Former building designer Lucy Walsh fined $10,000 for forging documents for Central Otago dwelling

Lucy Walsh was fined $10,000 in the Alexandra District Court for forgery and carrying out building work while unlicensed.

A former building designer has been sentenced after she forged documents and continued to work after having her licence suspended.

Lucy Walsh was fined $10,000 plus court costs in the Alexandra District Court after being convicted of forgery, carrying out building work while unlicensed or unsupervised and for making a false or misleading statement.

The judge considered community detention, but felt the fine was appropriate.

The charges followed an investigation into design work on a small dwelling in Central Otago which Walsh was working on.

Her Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP) licence has been suspended since September 30, 2021, for non-compliance with licensing conditions.

All restricted building work must be carried out or supervised by an LBP under law, but Walsh continued in her line of work without supervision.

Walsh declared herself to be an LBP in the Certificate of Design Work when applying for building consent and later submitted forged documents using her employer’s LBP number and electronic signature.

The Central Otago District Council raised concerns and contacted her employer who said they had no knowledge of the project Walsh was working on.

“There was a clear breach of professional trust when another LBP’s identity was used to support a false certificate,” said registrar of Licensed Building Practitioners Duncan Connor.

“The court’s $10,000 fine reflects the seriousness of this conduct.

“Practitioners must keep their licence current, and consumers should always check the LBP Public Register before engaging anyone to do restricted building work.”

MBIE said the LBP scheme was in place to protect consumers and ensure that only qualified professionals took out restricted building work.

“When this work is done by someone who is unlicensed or unsupervised it can lead to serious compliance failures and costly problems.”