Photo: Don Scott
An Engineering New Zealand Disciplinary Committee has set the date to hear a complaint against Dr Alan Reay.
Reay’s company designed the CTV Building, which collapsed in the Christchurch Earthquake, claiming 115 lives.
Reay was a member of Engineering New Zealand at the time the building collapsed.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment raised a complaint that Dr Reay breached his professional obligations, based on findings from the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission of Inquiry.
There are two aspects to the complaint.
Dr Mann Alkaisi lost his beloved wife Maysoon Abbas in the collapse of the CTV building when the 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch on February 22, 2011. He continues to fight for justice.
The first is that the employee engaged by Dr Reay to perform the design work lacked the necessary experience to design buildings like the CTV Building, and that Dr Reay knew this but failed to adequately supervise his employee.
The second is that Dr Reay exerted inappropriate pressure on the Christchurch City Council to approve the building, when the Commission found this shouldn’t have been done in view of its serious design deficiencies.
Disciplinary Committees can make orders under the membership rules and disciplinary regulations in effect at the time the complaint was raised.
The maximum fine that can be imposed is $5,000 under the membership rules that applied at that time. This maximum was increased to $10,000 in 2020.
Venue details are being confirmed. The hearing will be public.
Engineering New Zealand Chief Executive Dr Richard Templer said “we know people are looking for answers, and we owe this to the CTV families and the profession, so this is a positive step forward in the process.”
The hearing is scheduled for 21-22 August, in Christchurch.
A police investigation concluded in November 2017 that there would be no criminal prosecution in relation to the collapse of the CTV building.
