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The West Plaza may be one of Auckland's most popular office blocks, but some tenants loathe working there.
This week's poll of city dwellers voted West Plaza one of the best buildings, along with Auckland War Memorial Museum, the Ferry Building, Chancery and Metropolis.
But Roger Kerr, a West Plaza tenant and director of Asia-Pacific Risk Management, is extremely annoyed about issues at the aerofoil shaped white tower on the Albert/Customs Sts corner.
He has complained directly to Greg Thompson, Valad Property Group's Asia Pacific property head, but said matters had not been resolved. Valad owns West Plaza with Wellington's Buckingham Group.
Mr Kerr said he had been "battling" the building's managers at Colliers and the owners' representative Robb Noble for four months over air-conditioning issues.
"My staff have had to work in 30-degree temperatures for two days out of every five since January," Mr Kerr said, although Mr Noble countered that Valad and Buckingham were doing all they could to rectify issues and spending $8 million upgrading the building.
He is annoyed at Mr Kerr's criticisms, saying that for the first time in 20 years, responsible owners were refurbishing West Plaza, yet the tenants were constantly complaining.
"All we're trying to do is fix it," a frustrated Mr Noble said yesterday.
John Carter, a lawyer who leases space in the building, has also had ongoing issues and said the owners now communicated with him via their law firm.
Mr Kerr complained to the Department of Building and Housing, the Property Council, Auckland City and health and safety services, all to no avail.
"The most galling aspect of this building saga is that it is by no means clear who you go to as a tenant," Mr Kerr said.
Valad/Buckingham installed a new cooling tower in January only because of noise complaints from Quay West opposite, he said.
Some years ago, large commercial office blocks like West Plaza maintained contingency funds where money was accumulated to cover service upgrading.
But Mr Kerr said that did not happen any more and this was a pity.
Mr Noble acknowledged a noise complaint from Quay West to Auckland City but said the reason the cooling tower was replaced was that it was rusting.
Mr Noble said he was pleased the tower was voted one of the city's most popular but was frustrated with complaints when the building's owners were taking every step possible to address problems and fix them.
