TikTok user 'Casey', who describes themselves as a 16-year-old, posted a video of themselves atop a crane in Auckland's central city.
Work on the $300 million Seascape tower in Auckland has stalled because of a dispute and document registration in China.
China Construction New Zealand won $33 million in arbitration against developer Shundi Customs, non-payment meant work stopped.
Shundi Customs seeks completion of the builder’s paperwork in China to potentially collect money from China Construction.
Registration of documents in China is one of the reasons for no work resuming on the 56-level $300 million-plus Auckland ghost tower Seascape, abandoned for seven months.
The tower has stood idle since last August and winter is now looming for the block which remains open to the weather abovethe lower levels, which are partly clad.
Part of the holdup is registering documents in China, according to parties involved with the tower.
Last year, builder China Construction New Zealand won an arbitration case against developer Shundi Customs which resulted in it suspending the contract.
The towering Seascape apartment construciton site in May 2024. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The Building Disputes Tribunal issued an August 2 determination in favour of the builder in the dispute between the two over the stalled Seascape skyscraper apartment tower.
That showed the builder had been granted a charging order over the downtown city construction site owned by the development business.
Adjudicator John Green’s 119-page decision granted the order as well as awarding $33 million to be paid by the developer. The money went unpaid so in late August, the builder wrote to all the subcontractors, suspending work.
But in response to that last November, Shundi Customs took the builder to the High Court at Auckland, seeking for China Construction to complete paperwork in China.
That paperwork being sorted out has been one of the reasons for the months of delay.
Shundi Customs is demanding the builder secures the necessary documents so that if it succeeds legally against China Construction, it can collect money from them.
China Construction had not registered a parent company guarantee with China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the case revealed.
Intricate: a close-up of floors in the new $300m Seascape where construction is about to reach the 50th level. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The builder advised that it submitted the guarantee to the Chinese authority for registration on October 31. However, it has not yet been accepted for registration, the High Court decision noted. The guarantee needs to be countersigned by Shundi before it can be registered.
Justice Greg Blanchard’s November 11 decision noted that Shundi considered there is a significant non-repayment risk. The builders’ financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2022 show net assets of only $4.3m. They also record that its going concern status depends on continued financial support from its parent.
All these months later, one of the parties involved told the Herald this week he was hopeful that matters could progress.
He said an announcement may be made before the end of March.
How the new Seascape changes Auckland's skyline. Photo / Jason Oxenham
That indicates the paperwork has been registered in China and the parties are now waiting for the case to return to court for Justice Blanchard to cite those documents.
He stalled matters to give the builder the chance to get its paperwork: “I make an order prohibiting CCNZ from taking any further action consequent on the determination or bringing or continuing any proceedings in connection with the determination pending registration of the parent company guarantee with the State Administration of Foreign Exchange”.
In a separate event this year, the tower was scaled by a daredevil who dangled at night from the end of a crane boom with just one hand, raising alarm about how he got onto the site.
Seascape is on a city block fronting Customs Street East between Gore St and Fort St and the project is to be New Zealand’s tallest residential building.
The main tower is to have 221 apartments of which deposits have been taken on around half.
The project also includes the development of two associated buildings in the same city block. Once completed, the overall project will include dining, retail and a hotel.
China Construction has so far been paid more than $300m for the project, the court decision noted.
Some in the sector say it could take that much again to finish but when work will resume remains unknown.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
