The Nelson Mail (NZ) reported today that parts of The Millers Acre Centre, were closed in early May for urgent repair after four different locations in the building tested positive for the presence of Stachybotrys chartarum, a potentially toxic black mould.
This was due to water ingress from the cladding. Nelson City Council acting group manager of community services Mark Preston-Thomas said the cladding system of the building, Insulated Concrete Form-work also known as Polyblock, had “a durability requirement of 15 years which has not been met in this case”.
In spite of regular annual maintenance the problems had not been identified from the building’s completion in 2006, until 2014, when tenants reported leaks. A subsequent condition assessment found no problems.
An investigation into the building, which discovered the black mould was triggered by a ‘higher-level report’ conducted last year. We are unclear on who instigated this report.
The strain of toxic black mould was discovered in air and wall samples from various parts of the building. These have now been closed and tenants informed that they cannot access parts of the building.
Temporary remediation works have been conducted on the cladding and other parts of the building.
For the full article see https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/121470578/leaks-mould-but-no-structural-damage-in-15yearold-building
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