16 Jul 2013

Second audit finds no safety issues

5:50 pm on 16 July 2013

The Government's second audit of potentially non-compliant building consents in Christchurch has again found no safety problems.

In September 2012, International Accreditation New Zealand found that 17 consents that couldn't be proven by the Christchurch City Council to meet the Building Code.

The Government decided to audit them after the council learnt it would lose its building consents accreditation from 8 July.

An audit of those consents last week showed that the buildings are technically safe and mistakes with paperwork were the problem.

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson said on Tuesday that a second audit of 24 other building consents has reached the same conclusion.

Mr Williamson said a wider audit of recently issued building consents would be done by Crown manager Doug Martin, who has been appointed to oversee the council's building consents department.

Mr Martin began in the role this week and will work with the council until December 2014.