Building remediation

4Sight were engaged by the owners of an inner-city apartment building to assist them in acquiring a resource consent so they could undertake remediation works to the exterior of the building. The building required remediation work to address identified weather tightness and seismic strengthening issues, plus changes to the exterior of the building were required including the addition of a concrete shear wall and columns, and the removal of existing Juliet balconies.

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The apartments within the building are owned by a number of different parties, and there were conflicting views on what standard the building should be remediated to in order to achieve mutually acceptable upgrades and improvements. 4Sight assisted in this process by providing advice on District Plan requirements around design outcomes to ensure an appropriate, and consentable, design response was achieved. 

The remediation work also included constructing structures that encroach beyond the site boundary over legal road, thereby necessitating the need for an encroachment licence from the Council. 4Sight’s experience in acquiring a range of Council approvals was important to ensuring the encroachment licence was obtained in a timely and cost-effective manner.

4Sight assisted the project Architect in the preparation of a Design Statement to address District Plan design guide requirements. The wording of the Design Statement is an extremely important component of the resource consent application as it influences the Council urban design advisor’s assessment of the proposal. The urban designer’s position was critical to ensuring Council supported the proposal. Pre-application consultation was undertaken with the urban design advisor, and advice was provided to the project Architect in response to her feedback to ensure the developed design could be supported in the design review.

Resource consent was granted on a non-notified basis and within the statutory timeframe. Because matters of contention had been resolved through the pre-application process no request for further information was issued by Council. 

4Sight requested that draft conditions be issued prior to the consent being granted to ensure all proposed conditions were pragmatic and did not create a constraint to completing the project to meet its primary objective of remediating the building to make it a healthier and safer place for the occupants to live.

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