Loafers Lodge fire: Council only inspected building twice in past decade

Wellington City Council only conducted on-site inspections at Loafers Lodge twice in the past decade, despite advice it would be more appropriate for such checks to happen every year.

The most recent check in 2018 found several problems including items being installed in an escape route that could combust in an emergency or block the fire exit.

Fire and smoke doors designed to prevent fire from spreading were also wedged open.

Wellington City Council chief planning officer Liam Hodgetts said the problems were worked on with the building owner over the following months and an infringement notice was issued.

Loafers Lodge did not have fire sprinklers as the Building Code does not require them to be retrofitted. It was issued with a building warrant of fitness in March.

Five people died in the hostel blaze that broke out two weeks ago today.

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The council only conducted on-site reviews of the hostel’s annual building warrants of fitness twice between 2012 and when the fire broke out.

But Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) advice says the frequency of on-site reviews should reflect the perceived risk of the building’s use.

Building system assurance national manager Simon Thomas said this might mean buildings used for transient accommodation receive more frequent audits than a low-occupancy industrial building.

MBIE’s Building Performance website lists the example of a backpackers’ hostel as a building where annual audits might be appropriate.

“While not mandatory, MBIE’s view is that for the intent of the Act to be met, and for territorial authorities to properly perform their roles, they must go on-site to the relevant buildings to determine whether the BWoF requirements are being met,” Thomas said.

Hodgetts said the council’s building compliance team does not differentiate between the use of a building to organise audits.

“But we do prioritise based on time since last audit and any compliance issues. We are reviewing how we can gather up-to-date information regarding the location of these types of accommodation to better inform prioritisation decisions.”

Emergency services formed a guard of honour along a footpath near the hostel when the first body was removed from the scene. Photo / George Heard

MBIE’s recommendations for building warrants of fitness generally is that councils should conduct on-site reviews every three to five years. This means 20 to 33 per cent of buildings should be inspected each year.

The ministry recently audited the council and found it only reviewed 3.38 per cent of its buildings between May 2019 and May 2022.

“This number is well below what we would expect for an effective auditing regime,” the audit report said.

Hodgetts said in the past two years the council has increased resources and developed new technology to better monitor building warrants of fitness.

The council was always looking to improve its processes, he said.

“This will be a continual focus as we receive the outcomes of investigations into the tragedy.”

Meanwhile, the council has found 25 buildings with similar safety concerns to Loafers Lodge.

Mayor Tory Whanau instructed council officials to identify similar buildings across the city that “we should be concerned about whether they have a compliance certificate or not” in the days after the blaze.

“We are working with the owners to notify their residents as soon as possible so that they’re aware and then identify how we can make them safer.”

The criteria for the review focused on multi-level, higher-density buildings of greater than two storeys that provide commercial accommodation options.

Four of the 25 buildings did not have a building warrant of fitness. The mayor’s office said one was not required to and the council was waiting on further information from the other three building owners.

“The council has identified the need for further work in this space to help bring together information held across different council teams, as well as NGOs and government agencies, to inform how we prioritise building warrant of fitness audits,” Hodgetts said.

The buildings identified in the review will not be released publicly.

Whanau said the council will also advocate for the Government to change building standards.

“Regardless of the age of the building and how many levels they have, we want the Government to enforce sprinklers,” she said.

Sprinklers would have reduced the impact in certain areas of the Loafers Lodge fire but not necessarily saved lives, Whanau has been told.