Calling all writers - Applications are now open for the 2023 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship

Embarking on a literary fellowship can transform a writer’s life – opening doors and providing writers with the opportunity to focus on their craft. Entries for the 2023 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship have now opened, published authors from across New Zealand are being encouraged to apply.

Throughout its 36-year history, the prestigious national literary award has offered writers the chance to focus on writing full-time, while living in the historic Sargeson Centre and receiving a $20,000 dividend. 

Frank Sargeson Trust Chair Elizabeth Aitken-Rose says that supporting the New Zealand literary community is more important than ever.

“The pandemic and uncertain economic outlook is placing real pressure on our writers, but the resilience of our community is still something to be proud of. And we are immensely grateful for the support of Grimshaw & Co Lawyers, which has allowed us to take the Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship into its 36th year.

Acclaimed writers Nathan Joe and Dr Anna Jackson were recipients of last year’s fellowship. Joe, a Chinese-New Zealand performance poet, theatre-maker and New Zealand Slam Champion, used his fellowship to work on his newest plays Personal Essays and Gay Death Stocktake.

“For playwrights, being treated as serious literary writers and being given space to allow your craft to develop is rare. It is not only validating, but necessary to have residencies and opportunities to create and develop work. Theatre-making and playwriting are often done as a side hustle or at the mercy of larger organisations.”

Jackson is an internationally renowned writer, poet and academic, who teaches English literature at Victoria University of Wellington. She used her tenure at the Sargeson Centre to revise her short novel After Apple-Picking and write her poem Sunlit, which has been published in the acclaimed American journal Ancient Exchanges.

“It is very unusual to have so much open unstructured time in which to write, and it does allow not only for the sustained work of imagination that an extended form of fiction needs, but also for the surprising, unexpected moments of inspiration that would never otherwise have had the space around them to happen in.”

Paul Grimshaw, Partner at Grimshaw and Co, says he continues to support the fellowship because it makes an exceptional contribution to the New Zealand literary landscape.

“I encourage all writers, poets, playwrights and novelists to consider applying. We’re proud to help them focus on their craft, without interruption.”

Applications close on 1 November 2022, with the tenure taking place between February 2023 and October 2023. Further information on the Fellowship is available here. Any queries can be directed to Elizabeth Bennie at elizabeth.bennie@grimshaw.co.nz or on +64 9 375 2393. 

About Grimshaw & Co 

Grimshaw & Co are leaders in dispute resolution, with experience across all areas of civil and commercial litigation. 

About Frank Sargeson Trust 

The Frank Sargeson Trust was formed in 1983 by Christine Cole Catley, Frank Sargeson’s heir and executor. The Trust aims to continue Sargeson’s lifelong generosity to writers through providing residential fellowships while preserving his house in Takapuna, Auckland, as New Zealand’s first literary museum. The first fellowship was awarded to Janet Frame in 1987. Learn more about Frank Sargeson and the Fellowship here.  

For media enquires contact: 

Ben Kieboom

M: +64 22 166 8629

E: bkieboom@acumennz.com  

Electronic Casebooks: a step forward for technology in the court

31 March 2022

Casebooks are a vital part of the trial process. Most of the evidence used in a case is contained in the casebook, making a casebook a key tool in litigation. In particular, complex construction cases generate huge numbers of documents, making an accessible and functional casebook fundamental to the running of any trial. For decades, casebooks (formerly known as common bundles) were provided in a hardcopy. Casebooks generated tons of paper carefully organised into files. In document-heavy disputes, these casebooks could span thousands of pages organised into multiple folders.

The use of electronic casebooks has gradually increased in the New Zealand courts. The Court of Appeal began using electronic casebooks in 2014 for criminal appeals, but today, almost every senior court in New Zealand utilises electronic casebooks for their trials. In document-heavy trials, electronic casebooks are the desired medium, with the High Court requiring the use of electronic casebooks in any trial where the casebook is likely to exceed 500 pages.

The benefits of electronic casebooks cannot be overstated. In terms of preparation, the process is much more streamlined, able to be completed in a few weeks depending on size. Further, casebooks are extremely accessible. A judge no longer has to track through thousands of pages. Casebooks utilise hyperlinks. With a click of a button, a judge or counsel can jump to the required documents, resulting in a far more efficient trial process. Efficiency also provides for more persuasive advocacy from counsel as a judge has quick access to the evidence being referred to at all times.

Despite the increase in use of electronic casebooks, they have not yet been entirely accepted by the legal profession. Many judges and counsel will still request a hardcopy casebook, nullifying any positive effect an electronic casebook has on the trial process. More education may be needed on the benefits of electronic casebooks to help increase the rate of acceptance of electronic casebooks in the legal community.

