Quake panel's interim report out tomorrow

Engineering experts have suggested there were problems with the structure of the CTV building. Photo / Geoff Sloan

A royal commission report due to be released tomorrow on the Canterbury earthquakes may influence how Christchurch is rebuilt, but quake victims' families don't see anything in it for them.

The royal commission of inquiry into how buildings coped in the earthquakes - including the February 22 quake that left 181 people dead - is scheduled to begin its public hearings next week.

But the commission has produced an interim report with recommendations, as required by its terms of reference.

This has been passed on to the Government, which plans to publicly release it tomorrow.

The commission says the recommendations will "assist decision-making for rebuilding and repair work as part of the earthquake recovery effort".

"It does not deal with specific buildings that caused loss of life."

Families who are seeking answers about the collapse of buildings that killed their loved ones know they may still have a long wait ahead of them.

Quake Families' group spokesman Brian Kennedy, who lost his wife, Faye, in the collapse of the Canterbury Television building, said he expected tomorrow's report would be "more for the rebuild side of things".

"And probably recommendations that the Government set certain rules in place that weren't there before."

Mr Kennedy understood that it would be next year before a specific report on the collapse of the CTV building, where 115 people died, was available.

"I'm quite prepared to give them all the time they need," he said. "It's small in comparison to waiting for your loved one to be identified."

Engineering experts have suggested there were problems with the structure of the CTV building, but the owners have said it had been inspected for safety.

A report by the Department of Building and Housing has already found shortcomings in the structure of other collapsed Christchurch buildings.

A spokesman for the Attorney-General, Chris Finlayson, said the Government would have to take time to digest the commission's interim report and no decisions would be made immediately.