But it's still too early to say if the buildings are unsafe
An unqualified professional “misappropriated” the signature and details of chartered professional engineers to sign off hundreds of homes across Waikato, the Bay of Plenty, and central North Island, in what Engineering New Zealand described as a “case of intentional misrepresentation.”
Hundreds of homes in TaupÅ district are now being investigated, after it was recently revealed that engineering designs submitted to various councils could’ve been signed off inappropriately by a member of Engineering New Zealand.
“Chartered professional engineers are very experienced engineers who’ve had their competency assessed and tested by senior engineers in the field,” Richard Templer (pictured above), Engineering New Zealand CEO, told AM.
“They’ve typically done at least five years of postgraduate work under supervision, and so this person has misrepresented on their documents the designs have been checked and approved and signed off by chartered professional engineers.”
Only one person was suspected to be involved in the scheme, but Templer said it’s still unknown just how many chartered engineers that person has forged, though he said it looked like a “very small number.”
He said Engineering New Zealand, councils, police, and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) are working to resolve it as quickly as possible, as they knew that people would be worried about the issue.
Templer said it was the producer statements and building consents that were forged.
“Producer statements are used by councils where someone has undertaken a piece of design on a building or a renovation and it requires engineering checking and approval,” he said. “It needs to be of a high standard, that's why it has to be signed off by a chartered professional engineer.”
Templer said the person could have inspected the properties then incorrectly signed off the documents both on-site and in an office.
“As you would understand, there is a huge number of documents associated with building and potentially a very large number of buildings that might be impacted,” he said.
“So, it’s taking a significant amount of time for councils to work through and identify which documents have been correctly signed off and which haven’t. So, they’re having to work with builders and designers across this whole area.”
It was too early to tell for now if there were buildings out there that were unsafe, the Engineering New Zealand chief said.
“The initial examination is showing that some of the designs are not up to standard, but councils have to work with the builders and designers to have a look at what has actually been built, what has actually been constructed, and then they’ll have to work through each one of those situations basically on a case-by-case basis,” Templer said.
“Obviously, if they find anything is unsafe, they’ll want to work with the building owner, builders, and designers to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”
“Hundreds” of properties have been impacted, but to date, records that relate to the person have only been found in the councils in Waikato, Bay of Plenty, and the central North Island, Templer said, but stressed every council has been checking.
New Zealanders with concerns about their building or the way it might have been signed off were urged to contact their local council.
Templer said “it’s a serious problem” given that if the councils had checked the person’s details, they would have found them to be “completely legit.”
“The challenge, in this case, is because it’s an intentional misrepresentation,” he told AM. “When the council would have seen the signature and the details of the engineer, they were completely legit.”
“So, you can look at our database, we have a database online of engineers, which includes whether they’re chartered professional engineers. So, if the council had gone and checked, they would've seen that this person was a chartered professional engineer. That’s why it’s a serious problem.”
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