‘Errors’ in SkyCity fire draft report
A draft fire engineering report for the SkyCity Convention Centre was riddled with ‘‘basic mistakes’’.
That’s according to an expert consultant who peer-reviewed the report, covering fire safety designs and strategies for the Auckland building.
The final version of the report is understood to be vastly different from a deficient draft rubbished by the consultant.
However, the final report prepared for Fletcher Construction, and rubberstamped by Auckland Council, did not discuss the possibility of a fire starting on the roof.
On October 22, a blaze erupted on the roof of the unfinished convention centre and burned for days, causing widespread disruption in central Auckland and extensive damage to the centre.
The fire engineering report was prepared by Norman, Disney and Young (NDY) consulting engineers for Fletcher Construction.
Anvil Fire Consultants director Geoff Merryweather, a highly regarded Auckland fire engineer, peer-reviewed the drafts and was deeply unimpressed with the work he saw.
Stuff obtained emails between Merryweather, NDY director Ben Ferguson and others under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, dated April 2016, showing the extent of his worries.
‘‘I am very concerned as to the quality of the design and documentation received at this late stage,’’ he wrote.
‘‘This is a long way off being a design I can sign off, and I will not accept a design that has so many fundamental errors and basic mistakes.’’
His email outlined 20 separate issues, ranging from the wrong smoke detectors being specified to errors in the modelling of fires.
Merryweather concluded by saying that the quality assurance (QA) procedures at NDY appeared to be remiss. ‘‘Despite the fire report being signed off by
Ben Ferguson, [the] extent of the errors and omissions are widespread and shall impact significantly on the design outcome.’’
Earlier emails in the chain show terse exchanges between the consultants and the peer reviewer.
‘‘You might want to do some QA before you send the results next time,’’ wrote Merryweather in one email. Replied Ferguson: ‘‘I am not sure the tone of your email is warranted and do not wish to get into an email exchange. Our QA procedures are robust.’’
Contacted for comment for this article, Merryweather said the final report met his standards. He would not comment further, citing contractual obligations.
An industry source said the final report was ‘‘vastly different’’ from the early draft.
It is understood that staffing changes were made at NDY in terms of the engineers working on the project before the final report was delivered.
In a statement, Sally Grey, Auckland Council’s acting general manager of building consents, observed that the report remained a draft going through the ‘‘standard peer review’’ process.
‘‘The purpose of a peer review is to pick up any issues and address them before being lodged with the building consent application. It was the final report signed off by peer reviewer . . . that was lodged for building consent.’’
Representatives for Fletcher Building and SkyCity both said investigations into the cause of the blaze were continuing and it was too early to say if a new fire engineering report was needed.