Health and safety concerns after steel beams fall in strong winds

A troubled, half-finished Auckland apartment block is continuing to be a health and safety concern, neighbours say, as bad weather caused a dozen steel beams to fall into the driveway below.

The Epsom Central Apartments Project halted five years ago after Auckland Council found it had not complied with building consent.

The original partnership, Epsom Central Apartments LP, was put into receivership in 2022, and purchased by Xiao Liu, the director of a company named Reeheng Limited, in September 2023.

Forrest Tan, who owns a business directly beside the apartments, has been concerned about the safety of himself and staff since a long steel beam skewered one of his workers' cars earlier this year.

Following that incident, WorkSafe became involved and Tan had to close his shop for three months while metal shuttering, that was a further fall risk, was removed.

While the shop was allowed to reopen last month, Tan remained concerned about the risk of more pieces of steel and wood falling of the derelict building, and on Tuesday, strong winds caused about a dozen steel beams to crash land in his driveway.

"On Monday night, one of the tenants in the building sent me a photo and told me a steel bar had fallen from the building next door and landed right on his doorstep, it could've killed him if he'd been standing there."

Shortly before midday on Tuesday, a further 11 steel bars fell down into Tan's driveway, which was captured on his security cameras.

"I feel extremely angry and desperate over the situation," Tan said.

"Just the other week I was saying I hoped nothing more would fall into our driveway and here we go again."

Fire and Emergency New Zealand and police were called to the scene after the steel beams fell.

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson confirmed they went to the construction site on Tuesday to help with "unstable construction materials".

A fire engine and a support unit went to the scene and one lane of Manukau Road was closed for about two hours, the spokesperson confirmed.

"The site was left with the construction company and roading contractors."

WorkSafe had also been told about the most recent incident, a spokesperson confirmed.

"We responded to ensure the site was safe," the spokesperson said.

Two improvement notices had been issued by WorkSafe to the site owner this year — the first required a safety plan to be put in place before construction/demolition work continued, which was done before the May 28 deadline.

A further improvement notice required the site owner to make sure the construction was structurally safe.

That notice must be complied with by September 22, the spokesperson said.

rnz.co.nz

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