Back In Time

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20 years ago:

Around $500 million of property development was able to proceed at Auckland’s Viaduct Basin, adjacent to the America’s Cup Village, after a compromise planning deal was approved by the Environment Court.

The agreement was struck between the Auckland City Council and developers appealing against the area’s rezoning, including Ports of Auckland, America’s Cup Village Ltd and Viaduct Harbour Holdings Ltd.

The compromise deal allowed mixed use development, including some commercial. The council also reduced a planned 10% development levy to 7.5% which would go towards the council’s planned $50 million of public works before the America’s Cup in Auckland in 2000.

 

15 years ago:

While almost 1200 leaky buildings were to be assessed by the government’s Weathertight Homes Resolution Service, RMBF chief executive Chris Preston said it was interesting to note the Federation had had very little feedback from the mediation service in respect to weathertightness problems caused by RMBF members.

“We can take heart from this, as it reflects well on the skill of our membership and its ability to rectify any problems,” Mr Preston said.

“Weathertightness remains critical for the industry, and we are still waiting for some firm direction from the Building Industry Authority and the technical people in the industry in relation to the direction the Building Code and Building Act are going to go,” he said.

 

10 years ago:

One of the first builders to successfully register as a Licensed Building Practitioner was presented with his own “licence to build” by Building and Construction Minister Shane Jones.

Mr Jones awarded Craig Shorrock a Site 2 licence when he visited Mr Shorrock at a home he was repairing in Remuera, Auckland.

More than 8000 application packs had been distributed since the scheme was officially launched in November 2007, and the first licenses were being issued to practitioners who had successfully completed an application in their chosen license class.

The release of licence cards was a major milestone for the new scheme which was introduced to raise standards and increase consumer confidence in the construction industry.

 

5 years ago:

The Specialist Trade Contractors’ Federation (STCF) called on Mainzeal liquidators to “open the books” and reveal how much the company was holding in retention payments.

Retentions are a widespread construction industry practice where a construction firm withholds part of a subcontractor’s total invoice, unsecured and without interest, for up to two years after the subcontractor has completed their work.

STCF president Graham Burke said it was likely that Mainzeal was holding millions of dollars in retentions, and called on liquidators BDO to be transparent about the sums.

“This is money that belongs to subcontractors and would have been paid out to them in due course but, because subcontractors are unsecured creditors, it is likely that this very significant sum will be used to pay secured creditors,” Mr Burke said.

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