Construction experts are this morning wondering about the structure of the deadly Wellington hostel and asking what systems and features existed to warn about fire outbreaks and protect against spread - which might have allowed more people inside to escape.
They are also wondering why so many died with six people confirmed dead and up to 30 unaccounted for after a blaze broke out at the four-storey Loafers Lodge, on 160 Adelaide Rd.
John Gray, Home Owners & Buyers Association president, said he was concerned about older as well as modern buildings and the risk of fire there.
“Sometimes buildings accommodating people in more contemporary times lacked the proper protection to guard against the spread of fire. But older buildings are often at much higher risk of fire,” he added.
“We’ve seen apartments created in older commercial buildings. Sometimes the protection measures to control fire have not been installed or done properly. This life-safety risk issue is present in many, many buildings in NZ. The passive fire protections have sometimes not been installed properly.
“All the defective buildings we’ve dealt with - when remediation starts, it’s like peeling an onion. We find many other structure and fire safety issues present in these buildings. It’s a tragedy these can result in the loss of life,” Gray said.
“Life-saving measures lacking in a building cause a risk to life. I despair. They’re meant to allow people to escape before the fire really takes hold as well as allow firefighters to enter safely until a fire was under control,” he said.
Authorities this morning confirmed there were no sprinklers in the building.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the building code did not require the retrofitting of sprinklers. Hipkins said there were likely a number of similar buildings across the country.
Asbestos was also present in Loafers Lodge but Gray said what harm that caused depended on whether it was encased in walls and exactly where it was.
Whether that was a risk to people depended on its location and if it was in a ceiling or in compressed wallboards, Gray said.
“Questions have to be asked ... One would hope that a building that housed so many people would be subject to closer scrutiny for fire safety and protection measures,” Gray said.
Inter-tenancy walls which are fire-rated, flash-over systems in the roof areas, fire-collaring penetrations between floors and a large range of other fire protection measures would reduce fire spread, he said.
The pathway to escape had to be protected, or else people would find it difficult if not impossible to escape.
In modern buildings, stairwells are protected: just one means of entry and egress (exit) raises the risk of being trapped in a building.
“There have to be questions now raised about the possible conversion of this building and assessment by the local authorities. It’s common to see boarding houses with external stairs. They look ugly but they are there for a reason and they serve a purpose, as long as they are maintained. It can achieve the building standard to enable people to escape.”
The Mt Cook building, barely 200m from Government House, was known for at times housing people who were in deprived and vulnerable situations.
A police spokesperson said many of those living in the hostel were from the city’s transient community.
The building appears to date to around the 1960s, one commercial building specialist said.
“Were there centralised sprinklers in the building to extinguish fires fast, how many sprinklers were there, how many means of egress were there? Was there one set of internal stairs or two, giving people more of a chance to leave?” the building specialist asked.
He also wondered if the hostel had been upgraded in recent years and what systems it had to meet current fire regulations.
He emphasised he did not personally have knowledge of 160 Adelaide Rd but was speaking generally about serious fire risks.
In some New Zealand buildings, wall linings and wood framing were some of the most flammable parts of multi-level building giving fire a chance to spread from the top floor further down the building.
Modern buildings are built with special protection measures to try to stop fire spreading, with collars placed between floors but that was less common in older buildings.
The expert asked if fire alarms were linked to FENZ or were just a manual call point.
“With modern newly-constructed buildings, they’re linked to the brigade as soon as the alarm goes off,” the expert said.
“It’s most likely [got] timber-framed walls internally. Back in the day, builders didn’t use fire-rated plasterboard but these days, they use Gib Fyreline,” he said, referring to the popular Winstones Wallboard product.
Winstones says the product has a high-density modified core which resists exposure to fire longer than standard plasterboard.
It provides from half an hour to four hours of fire protection on standard 600mm timber or steel frames. Fyreline is distinctive because it has pink face paper, making it clear to those on site what it is. The expert wondered if the building had been purpose-designed to be a hostel but thought it had commercial uses originally.
The expert said generally speaking, other issues of concern to fore safety in New Zealand included whether windows opened and if big residential buildings had a centralised sophisticated air conditioning system.
Open windows would let more air in which could fan the heat but he said he would be surprised if they were open in the night.
“Compliance is getting harder and harder with consultants and their interpretation of the building code,” he said.
Property records show the hostel is owned by Loafers Lodge Ltd, incorporated in November 2008. The sole shareholder is the Estate of Christopher J Stevenson of Papakowhai, Porirua.
The sole director is Gregory Bruce Mein of Duncan Tce, Kilbirnie, Wellington.
Barrister Chris Stevenson said he was not the person of the same name who owned the building.
The registered offices of the company are the same as the hostel address on Adelaide Rd. The company industry classification is a boarding house.
Stevenson’s email address and a phone number is given on the Companies Office details of the business but no website is provided for the hostel.
A mortgage is registered over the title to ANZ and the previous owner was Reslew Investments.
Hotels in Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown are to be sold.