Tauranga's Bella Vista Homes to cost $1.5 million before any fix-up even starts

Tauranga City Council chief executive Garry Poole said the cost for the failed Bella Vista Home development is expected to cost ratepayers $1.5 million before any fix up work even starts.

Poole revealed $450,000 of this has already been incurred in paying for security, accommodation for residents and legal fees as a result of the failed subdivision .

The costs began ticking up after March 9 when 21 homeowners were evacuated from their properties at the Bay of Plenty development for safety reasons.

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Tauranga City Council Chief Executive Garry Poole.

On April 17, six weeks later,  council representatives met with Bella Vista homeowners and residents to present findings from the assessment of the development after the quality of the workmanship and safety of the land were questioned.

The results saw all homeowners unable to return to their properties and the left council dealing with the unprecedented mess of a collapsed housing company and dozens of substandard homes that had been given compliance.

TOM LEE/STUFF

Residents of the failed Bella Vista Homes development have been told they can not return to live in their homes due to safety concerns over the earthworks and potentially substandard buildings.

"We are not aware of any previous occasion where 21 dangerous and affected building notices have been issued," Poole said.

"This development has significant failings, and we have to act cautiously with the safety of these families in mind."

Affected families were left with many questions as to how their homes had passed council inspections but Poole was short on answers.

Instead, he deferred to an, as yet uncommissioned independent report which will investigate, at ratepayer's expense, the handling of the Bella Vista case. 

"We all want to know how we got here and why we got here," he said.

The investigation's scope is confined to just properties within the Bella Vista Homes development with Poole unable to answer questions as to whether other homes, inspected by the same staff, need to be looked into. 

The report is hoped to be finished by June 6 when council will decide how to resolve the issue. 

Geotechnical advice from AECOM, and peer-reviewed by ICE Geo & Civil, deemed eight buildings were dangerous mainly due to unretained slopes of up to 6 metres at the rear of the Lakes Boulevard properties.

The advice noted heavy or prolonged rainfall it was likely that instability would occur, and could result in the slopes failing.

The structural advice from BCD Group determined 10 buildings were dangerous due to seven key defects. They included issues with roof bracing, lintel fixing, bottom plate fixing, steel beam fixing, floor joist fixing and block wall reinforcing.

Building compliance expert Rose McLaughlan has catalogued issues across all of the properties and concluded that none of the buildings were code compliant. That was despite some having had Code Compliance Certificates issued.

McLaughlan said many of the defects may not be easily fixed, due to the nature of the soil and problems associated with uncontrolled fill and sub-surface erosion.

McLaughlan warned that remediating the land and repairing some foundations and slabs may be virtually impossible.