One positive outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic on the New Zealand trial process is the increased use of electronic casebooks, leading to a greater acceptance of their use as we move back to in-person trials. Throughout much of the last two years, the High Court in Auckland has been forced to conduct many trials through video conferencing software. With the trial itself occurring online, the use of electronic casebooks has increased. As we now transition back to in-person trials, there is hope that the use of electronic casebooks will remain a priority for the courts.

Given the efficiency and improved advocacy skills with the use of these casebooks, the benefits of their use far outweigh the learning curve required for legal practitioners.

If you are interested in knowing more about the use of electronic casebooks and/or the 2019 Senior Courts Civil Electronic Document Protocol (amended on 16 September 2021), please get in touch with the team at Grimshaw & Co.

Grimshaw & Co

2022 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellows Announced

New Zealand poets Dr Anna Jackson and Nathan Joe have been awarded the prestigious 2022 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship.

Now in its 35th year, the fellowship is a national literary award offering published New Zealand writers the opportunity to focus on their craft full-time. It provides an annual stipend of $20,000 and a eight-month tenure at the Sargeson Centre in Auckland.

Joe, a Chinese-New Zealand performance poet, theatre-maker, and current New Zealand Slam Champion, will use his fellowship to work on his upcoming play, Personal Essays. It's a character study of a writer who mines his personal life for his art without considering the consequences on others.

“Being a healthy theatre-maker requires being surrounded by a vibrant theatre community, and there is personally no better place to do so than in Auckland. Living at the Sargeson Centre will place me in one of the biggest hubs of independent and professional theatre in the country, and enable me to stay involved in the growing queer and Asian theatre scene,” says Joe.

Jackson is an internationally acclaimed writer, poet and academic, who teaches English literature at Victoria University of Wellington. She has recently begun exploring the world of fiction writing, having published The Bedmaking Competition in 2018, which chronicles the coming of age of two sisters.

“I’m going to spend my fellowship finalising a sequel to The Bedmaking Competition. It will be set 20-years-on, and follow the journey of a new, idealist and creative generation of young people. Because I’ve been committed to academic work for so long, I haven’t had the time and space to concentrate on this yet,” she says.

Jackson takes up her residency at the Sargeson Centre in the first half of the year, before returning to her academic work in the second semester.

Frank Sargeson Trust Chair Elizabeth Aitken-Rose says she is impressed with the calibre of this year’s fellows and is excited to see them take their work to the next level. 

“Anna and Nathan were selected from an especially strong field of applicants and now join a large group of distinguished fellows, many of whom are regarded as New Zealand’s most eminent writers. Both are leaders in the field and will be further developing their skillset.”

The fellowship has been recognising and supporting some of our greatest talents for more than 30 years, says Grimshaw & Co Partner Paul Grimshaw. 

“It offers vital support to New Zealand writers to focus, uninterrupted, on their work. They are contributing to New Zealand’s literary landscape and we are very proud to support them.” 

About Grimshaw & Co 

Grimshaw & Co are leaders in dispute resolution, with experience across all areas of civil and commercial litigation. Established in 2005, Grimshaw & Co are based in Auckland, representing clients across the country. 

About Frank Sargeson Trust 

The Frank Sargeson Trust was formed in 1983 by Christine Cole Catley, Frank Sargeson’s heir and executor. The Trust aims to continue Sargeson’s lifelong generosity to writers through providing residential fellowships while preserving his house in Takapuna, Auckland, as New Zealand’s first literary museum. The first fellowship was awarded to Janet Frame in 1987. Learn more about Frank Sargeson and the Fellowship here. 

For media enquires contact:

Ben Kieboom

M: +64 22 166 8629

E: bkieboom@acumennz.com

Calling All Writers - Applications Are Now Open For The 2022 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship

Winning a writing fellowship transforms a writer’s life – opening doors and providing writers with the opportunity to focus on their craft. Published authors from across New Zealand are encouraged to apply for the 2022 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship as entries are now open.

Throughout its 35-year history, the prestigious national literary award has offered writers the chance to focus on their craft full-time, while working in the historic Sargeson Centre and receiving a $20,000 stipend provided to the Fellow/Fellows.

Frank Sargeson Trust Chair Elizabeth Aitken-Rose says that it is now more important than ever to support the New Zealand literary community.

“The past two years have been a real trial for our writers, and it could be the same for years to come. We’re proud of the resilience of our community, and to take the Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship into its 35th year. The support Grimshaw & Co Lawyers has been providing us with is invaluable.”

