CTV findings chilling, says minister

6:29 pm on 10 December 2012

The Minister for Building and Construction says the Earthquakes Royal Commission's findings on the collapse of the Canterbury Television Building are disturbing and chilling.

Maurice Williamson told Checkpoint the findings against Dr Alan Reay, whose company designed the building, are damning.

The Commission has just issued the final parts of its report, with a full volume dedicated to what it calls the catastrophic collapse of the CTV building in the February 2011 earthquake.

He says he finds everything about the CTV building disturbing, but that any subsequent actions must follow proper legal channels.

CTV building permit should never have been issued: Commission

The Royal Commission says the CTV building's design was deficient in a number of respects, and it should never have been issued with a building permit.

It says the building was given a green sticker after the September earthquake, even though an engineer had not assessed it.

The Commission makes a number of recommendations to improve the evaluation of buildings following disasters, including establishing a core team of building safety evaluators and a new category of engineers who would be responsible for certifying the design of complex buildings.

Building was green stickered without engineer inspection

The Royal Commission says the CTV building was given a green sticker after the September 2010 earthquake, despite not being inspected by an engineer.

It says the day after the September earthquake, a level one assessment was carried out and the building was given a green sticker.

Two days later, three Christchurch City Council officers carried out a level two inspection, which usually requires an engineer to be present - and the building was again given a green sticker, even though an engineer had not assessed the building.

The building manager then arranged for a chartered professional engineer to inspect the building.

The engineer carried out three inspections, and emailed the building manager to confirm the building was structurally sound.

The engineer also made some recommendations for further assessment, but these were not carried out.

The CTV building sustained further damage in the Boxing Day 2010 earthquake, after which another level one assessment was carried out, leading to another green sticker.

The Commission recommends the Government consider developing guidelines for structural failure investigations, including circumstances in which sites should be preserved for formal forensic examination.

Report makes for grim reading: PM

The Prime Minister says the Government needs to take time to consider the Commission's report before giving its response next year.

John Key says the report makes for grim and sobering reading.

He says the last part of the report was released without an official Government response so the families of those who died would have access to the information as soon as possible.

Govt to carefully consider says Attorney-General

The Attorney-General Chris Finlayson says the Government needs to take time to carefully consider the commission's report and its recommendations, and it owes it to the victims, to get the response right.

Mr Finlayson and the Building Construction Minister Maurice Williamson were in Christchurch on Sunday to meet some of the families of those who died in the earthquake.

Mr Finlayson says understandably, many of them are still struggling to come to terms with their loss.

Mr Williamson says the Commission's recommendations will require policy and legislative changes, and a full response will be ready before the middle of next year.