Repairs to a big Auckland hotel and apartment tower are starting after the owners won a $20.5m settlement and leaked documents reveal how the huge job will be undertaken via an unusual scaffolding system.
In 2015, Takapuna's Spencer On Byron apartment owners won $20.05 million - including $10 million from Auckland Council - to fix the tower's defects when they also won the right to take their case to the Supreme Court.
![Scaffolding will go up around this tower. Photo/Janna Dixon](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/54EXECQG4AYB2O2WBNO5YEZ3IY.jpg?auth=868f6d5a001fa60b03964653a7f25f1c7e9f955b54a6e45af1b69347a185242c&width=16&height=24&quality=70&smart=true)
That resulted in a secret settlement, revealed in a letter from the body corporate settlement committee and forwarded to the Herald. Now, the block's body corporate committee has updated owners on repairs in a newsletter telling of a "grindingly slow process".
The hotel will remain open and continue to trade during repairs, owners have been told.