Acclaimed writers Lee Murray and Chloe Lane were the recipients of last year’s Fellowship. Murray, the winner of a 2020 Bram Stoker Award, is in the middle of her tenure. While her time at the residency has been disrupted due to lockdown, Murray says she will return as soon as possible.

“In Aotearoa, opportunities for speculative writers are limited, so this kind validation of my work by the Grimshaw Sargeson selectors has been a huge boost to my career. It came at a time when I had come very close to giving up.

“The space above the art gallery is humble and cosy—the perfect hideaway for writing—and there’s something extremely special about staying in a place that has been shared by the country’s literary icons. Household names most of them, their legacy is like the ivy that permeates the building’s brickwork.

“The freedom to write is a rare gift. I only wish there were more such opportunities for New Zealand’s creatives. I encourage all writers to apply.”

Lane, who earned her MFA in Fiction from the University of Florida, has finished her tenure. She says that the residency provided her with uninterrupted time and the right headspace to work on her second novel.

“When I look back at what I arrived with and then what I left with, it's so much more than I could have ever achieved in four months on the outside. The apartment has a special energy about it too. It's a space that wants you to work, and it wants you to work well and hard and to maybe take some risks that you might not otherwise.”

Paul Grimshaw, Partner at Grimshaw and Co, says he continues to support the Fellowship because its writers make an invaluable contribution to New Zealand culture.

“We’re proud to help these writers focus, uninterrupted, on their work. They are contributing immensely to our country’s literary landscape.

Aitken-Rose also says that it is wonderful to see a diverse range of authors apply for the Fellowship across all genres and encourages all established writers to consider applying, whether they are poets, playwrights, novelists, or creative non-fictionalists.

Applications close on 15 October 2021, with the tenure due to start on 1 February 2022 and last until 30 September 2021. Further information on the Fellowship is available here. Any queries can be directed to Elizabeth Bennie at elizabeth.bennie@grimshaw.co.nz or on +64 9 375 2393. Learn more about Murray and Lane’s work during the fellowship here.

About Grimshaw & Co
Grimshaw & Co are leaders in dispute resolution, with experience across all areas of civil and commercial litigation.

About Frank Sargeson Trust
The Frank Sargeson Trust was formed in 1983 by Christine Cole Catley, Frank Sargeson’s heir and executor. The Trust aims to continue Sargeson’s lifelong generosity to writers through providing residential fellowships while preserving his house in Takapuna, Auckland, as New Zealand’s first literary museum. The first Fellowship was awarded to Janet Frame in 1987. Learn more about Frank Sargeson and the Fellowship here.

For media enquires contact:
Ben Kieboom
M: +64 22 166 8629
E: bkieboom@acumennz.com

Calling all writers – applications are now open for the 2021 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship.

Media release: 14th September 2020

The Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship is back looking for writers ready for their 2021 placements. The Fellowship, now in its 34th year, is a national literary award offering published New Zealand writers the chance to focus on their craft full-time, a historic environment to write in, along with financial support and networking opportunities. Applicants must be a New Zealand Citizen or have New Zealand permanent residency Frank Sargeson Trust Chair Elizabeth Aitken-Rose says now more than ever it is important to support New Zealand authors and creatives. “It’s great that we can provide these well deserving writers the opportunity to focus solely on their literary work for a few months. It gives them the opportunity to devote more time and explore ideas they might not otherwise be able to.”

“We want this Fellowship to enrich and nurture New Zealand’s literary landscape. It’s always exciting to see the work that our recipients create during their tenure, and we look forward to seeing what new concepts are put forward by this year’s talent.”

Writing about sex, human relationships and immigrant perspectives, poet Hera Lindsay Bird and fiction writer Michalia Arathimos were Grimshaw Sargeson’s 2020 fellows. Auckland-based Hera had to adapt, like most New Zealanders, and completed her fellowship at home due to COVID-19 lockdown. This didn’t dent her experience however, and she still continued to develop her project.

“It was such a pleasure to have a few uninterrupted months of time to focus on my work. Even though I didn't get the opportunity to use the building, it was still a great experience,” says Hera. “I really value the time and support this residency afforded, and don't think I would be where I am with my project without this concentrated period of time to think, reflect and work.

“Over the pandemic, most of the writers and artists I know have been reconsidering the function, intent and audience for their work, and while re-evaluating everything can be daunting, it can also be exciting and re-invigorating. I'm going to keep working on my book with renewed clarity and energy.”

Michalia is due to come up from Wellington at the end of the year to undertake her tenure at the Sargeson Centre in Auckland.
Aitken-Rose also says that it is wonderful to see a diverse range of authors apply for the Fellowship across all genres and encourages all established writers to consider applying, whether they are poets, biographers, playwrights or novelists.

