Middlemore leaky building fix costs double

The cost estimate for fixing three leaky buildings at Middlemore Hospital has more than doubled. The Counties Manukau DHB insists it's not facing a cost blowout - but that's because it's really not sure what the costs will be, despite knowing about the leaks since 2010. Construction industry price inflation is at least easing for District Health Boards facing billions of dollars of upgrades to old wards and operating theatres. But a wildcard is the Government's new push to favour quality builds over the lowest tender. Steve Gracey who heads the estimating firm Rider Levett Bucknall has experience of the type of rising costs Middlemore faces.