Building contractors have made good on their threat to take court action to recover money they claim is owed to them by one of Auckland’s biggest housing developers.

Newsroom understands that at the High Court at Hamilton yesterday, lawyers for a group of contractors filed an application to liquidate the big Du Val Construction business.

The companies had previously lodged final statutory demands for more than a million dollars they say they’re owed.

There were initially seven or eight companies in the syndicate taking the group action, but they’re now backed by many more. Their lawyer Alistair van Schalkwyk says he has no instructions to comment publicly.

They had worked on two projects overlooking State Highway 1 in Auckland’s Mt Wellington: the Parry Terraces project (now complete) and the two big Verge apartment buildings at nearby Hillside Rd. Together, the projects represent nearly 100 residences.

One contractor that says it’s taking court action is Crown Flooring. Managing director Timur Galiyev claims his company is owed nearly $100,000 for its work on the floors in the Parry Terraces development.

Crown Flooring’s lawyer has filed a statutory demand that hasn’t been met, he says, so the company has moved to a liquidation application. And he’s supporting the syndicate represented by van Schalkwyk.

※My personal sentiment is that now it’s public in the media, it reduces our chances of seeing our money,§ Galiyev says. ※Ultimately it depends on whether they want to continue trading or not.§

The Parry Terraces are seemingly close to the heart of company directors Kenyon and Charlotte Clarke. They front onto a small private road, which Auckland Council named Helen Jenepher Lane at Du Val’s request.

In 2012, companies owned by John Kenyon Clarke and his mother Helen Jenepher Clarke were liquidated. They had owed more than NZ$56m to lenders including the Bank of Scotland and Heartland Building Society.

Now, in a teaser for a self-produced reality TV show The Property Developers that the Clarkes have been pitching to broadcasters, Kenyon Clarke says: ※I lost it all, and had to start right again from my beginnings.§

But last night, Clarke said he wasn’t aware of the new court action. ※I haven’t heard anything.§

Around the corner at Verge, building stopped weeks ago. When Newsroom first visited the site, it was open and unsecured. Subbies for SW Scaffolding, who were stripping their steel off the buildings, said the company was owed money.

One contractor tells Newsroom his company has issued Du Val statutory demands for hundreds of thousands of dollars owed on Hillside project; most of that has now been paid. But others aren’t so lucky. ※It’s never good when a company struggles with payments - the ripples are felt everywhere in the industry.§

Jonathan Williams, a director of project management consultant CPMC, confirmed the Hillside site was closed. ※There are a number of design changes that are being made, and it’s not prudent to be carrying on during that time, in relation to the project.§

All eyes will now be on the project’s financier, US-based, Cayman Islands-registered 1543 Capital. The question is whether it will put more money in, to get the cash flowing and persuade contractors to pick up their tools again - or how it too will seek to recover its investment.

It’s not the only investor looking on with concern. Newsroom has also spoken to lawyers and representatives of three different groups of mum-and-dad investors in sister companies Du Val Property Group and Du Val Mortgage Fund. The Mortgage Fund has stopped payments to investors. One?woman reportedly put in up to $1.2m - all the proceeds from selling her house.

Some of those investors, too, are looking at liquidation action; Newsroom has been told they may call a public meeting.

According to an information memorandum offering shares in Du Val Property Group, just two months ago, settlement for the Verge apartments would be in Q2 of 2024. But as of February 2024, the apartment buildings remain concrete shells.

Du Val has already been arguing over $16m in claims against Lakewood General Partner, the development vehicle for its 17-storey Lakewood Plaza apartment building in Manukau. The building is complete and tenanted, but it put the partnership with Hamilton construction firm Downey Management?into liquidation last year.

The same day that Newsroom broke the news of the unhappy creditors and stalled building project, Du Val featured in the NZ Herald gossip pages, boasting that Kenyon and Charlotte Clarke’s ※hotly anticipated reality TV show§ would soon be hitting Kiwi screens.

Kenyon Clarke said the family would be splitting their time between homes in Fiji and New Zealand.

A spokesperson said the trailer for the show had more than 80,000 views on Instagram and has been widely shared. The glamour couple are shown with their Rolls-Royce Phantom, and travelling in private jets and helicopters.

The company says it’s made one six-episode series, and a second show is already in the pipeline.

Brad Stent from Oaia Road Studios told the Herald that the finishing touches for the show were done last year after delays in the pandemic. His company had finished the production of the series and late last year secured the distribution rights. It was shopping the series to broadcasters including Bravo and Netflix.