“The contribution that they make to New Zealand’s culture is invaluable,” says Paul Grimshaw, Partner of Grimshaw & Co, “that’s why we continue to support New Zealand’s literary talent.”

Applications close on Friday 16 October 2020, with the tenure due to begin in April 2021.

Further information on the Fellowship is available here. Any queries can be directed to Elizabeth Bennie at elizabeth.bennie@grimshaw.co.nz or on +64 9 375 2393.

- ENDS -

About Grimshaw & Co

Grimshaw & Co are leaders in dispute resolution, with experience across all areas of civil and commercial litigation. Established in 2005, Grimshaw & Co are based in Auckland, representing clients across the country.

About the Frank Sargeson Trust

The Frank Sargeson Trust was formed in 1983 by Christine Cole Catley, Frank Sargeson’s heir and executor. The Trust aims to continue Sargeson’s lifelong generosity to writers through providing residential fellowships while preserving his house in Takapuna, Auckland, as New Zealand’s first literary museum. The first fellowship was awarded to Janet Frame in 1987. Learn more about Frank Sargeson and the Fellowship here.

For media enquiries contact:

Nick Davies
P: +64 4 494 6144
M: +64 27 5484442
E: ndavies@acumenrepublic.com

Warning signs emerge regarding viability of building guarantee schemes

MBIE’s Building System Legislative Reform Package includes a proposal to require compulsory guarantee and insurance products (GIPs) for residential new builds and significant alterations. In August 2019 MBIE published a summary of the public submissions on its Reform Package. 76% of submitters supported the proposal to require GIPs, although some submitters expressed doubts that the insurance market would be prepared to support the proposal and others suggested Government involvement by way of a backstop cover.

The reservations expressed by some of the submitters has been borne out in recent news reports in New Zealand and Australia which cast doubt as to whether building guarantee schemes of this type are financially viable.

The Sydney Morning Herald recently reported that the New South Wales Government paid out more than $200 million in one year to prop up a home warranty scheme with further increases expected. The scheme enables owners of homes and apartment buildings of 3 levels or less to make an insurance claim in respect of defects if the builder becomes insolvent, dies, disappears to has their license suspended. The premiums are paid by builders but over time these have been insufficient to meet claims. In 2010 the NSW stepped in to cover unfunded claims and it has since amassed more than $639 million liabilities. There is no warranty scheme for apartment buildings above 3 levels as both private insurers and the government pulled out due to the risk in 2003.

More recently the Stuff website reported two private guarantees offered by New Zealand building companies, the Stamford Insurance 10-year new build guarantee and the New Zealand Certified Builders’ Halo 10-year guarantee, have lost their underwriter and cover will end when the policies expire in December 2019 and January 2020. This has led to some calls for a mandatory nationwide warranty of the type being investigated by MBIE.

In view of New Zealand’s record of poor building work over the last 30 years the prospects of private insurers providing long term cover, whether for private guarantee schemes or industry wide compulsory guarantees, appears to be slim. That leaves the Government as the only funding option, but there is unlikely to be much appetite for taxpayers to foot the bill for the indeterminate liability it would face. If and when the reputation of the New Zealand’s building industry improves insurance cover may become available but that is unlikely to be for some time.

In the meantime, a more productive focus for regulatory reform is likely to be the strengthening of the processes within building consent authorities to ensure everything possible is being done to avoid defective building work in the first place.

Grimshaw & Co are experts in all aspects of building defect law. Email Gareth Lewis on gareth.lewis@grimshaw.co.nz for assistance.

Walled-in by a nightmare

"In a parklike setting in a quiet right-of-way and just metres to the Panmure Basin," said the Harcourt's brochure. "Built by quality tradesman (his home is next door) using the Cornerstone building system. The large dining area flows in two directions to the patio on the east side and garden area on the west, all completely private. Absolutely modern with a European flavour."

To all appearances, the Ireland Rd townhouse lived up to the hype. Ursela Beasley paid $466,000 off the plans and took possession in January 2004. But her dream home has become her Kafkaesque nightmare.

Two years of stonewalling and blind alleys have reduced the once upbeat business analyst to the point where she can no longer work.

Accustomed to solving problems for corporates, the obfuscation between builder, subcontractors, lawyers, consultant and officialdom has gradually overwhelmed her.

Beasley, 51, set her sights 10 years ago on a modern, low-maintenance home and worked hard towards her goal. With two adult children, she was looking forward to easing back.

Wary of leaky homes and untreated timber framing, she wanted a house with "no hassles" and was encouraged that developers Alan and Josette Prince, sub-licensees for the Cornerstone concrete and polystyrene structural system, were building one for themselves next door.

