Two toxic black moulds have been found in Whangārei’s new $59 million civic centre - which has had leaking issues - but there’s no risk to workers, Whangārei District Council says. Photo / Tania Whyte
Two toxic black moulds have been found in Whangārei’s new $59 million civic centre - which has had leaking issues - but there’s no risk to workers, Whangārei District Council says. Photo / Tania Whyte
Around 1000 workers who have built the city’s new $59 million civic centre are safe in spite of two types of toxic mould being found in the building, Whangārei District Council says.
Council general manager corporate, Alan Adcock, said environmental testing in March had revealed “tiny” quantities of Stachybotrys chartarum and Aspergillus in three areas of the building.
Stachybotrys chartarum, commonly called toxic black mould, was found in a small piece of carpet and a type of Aspergillus in the air in two areas in the environmental testing.
Adcock said the 1000 workers who had built the civic centre were safe, with only tiny quantities of the two moulds found.
In March it was revealed that the building had leaking problems and black mould was present in some areas.
The civic centre construction started in January 2021 and it was due to open in February. Its roof covering membrane had major leakage problems for some time.
WorkSafe has contacted WDC and lead contractor Canam Commercial regarding mould concerns.
“WorkSafe was notified of this issue and made inquiries with the Whangārei District Council and Canam Commercial Ltd,” the spokesperson said.
“Following this, the council queried Canam about environmental testing and monitoring. Water-damaged materials were removed from the site in January, and environmental testing was undertaken by Canam in March.”
Adcock said WorkSafe had been happy with how Canam had dealt with the moulds’ presence.
Canam Group was asked whether it had fulfilled its civic centre build responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and if it was sure the 1000 workers on site since 2021 were safe in terms of toxic moulds.
Canam Commercial director, Stephen Jones, said the company took its health and safety responsibilities seriously.
“Canam... has implemented proven systems and procedures to ensure the safety of our workers and any other workers that it influences or directs,” Jones said.
An independent auditor conducted monthly safety audits on the project as part of this.
Canam had consistently received a high level of compliance from the independent auditor, he said.
Mould on an inside wall at the new $59m Whangārei Civic Centre.
“The independent auditor assesses systems and procedures implemented on site and compliance, incident reporting, facilities for workers, housekeeping, the safety of plant and equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE) compliance, hazard controls, and subcontractor management,” Jones said.
The presence of Stachybotrys chartarum and Aspergillus was confirmed in the civic centre after March 27 environmental testing.
The council had in April then fogged the whole civic centre building with antimicrobial spray designed to kill moulds. The results from a second lot of mould testing done after the fogging had just arrived from the United States.
“To summarise, the laboratory results would indicate that the building is no longer generating microbial growth and the only elevated spore count in the roof void on level three has been decontaminated,” Adcock said.
WDC would now continue with finalising aspects of the build, he said.
Adcock said moisture testing checks had also been done inside wall cavities. This revealed they all met New Zealand Building Code standards, meaning they meet prescribed moisture levels where the amount of moisture was too low for mould to grow.
He said the centre’s leaking roof had finally been repaired in March and was no longer leaking. Moisture was no longer an issue in the building.
■ Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.
