A multi-million-dollar eight-storey apartment block overlooking Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Domain is hidden under plastic wrapping while it is reclad for the second time in 15 years.
OneRoof understands the residents have all moved out until the reclad is finished, possibly early in 2025.
The Parkwood apartment building at the Morgan and George Street intersection in Newmarket was first reclad back around 2009 after leaking.
The New Zealand Herald reported at the time former Prime Minister Dame Jenny Shipley lived there and had become the latest victim of the leaky-homes scandal which plagued numerous apartment buildings and houses from the era.
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The reasons for the second reclad are a little different to the first but no less frustrating for residents.
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James Carmichael, chairman of the body corporate, told OneRoof the owners were all “extremely disappointed – well, worse than that – in terms of having to go back and redo the building again”.
He said the weathershield cladding being replaced was a fibre reinforced cement board and similar to the cladding used in the Victopia apartments in the Auckland CBD.
Victopia is a 15-storey apartment building which hit the headlines in 2019 when a 2m-long panel blew off the exterior in high winds, reportedly falling 36m to the ground from level 13.
The Victopia has been wrapped in plastic but the New Zealand Herald reported in January residents had begun returning to the building, which was estimated to cost $62m to fix under a seven-year programme which started in 2018 and which was not due to finish until the end of this year.
The story cites the main contractor, Teak Construction, as describing structural issues with Victopia, including the failure of the facade fibre cement cladding which it said was breaking and falling off.
Carmichael said the concrete structure of the Parkwood was sound but the exterior cladding system had been the issue.
The new cladding going up was a 100% aluminium system, he said, and was fully compliant: “It’s a Symonite product, similar to what’s on the Hilton Hotel down at the waterfront.”
Parkwood in 2009 when it underwent its first round of fixing. Photo / Brett Phibbs
A sixth-floor apartment in the building sold in 2023 for just over $2m. The listing warned buyers that the building was to receive a remedial upgrade. Photo / Supplied
There have been engineers, peer reviewers and consultants involved and the building consent was fully approved by Auckland Council, he said.
“You name it, every specialist out there in the building sector has been well and truly involved in the remediation design.”
Since the leaky building scandal, the problem had swung the other way, he said, so the work had to comply with various codes, including seismic codes, “so as a result of that the remediation is very, very extensive”.
Carmichael confirmed to OneRoof there had been a payout to owners from Auckland Council, which is on top of a payout gained for the first reclad, but he said he signed a confidentiality agreement and could say nothing further about that.
When asked if the residents were out of pocket, however, he said: “Well, I haven’t heard of a settlement yet where residents aren’t out of pocket”.
The residents moved out last year and Carmichael indicated the whole process has been stressful. “How stressful? Let me put it this way, I’ve been dealing with 20-plus owners who are really, really fed up with the building sector in terms of we have had to do this a second time.
Dame Jenny Shipley was one of the Parkwood residents affected in 2009. Photo / Tania White
“There’s no question that people are fed up and it’s not just the cost of the remediation.
“Remember, there’s nobody living there now. Everyone is either leasing or renting or they’ve got to find their own accommodation for 15 months or thereabouts.”
Carmichael said the apartments were tightly held because of the superb location overlooking the Domain and because of the facilities of Newmarket all around.
He thinks the building was one of the first apartment developments in Auckland back in the mid-1990s but it ran into the leaky era: “I just blame our whole building sector for all of this.”
OneRoof understands some of the current owners have already lived through the first reclad but love living there so much they feel it is worth hanging in there.
Agents who have sold apartments in the building say they have sold with new owners knowing a second reclad was looming but people still wanted to buy, such is the sought-after nature of the building and location.
One of the apartments sold last year for $2.079 million with Ray White agent Eden Thomson’s marketing describing it as being in an “exclusive dress circle” location with breathtaking expansive views.
The marketing referred to “a highly engineered project to be managed and overseen by Brosnan ensures future-proofing by way of a complete modernisation and remedial upgrade to the exterior”.
When the Herald wrote about the first Parkwood reclad it reported polystyrene cladding was replaced with solid fibre cement sheets. Water had been coming into the units, then valued at $500,000-plus, through the roof, joinery, at the corners of the tower and around external design features.
While Dame Jenny Shipley said she had no comment for this story when contacted by OneRoof, the previous Herald story reported her as earlier saying she loved living in the complex.
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