But the Auckland City Council has refused to issue a building code compliance certificate for either home and the Department of Building and Housing has backed its decision.

Beasley's situation is best explained in negatives. The council isn't satisfied she doesn't have a leaky home so it won't issue a code compliance certificate.

She has spent $20,000 in legal fees trying to get Prince Developments to fix the problem. But more than two years on, not a hammer has been lifted.

Beasley is not the sort to take a step back or the easy way out. She's unwilling to rent or sell the house until the issues are resolved. Anyway, without a compliance certificate she would struggle to get her money back.

As for the sales pitch of having the builders living next door, relations have descended to Neighbours From Hell status.

"This home has become my prison. I can't deal with two things at the same time any more. I'm just mentally and emotionally exhausted.

"I'm single, self-employed and dependent on my income. At the end of the day, if I can't make money I'll have to walk out and leave everything behind."

Beasley's story is a warning to other homebuyers that, four years on from the leaky homes crisis, the odds remain stacked against owners when it comes to resolving new home defects.

What is frightening is that hundreds of others are living similar nightmares.

Homes are still being bought without a code compliance certificate, even though this is noted on the LIM report.

The Department of Building and Housing acts as a quasi-appeal authority on compliance issues. Of 166 determinations by the department last year, 144 were for homes refused a certificate because of cladding/weathertightness matters.

Most applicants were home-owners - and cases sent for determinations represent only a few of many.

Beasley's problems began when she took possession of the nearly completed home before the builder had a compliance certificate.

She says her former lawyer went on holiday and failed to check whether the certificate had been gained.

She plans to sue the lawyer. He won't comment but has indicated he will defend the claim.

Why all the fuss about a piece of paper? Compliance certificates state that the house, properly maintained, will meet building code requirements for 50 years. Councils can become jointly liable for any defects which show up within 10 years of issue.

Without one, owners have little chance of selling for anywhere near market value.

Beasley's townhouse shows none of the trademark leaky home symptoms such as damp spots, mould or rot but has been branded a potentially leaky home.

The council and departmental concerns include: plaster cladding in contact with the ground; hints that the plaster was too thinly applied in places; two hairline cracks below one window; insufficient height difference between floor and patio paving; and water penetration around windows.

The bureaucratic caution is understandable following the leaky homes scandal, from the viewpoint of future homebuyers and of ratepayers paying millions of dollars for repairs to defective homes which council building inspectors have approved.

In Beasley's case, it might seem the neighbourly thing for the builder to nip over the fence and fix the faults. That this hasn't happened after two years is far from straightforward.

Alan Prince disputes that he is personally liable as builder for the defects in Beasley's home.

He says he "left the subcontractors to get on with it".

The firm responsible for the plastercladding, Ironcladd, went into liquidation in June 2004 and was wound up, although director Steven Ray Vestal now trades as Ironcladd Homes. Vestal could not be contacted.

Beasley still doesn't know what needs to be done to achieve compliance with the building code. Until the extent and cost of repairs is known, damages claims against Prince Developments and Alan Prince as builder must wait.

"I don't know whether it will cost $63,000 or $263,000," says Beasley.

But the efforts of lawyers and consultants to thrash out a solution which satisfies the council seem only to have protracted the dispute.

"It's like a roller-coaster ride. One minute you think you're nearly there and then you're not. As long as something is seen to be happening that's good enough."

Beasley suspects the process is being dragged out "in the hope that financially I won't be able to carry on. This will only get resolved as long as I can fund [the legal costs]".

She estimates that will take three years and another $100,000 in legal fees. "I'm totally emotionally and financially drained. No one cares."

One complication seems to be the Cornerstone design, an energy-efficient building concept invented by Christchurch architect Mary Ginn.

Walls are made of poured concrete posts and beams, separated by thick blocks of polystyrene. Very little wood is used.

Various cladding options are possible. At Ireland Rd plaster was applied directly, as happens with solid-wall (concrete block) construction.

Ginn has franchised the system and says several hundred Cornerstone homes have been built throughout the country without incident.

"The crazy part about it is the solid wall construction is a far better option [for avoiding rot] because it doesn't have wood."

But the unusual structure may have heightened bureaucratic caution. When the council refused to issue the compliance certificate, Prince sought a formal determination from the Department of Building and Housing.

But assessor Nick Dibley agreed with the council, itemising a number of faults, most of them easily fixed.

Weathertightness was the biggest concern. Moisture tests found levels in the wall structure between 21 and 22.9 per cent - levels above 18 per cent indicate moisture is getting in.

Dibley recommended the installation of a "cavity" layer between cladding and wall structure to provide ventilation and allow water to escape.

