Massive slip could be 'uncontrolled fill that's been covered over as a carpark' - Auckland Transport

A large Auckland landslip is being checked by geotechnical engineers after a chunk of the North Shore carpark cascaded down a hill yesterday. 

Auckland Transport said it is too early to say what caused the slip. 

"Safety is our first priority and our engineers are working with building inspectors from Auckland Council who are assessing all structures in the area," chief infrastructure officer Greg Edmonds said. 

"It looks like it's an uncontrolled fill that's been covered over as a carpark," he said. 

"We've been monitoring this site now for over a year and some cracks appeared a few weeks ago that we've obviously isolated, but the structure underneath the car park has failed."

"It appears the substrate soil underneath has fallen away."

Mr Edmunds said the "pretty significant rain" over the past year could have contributed to the slip, but was waiting for engineers to determine the cause. 

The massive slide looks like it's stablised overnight, but access to most of the carpark is closed off. 

"The focus is on stabilising the site and then assessments can be done on what remediation work is needed," Mr Edmunds said. 

There's no immediate danger to the public and buildings aren't threatened at this stage.