Construction firm battling liquidation

Long-standing Napier company Herbert Construction hopes to stave off liquidation with resources from major projects in Fiji where it is battling back from hits in the multimillion-dollar Bridgecorp collapse six years ago.

The hopes were expressed in a statement released yesterday by Napier barrister David O'Connor on behalf of company principal Malcolm Herbert, who is currently based in Fiji.

It came a few hours after publication of a liquidation application notice, the second in a week citing Herbert Construction.

The latest application notified is on behalf of Carter Holt Harvey (Carters), relating to a debt of $65,600.91, which a judge had ordered to be paid within 15 working days of an April 16 decision.

That decision set aside a previous judgment of more than $400,000 and said Herbert had genuine and major grounds for dispute involving quality of roofing material at Ravensdown, with whom Herbert is currently in arbitration - seeking more than $750,000 in unpaid sums, interest and costs.

The first liquidation application notice, advertised on June 13, is on behalf of Strata Group Consulting Engineers, over a debt of $33,935.75.

Both applications are scheduled to be called in the High Court at Napier next Wednesday.

The company, trading more than 40 years and having completed a string of major projects in New Zealand and Fiji, is also, along with several others, being sued by Hawke's Bay Regional Council over claims of leaky-building defects in the council's head offices in Napier.

The statement said Herbert Construction was currently the main contractor on Peppers Resort construction and other projects in Fiji, where it had been the main contractor in Momi Bay Resort development which stopped after the Bridgecorp collapse in mid-2007. Owed $17 million, the company was put "under stress", and recession in the construction industry over the past two years added "further stress," the statement said.

"Malcolm Herbert is planning on putting a compromise to its creditors and continuing with the arbitration proceeding against Ravensdown," it continued. "Malcolm Herbert wants to pay all of his creditors."

Among projects involving Herbert Construction in Hawke's Bay over the years were the Onekawa Aquatic Centre and Hawke's Bay Airport Terminal in Napier, Regional Hospital acute assessment and Health Board offices in Hastings, and Countdown supermarkets.