At the time of Dibley's assessment, the department was planning to amend the building code, making cavity systems mandatory to reduce the problem of rot in timber framing.

But retro-fitting them during leaky home repairs, as councils often require, can add tens of thousands to the cost.

Prince maintains that the concrete/polystyrene construction, which uses very little framing timber, makes the cavity system unnecessary and difficult to install.

In a written response to the damages claim lodged last August in the Manukau District Court, Prince disputed several of the defects identified by the council and the department's assessor.

As an experienced builder, he saw Cornerstone as an answer to the leaky home crisis.

He engaged architect Norman Williams to find an alternative solution. One year on, little progress has been made.

For its part, the council says Beasley needs an expert advising her. Beasley believes her builder should take responsibility.

"My view is if someone stuffed up, they should sort out the problem."

What irks Beasley is that her neighbours are getting on with their lives - expanding their business and taking holidays, while her spare money goes on legal costs.

"There's no timeframe for anything to happen."

The Princes' cellphone is diverted straight to voicemail and they failed to respond to Weekend Herald inquiries. They have been advised not to discuss the case because a claim is before the courts, says their lawyer, Paul Hunter.

They appear to have given up obtaining a code compliance certificate for their own home and resorted to a different structural system for a third, adjoining townhouse.

Norm Williams, the architect hired a year ago to sort out the compliance issues on Beasley's home, is exploring alternatives to removing the cladding and installing a ventilating cavity.

"I'm still awaiting a proposal from a cladding firm," he said. "I've been waiting for quite a while. Maybe they don't want to get involved in case things go wrong and they get hooked in."

Within days of the Weekend Herald's inquiry, staff from cladding firm Rockcote turned up to inspect the home.

Williams said he also wrote to Cornerstone's Mary Ginn but had yet to hear back.

Contacted by the Weekend Herald, Ginn recalled a letter from Williams in January which she had meant to reply to. She has since contacted Williams.

Ginn says Prince built the homes "according to where things were at that point in time [but] the rules changed in the meantime.

"The whole thing was about windows allowing water in. Now it's dispersion of water out of there."

She says there are cheaper ways to fix the faults than installing a cavity, such as drilling holes to allow water to escape. "They've wrongly labelled the system - the rest of the country is saying it's solid wall construction."

Beasley's decision to go public with her frustration may at last have sparked some activity but has hardly improved neighbourly relations.

Prince Developments' lawyer Paul Hunter, in an email to Beasley's lawyer Paul Cogswell, wrote: "My view is my clients are doing much more for your client than many developers would do by engaging Norm Williams to try to find a way to obtain a code compliance certificate for your client's property ...

"Please note that your client is seriously jeopardising my clients' ongoing co-operation by going to the media in relation to this matter."

A reply from Cogswell elicited a further email: "Our clients understand your client's growing sense of frustration ... [and] accept it is her right to contact the media if she wishes to ...

"However, we are concerned that media coverage may affect the approach the Auckland City Council takes to this matter to your client's detriment and it may also deter contractors from becoming involved with the required remedial work."

Beasley: "I just can't deal with it any more - it's like a nightmare that I'm living in. You've got more rights with a toaster."

When things go wrong

It's essential to obtain independent expert advice before buying a house or in any building dispute, says the Department of Building and Housing. A pre-purchase inspection may identify potential problems; a building code compliance certificate increases your options should defects show up later.

The department and the Consumers' Institute jointly run a comprehensive website (see link below) which includes steps to resolving problems with architects, builders and tradespeople. It has sections on buying a house and weathertightness.

If you think you have a leaky home, contact the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service and/or a lawyer specialising in leaky home disputes. The Leaky Homes Action Group provides, support, resources and information.

Action group chairman John Gray says a building consent must be obtained for any remedial work and a building surveyor should oversee the work.

Leaky condos still a disaster

B.C.'s leaky condo disaster is entering its third decade. The worst of it is behind us but it is far from over and we are not nearly finished paying for it, or arguing about who is to blame.

The human cost of the disaster is not measurable. Hundreds of thousands of British Columbians have been touched by it.

For some, it was no more than a financial inconvenience. Their homes leaked, and they paid to repair to them.

Others, especially in the 1990s, lost their homes, their savings and their health.

Tens of thousands of condo units built during the B.C. building boom of the mid-1980s to the late 1990s suffered water damage as wind-driven rain entered the walls of badly designed, badly built buildings.

The home building industry's warranty program collapsed under the weight of the claims, and many homeowners got little or nothing back. They included older couples who intended to spend their golden years in a low-maintenance condo and young families buying their first homes.

