Waters of gold

These mornings it is hard to be up early enough to get to where I can catch the sunrise while running one of my usual courses. Today the sun rose while I was still heading down Symonds Street to get to the waterfront. Tall buildings obscured the horizon except for small snippets every now and then. I didn't like any of the pictures I did take there.

By the time I got to the waterfront, looking south eastwards from Queen's Wharf meant looking straight into the fully risen bright sun. So I didn't do that. Looked the other way; towards Prince's Wharf. Some years ago this was redeveloped, with the Hilton Hotel at the seaward end of the wharf, and here you can see the apartments which were built in the middle and at the landward end.

At wharf level there are various commercial premises on this side, and (mostly) restaurants on the northwestern side. Apparently, the noise from the night life activity can be a bit of a drag.

However, the worst thing about these apartments is that they were built during that phase in residential construction in New Zealand where the National Party led Government had removed the control over materials and designs to the degree that we have what is known as the "leaky building" problem.

Unlike very old homes (like our old kauri villa) which let in water at the top and let it out at the bottom (of the outside walls), these buildings let water in, and it was trapped because there was no way out. Indeed the problem would have been averted had they really leaked; at least at the bottom of the wall.

Even trapped water wouldn't have caused quite the disaster that has occurred, if the timber used in the construction of the walls had been properly treated, to prevent rot. They didn't have to, and so we have thousands of "leaky buildings" which have rotted, and will cost many thousands of dollars (often into six figures) to remedy.

A while ago now I saw as a patient, a man who owned one of these apartments. He told me that he couldn't sell his apartment, and he couldn't afford the cost of remedying the potential leaks (his apartment hadn't leaked, but as part of the body corporate he had to pay his share of the overall repair costs).

Especially in large you can see the scaffolding for the repairs which have proceeded very slowly because the owners of these apartments have had to undertake repairs slowly as they can afford them.

Because many of the developers/builders of these sorts of buildings went into "voluntary liquidation" with unpaid bills (and no loss of profit; only the tradesmen suffered), there is no one to get compensation from. Eventually the Government and the local Councils have come to the party to a slight degree, but people are in a double bind. They are unable to sell for the value of the property, and they cannot afford to repair so they can sell at a proper price.

It looks beautiful and peaceful. doesn't it?