A new public carpark being constructed by Ngāi Tahu Property on the corner of St Asaph Street and Hagley Ave, across the road from Christchurch Hospital, is now expected to be finished by the end of September - 12 months later than the original timeframe. Photo: RNZ / Niva Chittock
Parking troubles at Christchurch Hospital are set to continue for at least another year.
Documents and emails released to RNZ under the Official Information Act show Te Whatu Ora Waitaha's board voted to delay construction on more safe staff parking for two years.
An extension to the existing secure staff parking building on St Asaph Street and a new public parking building both missed their original deadlines last year.
Hospital staff have been left to find their own parking in the meantime.
Some had been assaulted or stalked walking to and from their vehicle or had returned to find their cars vandalised in recent years.
The public were also struggling with limited on-site parking - only 35 spaces were available outside the Waipapa building.
The situation
Minister Megan Woods announced a $14.25m central government contribution towards both parking projects in September 2020.
At the time, she said work was already underway to ensure temporary parking for staff while their secure building was closed for construction.
In documents and emails viewed by RNZ, it appeared staff were not aware of this and were still scrambling for solutions five months later.
In February 2021, an internal report to the health board chair said "despite earlier hope, there is no opportunity for ongoing parking in the building whilst construction is underway".
There would be a net loss of 470 carparks by the end of March if construction went ahead as originally planned.
That would leave "no secure parks for afternoon or night shift staff, no daytime parking for clinical staff or those staff with compromised health", the report said.
"There are currently no permanent or reliable solutions to adequately mitigate this loss of staff carparks.
"Solutions are urgently being investigated, but present a cost burden," it said.
"The logistics and resources required to move and relocate 500 staff in a short period will be significant.
"The health and safety of staff walking various routes during the evening and overnight is of concern, and there have been reported incidents of assault against staff," the report said.
Parking options
The following four proposals were then listed as the most viable solutions:
- leasing additional land from Fulton Hogan to expand the hospital's existing park and ride service on Deans Avenue,
- a park and ride service from Princess Margaret Hospital,
- a park and ride service from Christchurch Arena,
- delaying the project until the new public carpark building was completed, then leasing some of these parks while the extension was built.
It was estimated extending the park and ride service on Deans Avenue would cost close to $1m per year ($950,000).
A staff shuttle currently runs until 1am but it has been criticised for not providing enough safety for nurses.
If it was not running, they had to walk 20 minutes through Hagley Park.
The second option, a park and ride service from Princess Margaret Hospital, would accommodate about 300 parks - 148 fewer than required.
It was noted some staff were unlikely to use this service and the regional council had confirmed it could not operate a direct bus service between the two hospitals.
The cost of this proposal was redacted for commercial sensitivity reasons.
A third park and ride option from Christchurch Arena would cost $675,000 per year ($325,000 to use the parks and $350,000 for transport to and from the hospital).
Staff would have to pay for this carpark and again, it was noted "staff who live north or east of the hospital are unlikely to use this option".
Finally, the report authors wrote "a decision needs to be made to delay this project".
A two-year delay was priced at $759,000 (or $379,500 per year) - far cheaper than the Deans Avenue and Christchurch Arena options.
The decision was made to delay it at the same board meeting on 18 February, 2021.
It is not known if staff were notified of the decision at the time.
Further issues
Draft documents 18 months later revealed the carpark lease agreement would only cover just over a quarter of the 450 parks required.
The agreement between Ngāi Tahu Property and Te Whatu Ora Waitaha was drawn up in September 2022.
It detailed the lease of just "120 or 150 staff carparking spaces".
The agreement continued "[This] Agreement is subject to Ōtākaro Limited and the Crown Minister (currently Megan Woods) providing approval for Te Whatu Ora NZ Health to lease carparks within Te Waka - Waipapa for the use of staff carparking."
Te Whatu Ora confirmed that same month it was yet to get sign off from the Minister or Ōtākaro Limited.
It was asked again in November 2022, and again, had no sign off.
Dr Rob Ojala, Executive Infrastructure Director said: "To date the sense is that securing support from two ministers may be quite a task, especially in the context of the Te Whatu Ora transition where roles and responsibilities are being clarified."
Cost escalation
In December 2021, Te Whatu Ora Waitaha's board increased the budget of the extension to allow for the two-year delay.
$2.76m was added to the project's budget, bringing the total cost to $9.25m.
But in February this year, Te Whatu Ora Waitaha's Clinical Engineering Manager, Tony Hampton, said the proposed cost was now much higher.
"As per attached [the] current build cost [is] at $13.25M, however we are revising the build methodology to reduce this figure," he wrote in an email.
This cost was calculated for a 12-month construction period, estimated to start this June - nearly three years after it was first announced.
Ngāi Tahu Property said the public carpark had also been hit by Covid-related delays.
It was now expected to be finished by the end of September, 12 months later than the original timeframe.
