The main entrance of Greenlane Clinical Centre. Photo: RNZ/Maia Ingoe
The combination of ageing leaking water pipes and the lack of floor water proofing led to the power outage incident at Auckland's Greenlane Clinical Centre last week, according to Health New Zealand (HNZ).
At least three floors at the Clinical Centre had no power last Wednesday night, after a water leak in building four damaged power circuit boards.
Twelve inpatients were staying at the hospital at the time, and about 50 surgical procedures and 85 outpatient clinical appointments were deferred as a result.
HNZ's regional head of infrastructure of the Northern area, Chris Cardwell, said the leak started in a copper cold water pipe in a level seven plant room in the building, but the water managed to trickle down and saturated electrical distribution boards on several floors below.
"Ageing pipes and a plant room that due to a lack of floor waterproofing/bunding (due to the original design) allowed a relatively small water leak to have a major impact," he said.
Cardwell said the water damaged distribution boards were rebuilt "in stages" over three nights, and the leak has since been fixed.
He said they were making improvements to protect electrical distribution boards on lower levels of the building.
HNZ was also addressing the risks in the plant room, Cardwell said.
Meanwhile, Auckland City Hospital has also been plagued by a raft of water infrastructure issues - including burst pipes and the lack of stable hot running water in some areas of the hospital.
Both the Greenlane Clinical Centre and Auckland City Hospital are getting upgrades under the Facilities Infrastructure Remediation programme (FIRP).
Cardwell said the replacement of copper pipes at the Greenlane Medical Centre is not in the scope for the first tranche of the programme.
"There are more significant risks being addressed within the programme at this and other campuses," he said.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.