Just three buildings left on unsafe list

Just three buildings remain on the Invercargill City Council’s list of dangerous or unsanitary buildings.

This is despite dozens of alerts for potentially unsafe buildings being lodged with the council in recent years.

In June, a council report said there had been 70 reports or complaints about such buildings between 2019 and 2023, including both residential and commercial buildings.

But the number that met the criteria was much lower than that. Just 14 were given the status, and only three remain on the list.

All three are in Invercargill’s Dee St — an empty building at number 155, Coco Bella next door and the old Briscoes building, which was fire damaged last year.

Coco Bella has been issued an unsanitary notice but can still operate because the engineer’s report only prevents access to the first floor of the building.

Council manager planning and building services Anne Duncan said the council was working with owners to have issues rectified.

That included liaising with the owners of all properties and weekly engineering inspections at the Briscoes building.

Determining whether buildings were allowed to be partially occupied was done on a ‘‘case by case’’ basis by risk assessment, she said.

Other buildings had been resolved through a variety of measures, including foul sewer repairs, cladding repairs and demolition.

In June, the council adopted a draft dangerous, affected and insanitary buildings policy for public consultation.

A panel made up of Crs Darren Ludlow, Ria Bond and Lesley Soper and mana whenua representative Pania Coote has been established for hearings and deliberation on Tuesday.

■LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.