Alan Reay’s liability over CTV collapse put to the test
The engineer whose firm designed the CTV building that collapsed killing 115 people in 2011, is fighting an attempt to overturn the premature end of a professional disciplinary process against him.
The attorney-general has asked the High Court to review a decision to dismiss professional disciplinary proceedings against Dr Alan Reay, who was a principal in the engineering company responsible for the structural design of the Christchurch building in 1986.
Following the collapse of the building in the February 22, 2011, Canterbury earthquake, the chief engineer at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) complained about Reay to the professional body, the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ (IPENZ).
Michael Stannard, now retired, had thought that the IPENZ process seemed the only way to get accountability for the design failures of the building.
IPENZ, whose membership was voluntary, began an investigation but Reay resigned from the institute before the process was completed, and IPENZ decided it could not continue to decide the complaint, and dismissed it instead.
The attorney-general’s main point is that Reay should not escape the consequences by resigning.
The building collapse was considered by the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission that made findings against Reay and his company about the design and for having pressured the Christchurch City Council to approve the design, the attorneygeneral’s lawyer Ken Stephen said in court at Wellington yesterday.
He asked Justice David Collins to make a declaration that IPENZ was wrong to dismiss the complaint. Whether IPENZ then went on to reconsider the complaint would be up to it, Stephen said.
The attorney-general’s other lawyer, Isabella Clarke, said if a person was a member at the time the complaint was made against them then the process could continue, although the result might be different.
IPENZ could still make a finding that the person had failed to adhere to professional standards, and publish the outcome, she said.
Reay had been a fellow of the institute, a form of membership with high standing.
Reay’s lawyer, Willie Palmer, said Reay’s reasons for resigning had nothing to do with ‘‘escaping’’ the disciplinary process but were due to his concerns about natural justice, such as plans for an investigating committee being made even before the recommendation to investigate was received.
The case against Reay would have come from some highly contestable evidence including about the experience of David Harding, the engineer who worked on the CTV design, and third-hand information alleging Reay had pressured a council engineer to approve the building, he said.
The attorney-general was stepping into a private contract between IPENZ and Reay which both sides considered had ended, Palmer said.
But Justice Collins said the membership question had to be assessed in the correct context, which was of a professional organisation that included some status. ‘‘You are not signing up to the local bridge club."
Palmer told the court that Reay had faced a five or six-year police investigation that finally ended with a decision not to prosecute. If anyone was going to provide accountability over the CTV building it should have been the police, not a voluntary society.
The hearing is due to take about three days.
Earlier outside the courthouse the widower of CTV victim Dr Maysoon Abbas, 61, said the royal commission had identified numerous and significant design deficiencies.
Dr Maan Alkaisi, himself an engineer, said he thought IPENZ had showed double standards by punishing Harding, a structural engineer working for Reay’s firm on the CTV building, but not taking action against Reay.
‘‘Not only is this hearing about accountability, but it is also about public safety – the need to send a strong message to the construction industry and practising engineers,’’ Alkaisi said as spokesman for the CTV Families Group.
‘‘The tragedy of CTV building collapse, which resulted in one of the most tragic and unnecessary losses of life in the history of New Zealand, will always be linked with building and engineering design and safety.’’