A contract has been let to expand and revamp the 20-year-old Student Centre in Harbour Tce so the catering and hospitality school can be relocated from its present premises about 3km away in Tennyson St.
But chief operating officer Philip Cullen told a polytechnic council meeting this week the building consent for the work had not been issued because of a problem with the status of the land on which the centre sits.
The land, owned by the Otago Regional Council and leased to the polytechnic in perpetuity, is in three separate allotments, each with its own title, and the original building was constructed across all three.
The extension would result in another part of the building extending across a boundary by 1m.
The Building Act 2004 now required land titles to be amalgamated if a structure was built across a title boundary, but the ORC was unwilling to amalgamate the titles under the centre.
The Dunedin City Council was unable to issue the building consent until the issue was resolved, Mr Cullen said.
While some work within the existing student centre had already taken place, construction of the extension needed to begin soon to enable the building to be completed by the target date of June next year.
". . . This matter remaining unresolved is putting great time pressure on the construction programme, especially now the programmed start date has passed. Should a path of resolution not be agreed soon, the potential for not meeting the completion date grows."
After the meeting, Mr Cullen said the issue of amalgamating the titles was "briefly considered" when the plans for the extension were being drawn up.
But as the existing building already crossed both boundary lines, the extension was not thought to be a problem until identified during the building consent process.
If the ORC did not agree to amalgamating the titles, one allotment boundary line might have to be legally redrawn outside the edge of the building, or the building might have to be redesigned, he said.
"Both these options may prove time-consuming, which is why they are being looked at now as a contingency should approval not be given."
ORC corporate affairs director Wayne Scott said yesterday the ORC was in the process of working through the issue with the polytechnic.
Three resolution issues had been suggested to the architect.
He would not say what those options were.
Asked why the ORC would not amalgamate the titles, Mr Scott said the ORC considered a building which encroached on to land held in a different title was a concern because it could preclude the future use of that land.
"Just because a building already crosses a boundary, no-one can assume they can build another part of the building across a boundary."
The polytechnic would need to decide whether "a metre of building" was worth the hassle of encroaching on to a separate title, he said.
Mr Scott said he was sure the issue would be resolved very quickly.
