Significant fire safety defects have led to Auckland Council issuing a “dangerous building notice” for a 16-storey central Auckland apartment building.
Residents of the City Gardens building on Albert St, which contains around 185 apartments, were told on April 12 they may have to vacate the building by midday on April 22.
Auckland Council field surveying manager Jeff Fahrensohn said visits by both council building inspectors and Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) which found significant defects with the fire safety systems within the building.
Interim measures had been put in place to “ensure the safety of residents”, but they would need to leave “if the safety issues have not been adequately resolved by [April 22]”.
A meeting on Thursday gave council “some confidence that works to make the building safer are progressing well”, Fahrensohn said.
Contractors are working on site and several remedial works are still to be completed.
“We will re-inspect again on Friday and are hopeful the remedial works will be completed to a stage where the dangerous building notice can be removed — avoiding the need for residents to evacuate.”
Fahrensohn acknowledged the notice would be “distressing for residents, however our priority is to keep building occupants safe”.
He urged building owners and body corporates to regularly inspect and maintain building safety systems.
The order for residents to vacate has been placed at the building’s entrance, along with a letter from FENZ outlining the major safety concerns with the building.
FENZ district manager Vaughan Mackereth said there have been three call outs to the building in the last two months.
“We have concerns about whether the fire safety systems in this building could reliably alert the occupants to a fire anywhere in the building or that they would be able to evacuate the building safely, promptly and efficiently should the need arise.
“It is not certain whether the building’s hydrant system is able to deliver water for firefighting to the upper levels of the building.”
In the letter posted at the entrance, FENZ added that the building had not had a warrant of fitness since 2017, that it was unclear if the building’s fire alarms would alert residents to a fire, or if residents would be able to find the escape routes due to the condition of the signage.
Auckland Council building control general manager Ian McCormick told 1News council staff had been working with the owners for “some time” regarding maintenance issues and that two recent incidents had “escalated” their response.
A false fire alarm activation in March resulted in residents discovering the fire door’s handle had been knocked off by a vandal, and a sprinkler head accidentally activated by a resident hanging clothes on it earlier this month did not trigger an alarm for occupants or FENZ, he said.
McCormick said 90% of the issues have been resolved to date.
“Some of my staff are reasonably confident that they’re going to be able to address the other issues, based on what they’re hearing from the body corporate.”
One resident told 1News her experience living in the Albert St complex has been “horrible, to say the least”.
“It’s kind of terrifying. We knew the building had lots of issues but we didn’t know it was to this extent.”
She described “constant” issues with the fire alarm which at times was going off weekly, water leaking through lights when it rains, and the ceiling of the lobby filling up with water following the Auckland Anniversary floods to the point residents believed it would collapse.
“Other than the letters posted on the walls, we have had no communication with building management.”
She said other tenants told her the building manager’s number had been disconnected.
“At this point, I, and many other people in the building are at the stage where we’re just going to move out.”
In 2018 the building was found to have been clad in the same highly combustible material with a polyethylene (non-fire resistant) core as London’s Grenfell Tower, where more than 70 people were killed in a fast spreading fire.
‘Not a Grenfell Tower type situation’
Despite the finding on the cladding, lawyer Tim Rainey, speaking on behalf of the body corporate committee, said it is “not one of the issues” which creates an immediate threat to make the building dangerous and is more of a long-term issue.
“The cladding has to be replaced not because it is a fire risk but because the building has defects which have allowed moisture… it is a leaky issue not really a fire issue.”
However, Rainey acknowledged the cladding cannot be replaced with the same type again, as it is “one of the flammable cladding types” which can in some circumstances provide fuel for a fire
“This is not a Grenfell tower-type situation. The issues with that building had more to do with the design which created a chimney effect, which allowed smoke to spread the fire.
Significant fire safety defects have led to Auckland Council issuing a Dangerous Building Notice for a 16-storey central Auckland apartment building.
“As I understand it, that is not an issue with this building and it doesn’t pose a threat and certainly the council does not require work on the cladding to render the building safe.”
‘Inherent flaws’ in building design
Rainey said this is a complex issue as the apartments sit on top of another building.
He said there are inherent flaws in the building design and accepts the remediation work hasn’t happened fast enough for the council – and they are working with the parking building below on finding a solution.
“This is of concern to all of the owners, many of whom are living in the building … the owners and the committee have taken advice from fire experts and have followed that advice intending to do all they can to make the building safe, given the historic defects that are present within the building as a result of original issues to do with the original design and construction in 2004.”
Despite the challenges, Rainey said the body corporate are committed to making these fixes, and the huge cost and a change in fire safety providers have contributed to the delays.
Rainey said they applied for a determination today – challenging the council’s decision that the building is unsafe.
However, they must show the MBIE chief executive there is no risk, and they are confident they will be able to do that.