Auckland Transport consultants are divided over whether heritage buildings more than 140 years old will survive excavations for the city's railway.

Port bosses express confidence mayoral investigation will vindicate their blueprint for further development.

The Government has set a deadline of 20 years for assessing 193,000 buildings for earthquake risk and strengthening them.

Eighteen people are expected to lose their jobs after a 53-year-old flooring company owed $250,000 by failed construction firm Mainzeal went into liquidation today.

The historic Shed 10 on Auckland's waterfront will be openedn today after a 10-month, $12.5 million refurbishment and restoration.

A giraffe house, art gallery, Grey Lynn shops and apartment building are in the running for a top international architectural award.

A man who claims his lawyer friend doubled his bill for help resolving a leaky homes dispute says his memory of what happened was clouded by chemotherapy.

A lawyer is facing a disciplinary tribunal after he charged his golf buddy more than $1 million to help sort out legal problems created by his leaky Remuera home.

Builders are laying off staff and say they face economic ruin in Christchurch because insurance companies and Fletcher EQR are taking too long to approve earthquake work.

Fletcher Building is making a big push into Auckland's apartment development market, forming specialist new division Fletcher Developments this year to hunt down opportunities on big sites.

Auckland houses could soon arrive off assembly lines as the country's biggest construction business ponders factory-prefabricated houses.

The councils in our biggest cities are increasingly seen as one of the big roadblocks for economic growth, says Bernard Hickey.

Stripping the Christchurch council of its building consent authority is drastic, but made by an objective authority. And other councils should take note.

Building bosses have welcomed the Government's $10 billion Auckland infrastructure plans, saying their sector is in recovery mode.

Bronwyn Sell finds Christchurch was the logical place to set the latest series of the popular home renovation series.

The University of Auckland is about to shake up the neighbourhood when staff and students move into Newmarket next year - but neighbours won't feel a thing.

The son of Mana Party leader Hone Harawira was put up in the luxury Metropolis apartments and hotel in central Auckland after complaining that construction work on the Waterview connection was "interfering" with his shift work.

"The market" can't fix Auckland's housing crisis, writes John Minto. Instead, a capital gains tax is the most important step to drive property investors out.