In the worst cases, the walls leaked so badly homes were all but flooded. Wet carpets sprouted mushrooms. Moulds, some of them toxic, stained the walls, making some people sick. And the walls rotted.

Some condo owners walked away from their mortgages and their homes. Some slipped into bankruptcy. Some developed respiratory and stress-related illnesses.

There was no government help until the end of the 1990s following two public inquiries, when the province set up its Homeowner Protection Office and offered condo owners interest-free repair loans.

The financial cost of leaky condos is measurable, but only parts of it are being measured.

We do know that the average cost of repairing water-damaged condos has nearly doubled since the Homeowner Protection Office was created. Some figures indicate it has more than tripled.

Government and industry sources agree the cost is going up because:

-More and more concrete highrise condo owners are discovering leaks, and they're more expensive to fix than low-rises;

-Low-rise buildings whose owners have put off repairs -- sometimes for years -- or tried to cover up the problem with cosmetic fixes are coming up for repairs with more advanced rot than buildings that were dealt with early;

-Construction costs are rising fast as B.C. rides another major building boom.

One indicator of per-unit repair costs is the interest-free repair loans provided by the HPO.

"The average value of the loans has been going up quite significantly," said HPO chief executive Ken Cameron, "so it's now in the $60,000-to-$75,000 per unit range, whereas it used to be in the $35,000-to-$40,000 range."

The number of low-rise buildings turning up with building envelope problems is past its peak, but a second wave of leaky condos -- concrete highrise buildings -- is well under way.

"It's not over," said Carmen Maretic, a real estate agent who has been advocating for leaky condo owners for years. "It's very much still a problem.

"People are still dealing with the whole process of evaluating their buildings and going through whether a majority of owners can agree to do repairs."

Maretic, who heads the CASH (Consumer Advocacy and Support for Homeowners) Society, said HPO statistics show that in the last eight months, the HPO approved nearly $139,000 per day in repair loans.

"As shocking as these costs are, this only represents a portion of the true repair costs as many homeowners do not qualify for HPO no-interest or deferred loans," Maretic said.

Her figures indicate the average loan has more than tripled, from $19,733 as of March 2000 to nearly $60,500 in the last eight months.

Maretic called on the provincial government to provide more help for leaky condo owners and press the federal government to kick in more money.

Ottawa kicked in about $28 million early on for the HPO interest-free loans fund, but serious negotiations for a larger federal contribution petered out years ago.

Green shrouds

One highrise after another, along the New Westminster waterfront, on the North Shore, in downtown Vancouver and elsewhere in Greater Vancouver, is getting its walls stripped down to concrete, scaffolding erected to roof level and green shrouds draped over the building to keep the rain out during repairs.

Advocates like Maretic and James Balderson of the Coalition of Leaky Condo Owners are keenly aware of them, engineers like Pierre Gallant of Morrison Hershfield who oversee the repairs say they're seeing more leaky highrises relative to low-rises, and the HPO's Cameron acknowledges there are proportionally more highrises joining the lists of leaky buildings.

On virtually all of them, the outer cladding -- usually "face seal" systems attached to the concrete walls with steel studs -- has failed to keep the rain out. The fix is to strip off the cladding and replace it with rain-screen wall systems that include a cavity between inner and outer wall components to let any water that gets in drain out again.

Leaky highrises were predicted in the late 1990s by Dave Ricketts of RDH Building Engineering, among others.

"It would be surprising if these buildings did not leak," Ricketts wrote in the engineering journal Innovation in 1999. "The key difference is the time it takes for the problems to manifest themselves and create a health and safety hazard."

Gallant agreed. It takes longer for highrises to show problems because, simply, "wood rots faster than steel rusts," he said.

A face-seal wall "relies on perfection" to keep the rain out, "and therefore fails."

Low-rises with face-seal walls often leaked in spots where doors, windows, balconies and other features are attached to the walls, and the joints are imperfectly sealed, especially on the upper floors, which are more exposed to rain and wind.

"The exposure on highrises is much higher because the wind exposure is far greater. But the materials are more robust and take longer to decay, typically," Gallant said.

A few highrises have failed catastrophically: Sections of cladding have let go and plunged to the ground. But most of them just show the same symptoms as leaky highrises -- water inside the windows, wet spots and mould on the walls.

Highrise or lowrise, the expert advice is that the longer you put off repairing a leaky building, the more expensive it will be.

Yet there are still dozens if not hundreds of low-rise wood-frame buildings where the owners haven't realized their walls are rotting, or are refusing to acknowledge the problem, or have tried cosmetic fixes when major repairs are needed, or are deadlocked with their neighbours over whether and how much to spend on repairs.

