Council inspections discovered drainage issues and cracking in some concrete but neither Fletcher nor the airport will say when repairs will take place.
The building remains non-compliant and operates under a temporary Certificate of Public Use.
Major remediation work to fix “concrete defects” in Wellington Airport’s multi-level carpark building is still yet to be done, despite years of concern and compliance issues.
The nine-storey carpark building built by Fletcher Construction opened in October 2018 with more than 1000 car parking spaces and a transport hubon the ground floor.
NZME can now reveal the building is still not compliant more than six years after it was opened, due to unresolved building faults needing $15m of remediation work.
“I want to also briefly update where we’re up to at Wellington Airport. We’ve been in discussions with the airport on potential solutions to the structural quality issues in the carpark through the last six months and while these have not been yet fully agreed, we now consider that we have an appropriate technical solution that can be implemented. Based on this, we have made a $15m provision which we expect will be implemented through calendar 2024”, Taylor said at the time.
Questions were then put to the airport, with a spokesperson saying the structural integrity of the building is “fine” but there are “quality issues affecting the durability which are still being worked through with Fletchers”.
“It is still to be determined what work will be required” the airport spokesperson said in August.
Fletcher also said the issues do not relate to the structural integrity of the building.
The nine-story car park building built by Fletcher Construction opened in October 2018 and has over 1000 car parking spaces. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
Asked to clarify why Taylor said the issue was structural, a spokesperson said “essentially it was technical engineering phrasing that got misinterpreted (understandably) – both Fletcher and Wellington Airport had the language corrected in media coverage”.
“It’s not unusual to have agreed remedial work at the end of a project of this scale. There are no issues with the structural integrity of the building but remedial work is required to address durability issues in line with the provision of $15m. We are still working through the details of this with Wellington Airport.”
Neither the airport, Fletcher, or Wellington City Council as a regulator and minority shareholder would provide any detail on what the issue actually is.
After months of delays and extensions, hundreds of pages of documents have since been released to NZME under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, detailing years of compliance failures and pinpointing the issues with the building.
Multiple council inspections dating back to 2018 failed, with council officers highlighting issues with the drainage work due to cracked concrete and silt and debris in pipes, as well as issues with a part of the structure’s cruciform concrete covers.
Fletcher requested the council do a final building inspection in 2020, but this was refused as the council still took issue with cracks on the cruciform covers and drainage.
Emails between May and June 2020 show Fletcher was unhappy with this refusal, saying the council’s reasoning was not valid. One of the company’s managers accused the airport of being “obstructive” in getting the inspection done.
Remediation work will require the building's aluminium facade panels to be removed, which is expected to "take some time". Photo / Mark Mitchell
The council responded, again raising issues with what it considered “concrete defects” on the cruciform covers, labelling it as “concerning”.
“Can you please advise what is going on in regard to this and does it compromise the build?”, a council inspector asked.
“We will require comment from the engineer on this matter to satisfy council that this is being resolved.”
In response, an airport representative told the council that the airport had engaged engineering firm WSP to investigate “cracking on the corners of a significant number of the cover repairs”.
They said the cracking “does not currently affect the structural strength of the building”.
“However, if left untreated in the coastal B2 environment it might result in premature corrosion to the reinforcing steel”.
They said to repair the cracking, the building’s aluminium facade panels would have to be removed which would take “some time” and is required on the east, south, and west faces of the building.
It doesn’t appear this work has happened yet and neither the airport nor Fletcher will confirm when it is planned for.
When asked about the issues detailed in the released documents, a Fletcher Building spokeswoman said “remedial work following a project this size is not unusual and covers different aspects of the project, the details of which are being worked through with our client”.
Asked specifically about the cracked corner repairs, the spokeswoman said the parts were not cracked, but rather there was “some minor curling of the concrete patch at the outer edges”.
“This was discovered in May 2019. It does not affect the structural integrity of the carpark,” the spokeswoman said.
Asked whether corrosion to the steel had occurred, as raised by the third-party engineer as a potential future structural concern, the spokeswoman confirmed that “a small amount of minor surface corrosion has been detected”.
She said repairs will be included in remedial work, but said “it does not and will not affect the structural integrity of the carpark”.
The building has never been granted a Code Compliance Certificate and has been operating under a Certificate of Public Use.
A Wellington City Council spokesman said a certificate “has not been issued yet as building work is still being undertaken”.
“As such the building has been operating under a Certificate of Public Use and Council is in contact with the owner in order for the CPU to be extended”, the spokesman said.
It said in late 2023 that these “new car parks are needed to replace parking capacity displaced from other parts of the airport precinct due to other works taking place”.
Ethan Manera is a multimedia journalist based in Wellington. He joined NZME in 2023 and is interested in local issues, politics and property in the capital. Ethan is always on the lookout for a story and can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz.
