Developer no fan of green build

A ‘‘green’’ house being built at Crofton Downs, Wellington, has fallen foul of a subdivision developer’s idea of what a house should look like.

The eco house on Silverstream Rd, is nearly complete. But the subdivision developer Park Lane Builds and the builder Shiva Eco Homes are locked in a legal battle that includes whether metal cladding over polystyrene is suitable for the subdivision.

Park Lane had tried to control the appearance and quality of homes in the subdivision but one method of doing that was not registered against the legal title to the section. That had listed types of approved cladding and while metal over timber was on the developer’s list of approved cladding, metal over polystyrene was not.

At a hearing yesterday, a judge at the High Court in Wellington was curious about the cost of recladding compared to the cost of the legal action, but was told there was no evidence about that.

‘‘This is a mess,’’ Justice David Gendall said.

Shiva has a buyer for the property who faces waiting to see what happens or walking away from the deal.

At the moment an injunction prevents the house being sold, but the judge was asked yesterday to set aside the injunction and let the case continue, if necessary, without inconveniencing the buyer.

He reserved his decision.

Shiva’s lawyer, Jonathan Orpin-Dowell, said it was claimed the cladding looked cheap but street appeal of a house was very much in the eye of the beholder.

Shiva sent plans to Park Lane 11 times asking for its approval and it took 21 months for any objection to be raised to the cladding, he said.

The agreement to buy the section contained a clause that the subdivision developer had to consent if a house was being sold before it was completed.

Shiva did not have that consent, the judge was told.

But Park Lane’s lawyer, Costas Matsis, said the Park Lane general manager had made clear he wouldn’t finally approve the plans until he had all the information.

When he was being sent information, he did not know the house was already being built, Matsis said.

It was unfair that the Shiva house did not go through the same approval process that the others went through, he said.