CTV: Alan Reay complaint – timeline of events

By Engineering New Zealand 30 May 2023

A timeline of key events in the complaint against Dr Alan Reay, who owned the company that designed the CTV Building.

The CTV building was designed by Alan Reay Consultants and collapsed in the Christchurch Earthquake of 22 February 2011, tragically claiming 115 lives. The Department of Building and Housing (superseded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) raised a complaint with Engineering New Zealand (then IPENZ) that Dr Reay breached his professional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.

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.

Below is a timeline of key events in these proceedings.

Separate to this complaint, a Police investigation concluded in November 2017 that there would be no criminal prosecution in relation to the collapse of the CTV building.

1986	CTV building designed by an engineer employed by Alan Reay Consultants Ltd (at the time, both Dr Reay and the engineer were Registered Engineers under the Engineers Registration Act 1924 and Professional Members of IPENZ)
September 1986	Building permit for CTV Building approved by Christchurch City Council
January 2003	Engineers Registration Act 1924 repealed and replaced by Chartered Professional Engineers of New Zealand Act 2002 IPENZ appointed as Registration Authority under CPEng Act, but has no powers to investigate complaints against former Registered Engineers
February 2011	Christchurch earthquake and collapse of the CTV Building
April 2011	Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission of inquiry appointed
August – December 2012	Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission report released
December 2012	Department of Building and Housing complains to IPENZ about Dr Reay. The complaint proceeds under IPENZ’s membership rules since the CPEng Act and Rules do not apply
May 2013	Investigating Committee appointed
February 2014	Dr Reay resigns his membership of IPENZ
April 2014	Investigating Committee issues its decision dismissing the complaint on the basis that Dr Reay is no longer a member of IPENZ
March 2015	IPENZ changes its Member Rules to allow disciplinary processes to continue despite a member’s resignation
March 2015	The Attorney General, on behalf of MBIE, brings judicial review proceedings against IPENZ and Dr Reay in relation to the Investigating Committee’s decision to dismiss the complaint
October 2017	IPENZ changes its name to Engineering New Zealand
December 2018	High Court issues its decision on the judicial review proceedings, declaring IPENZ had jurisdiction to hear MBIE’s complaint about Dr Reay and the Investigating Committee was wrong to dismiss it
February 2019	Dr Reay appeals the High Court’s decision to the Court of Appeal
October 2019	Court of Appeal upholds the High Court’s decision A new Investigating Committee is appointed
May 2022	Investigating Committee issues decision (confidential to the parties), referring the complaint to a disciplinary committee
June 2022	Disciplinary Committee appointed
March 2023	Disciplinary Committee sets the hearing date for the complaint against Dr Reay (21–22 August, Christchurch)
May 2023	Dr Reay seeks judicial review of Engineering New Zealand’s process
September 2023	Judicial review heard in Wellington High Court (Monday 4 September)