Many strata councils are pursuing slow-moving lawsuits, trying to recover at least some of their repair costs from developers, contractors, architects, engineers, window manufacturers, municipal governments -- anyone connected with their leaky buildings with deep enough pockets to sue.

Most of the suits are settled through mediation and with non-disclosure agreements attached, so there is no public record of the average settlement. But lawyers say strata councils typically get 40 to 60 cents back for every dollar they spend on repairs.

For those who can't reach a consensus, or can't muster the resources to get through the daunting process of hiring technical and legal expertise to assess the damage, finance the repairs and recover at least some of the cost, it's an unending nightmare.

"The longer you wait, the more the damage," said Gallant. "And the cost is going to be higher not only because there's more damage, but because construction costs are going up. So putting your head in the sand is not going to solve the problem."

"Many people are still suffering," Maretic added, "particularly those that went into bankruptcy and those that have health consequences."

No registry

After all these years, no one can yet say with any certainty just how big the problem is.

There are no solid statistics for the number of leaky condos or how much it is costing to fix them, although the HPO is sticking with a five-year-old estimate that about 65,000 condo and co-op units have suffered water damage and the total repair bill will be about $1.5 billion.

But there is no registry of leaky condos, no comprehensive list, no certainty about how many buildings have been touched by the rot.

"No one knows the extent of B.C.'s leaky condo crisis," said Louise Murray, who operates the bccondos.ca advocacy website, "because, unbelievably at this late stage in the game, no one is tracking it."

It is guesswork whether the HPO's loan statistics reflect actual repair costs.

Only those who can show they don't have the assets and income to shoulder the cost of repairs, and are prepared to follow the HPO's repair guidelines, are eligible for the loans. Those with more resources, whose homes may be more expensive and cost more to fix, are not eligible and not counted. Those who try to make do with patch-work repairs are not counted. Not surprisingly, many suspect the HPO's numbers are low.

"We've never trusted their estimation," said Balderson. "We continue to think they underestimate the magnitude of the problem and the total cost."

Balderson says only 20 per cent of condo owners qualify for HPO assistance -- leaky condo welfare, he scathingly calls it.

That means 80 per cent of the problem is not accounted for by HPO statistics, and Balderson notes the 80 per cent includes upscale buildings where no one qualifies for loans, and repairs run as high as $125,000 per unit or more.

"I think their number's low on total costs incurred," concurred John Singleton, a lawyer whose firm, Singleton Urquhart, has defended many building professionals in leaky condo suits. "My sense is it's over $2 billion."

That's for residential buildings. The HPO counts only leaky condos and co-ops. But they were not the only buildings affected by design and construction problems in the '80s and '90s.

"We have seen failures in all kinds of buildings," said Gallant, whose company is one of the region's leading engineering firms for building remediation work.

Rental housing, social housing, office buildings, schools, churches, even shopping malls are infested with the same problems as leaky condos. Water gets in the walls, it can't get out again, and the wall components slowly rot. We don't hear much about them because they don't have angry owners clamouring for media attention. Gallant says their owners file insurance claims, do the repairs and file lawsuits with no public fanfare.

So what's the grand total? Nobody knows.

Might it be higher than the official estimate?

"It might," Cameron conceded. "It's hard to say."

Gallant and others with an overview of the construction industry guess that residential housing probably accounts for the majority of the damage. So if the real cost of repairing leaky condos is more than $2 billion and repairs to all other types of buildings amount to only one-third of the total, the bills add up to at least $3 billion -- double the province's estimate.

Next: Want to buy a leaky condo?

-- bboei@png.canwest.com

LEAKY CONDO LOANS
More than 14,000 leaky condo owners in 45 municipalities have received interest-free loans from the provincial government's Homeowner Protection Office.

CITY Number
Abbotsford 720
Barkley Sound 1
Belcarra 1
Brentwood Bay 8
Burnaby 570
Campbell River 10
Chemainus 34
Chilliwack 133
Comox 59
Coquitlam 1,181
Courtenay 27
Delta 188
Duncan 2
Forest Grove 1
Harrison Hot Springs 13
Kamloops 9
Ladner 7
Ladysmith 29
Langley 528
Maple Ridge 213
Mission 65
Nanaimo 364
Nelson 29
New Westminster 726
North Vancouver 418
Pitt Meadows 185
Port Alberni 1
Port Coquitlam 685
Port Moody 124
Powell River 7
Qualicum Beach 28
Richmond 862
Saanichton 7
Salmo 1
Sechelt 17
Sidney 31
Squamish 2
Surrey 1,960
Tofino 20
Vancouver 3,099
Vernon 1
Victoria 1,708
West Vancouver 43
Whistler 1
White Rock 105
Total applications received: 14,223