An artist's impression of the new Dunedin Hospital from Te Whatu Ora. Photo: Supplied / Te Whatu Ora
A square of land barely bigger than a car park briefly threatened to hold up building consent for Dunedin's new hospital, ministerial documents have revealed.
A briefing to then health minister Ayesha Verrall in August 2023, released to RNZ under the Official Information Act, shows the small sliver of land on Cumberland Street (measuring 5 square metres) was "overlooked" in the transfer of land titles to Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora from the Ministry of Health in July 2022.
The mistake was discovered during the surveying of the new Dunedin Hospital block.
However, fixing it required both the minister of health and the minister of finance to sign a new transfer agreement, which had already been signed by two Te Whatu Ora board members.
Verrall then needed to authorise Health New Zealand's chief executive to apply to Land Information New Zealand to have the land parcel transferred to Health New Zealand.
"In correcting an administrative error, this exercise will ensure that the land under the new Dunedin Hospital can be amalgamated into one title to enable building consent documents to be lodged," Te Whatu Ora lawyers advised.
There were no financial implications as the transfer agreement recorded a "nil value" for the land.