du Val’s head office phone number was not being answered this morning, nor at the Du Val gym within the block.
One resident told the Herald: “This morning there are security guards turning people away from the apartment building on Lakewood Court in Manukau as the entire apartment building/complex is without power.
Du Val chief executive Charlotte Clarke. Photo / Du Val Group
“Unsure if this has anything to do with the issues that have been happening with the ongoing repair work in the building. There were a few frustrated people, myself included, there this morning.”
Charlotte Clarke, Du Val chief executive, said back then that the managers were paying to put Lakewood residents up in other Auckland places.
After the 2021 flood in the apartments in Manukau, substantial repairs have been under way.
Owners were asked to pay for the “flood restoration project” at the block where repairs were estimated in a June 2023 Excel spreadsheet to take 33 months and cost $11,414,000, although an owner said the total levy was $3m.
Minutes from an extraordinary body corporate general meeting on October 2, issued by Strata Title Administration, put the sum at $3.4m to be collected last and this year in four instalments.
Another owner said he would pay $30,000 for repairs.
“The body corporate agreed to millions of dollars in repairs. It has been ridiculously expensive.”
Owners were told by the block’s body corporate the party responsible for the fault, when identified, would pay.
One owner is convinced a court case will mean he gets his money back.
On August 5, Du Val told one owner its building facilities and property management team at Lakewood Plaza “still remains operational and is still managing your property to a high standard. Rent will continue to be receipted”.
Du Val, Downey Construction and others built the tower. But Du Val manages all apartments.
An April 9 written report from Commercial Services and Reports as agents for the Lakewood repair project described the extensive nature of the work.
This story has been updated with information received that power has been restored to the building.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
