In 2017, the cost to reclad six buildings was estimated at $40m. Photo: RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
Long-running repairs to leaking hospital buildings in south Auckland are now forecast to cost almost $100 million.
The children's hospital and three other major patient blocks at Middlemore Hospital and Manukau SuperClinic were beset with leaks after substandard construction.
Hospital managers found out about it in 2010.
RNZ revealed in 2018 the south Auckland hospital had six buildings full of rot and mould.
In 2017, health officials settled out of court with the builder for $3m. The same year the cost to reclad six buildings was estimated at $40m.
That has now risen to $94.5m to reclad just four - the Scott and McIndoe buildings, KidzFirst and the Mesh building at Manukau. The Scott building is finished, the others are still ongoing.
Documents showed the decay was so bad it was in danger of breaching the walls and contaminating the air.
It found significant fungus and bacteria inside the walls of four buildings.
In the Kidz First hospital, 90 percent of the timber framing looked at was decaying, and the wood soaked at up to 98 percent moisture levels.
Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora said it had no other reclad projects planned at the hospitals.
