Buildings added to quakeprone register

PALMERSTON NORTH: Five Palmerston North properties have been added to the earthquakeprone building register after an investigation found design deficiencies.

They are mostly warehouses or light industrial structures.

It is the result of a review of a dozen buildings designed by Palmerston North engineering firm Kevin O’Connor and Associates.

A year ago, the Palmerston North City Council asked the owners to undertake detailed inspections of the buildings, but only one of the buildings has had one.

And the latest independent investigation, ordered by the council, showed it was not earthquakeprone.

The council’s chief customer and operating officer, Chris Dyhrberg, said in a statement that the council ‘‘takes its responsibility seriously and depends upon independent qualified experts to provide it with correct advice on structural matters during the construction process’’.

The council has not checked more than 130 other buildings designed by Kevin O’Connor and Associates. The firm’s directors and shareholders are now connected with a company set up last year called Resonant Consulting.

RNZ has attempted to contact Kevin O’Connor and Associates for comment.

KiwiRail, the owner of another of the buildings subjected to the latest review, has asked for more time to do a detailed seismic check, after it lost the council’s report to it a year ago. Yet another building owner has until February to respond to the council.

Kevin O’Connor and Associatesdesigned buildings are also the subject of legal action by a land trust in Masterton.

Other shortcomings include a lack of any national programme to regularly audit engineers’ designs.

The Structural Engineering Society said that meant there was a major data gap.

The society and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment produced technical advice in April about the type of buildings found in Masterton. — RNZ