Principal hails leaky building lawsuit

A Rotorua high school struggling with leaky building problems is applauding formal government action to seek costly damages.

The Education Ministry last week initiated legal action against major building product companies over its burgeoning repair bill for leaky school buildings - estimated to be $1.5 billion.

Currently, more than 800 buildings at more than 300 schools are undergoing remediation work, acting secretary for education Peter Hughes said.

Otonga Road Primary School principal Linda Woon said additions made to the school's hall and arts centre had resulted in leaky building issues.

"The school hall is 40 years old and we've grown a lot since then," she said. "We had plans for bringing it up to 21st century learning standards."

Legal action by the ministry was fantastic for the education sector, Mrs Woon said. However, any successful outcome was unlikely to benefit the Rotorua school.

"The [hall and arts centre building] issues are older than the time period specified for claims ... However, our feeling is we are glad that the ministry is doing it because individuals are not in a position to take [court action]."

It would set a precedent which could benefit schools and individuals, Mrs Woon said.

The cost of repairs needed at Otonga Road Primary School is yet to be calculated.

The ministry lodged its High Court claim last week against wall cladding manufacturers, which supplied building materials used in schools affected by weather-tightness failure.

While it has not named the companies involved, statements made by Australian building product makers James Hardie Industries and CSR confirmed they were party to the suit.

The Principals' Federation said the claim signalled serious "design failings" in the building process for affected schools.

However, specialist leaky building lawyer Paul Grimshaw warned the ministry's case was unlikely to result in full compensation for damages.

"It is going to be a difficult case because they [government] will have to show that the system that James Hardie put together was negligently put together or flawed."

James Hardie confirmed it was working with legal advisers in response to the ministry claim. Two of its New Zealand subsidiaries are affected.

- additional reporting NZ Herald