The Front Page: Wellington tragedy - other buildings across NZ could also pose fire risks

The fire at Loafers Lodge in Wellington claimed six lives. Photo / Angelia Zhang

The fire in Wellington this week should spark “grave concerns” among building owners and residents around the country.

Speaking to The Front Page podcast, Home Owners and Buyers Association president John Gray said he has come across numerous buildings that simply meet the standards necessary to keep residents safe in the event of a fire, whether deliberate or accidental.

“We’re aware of numerous buildings that have been converted into lodges or student accommodation that were generally built in an era when escapes and fire protections weren’t included in the bylaws,” said Gray.

“We have a Building Code now that introduces better protections, but even then, we have buildings that have been built in the last four or five years that haven’t been constructed in accordance with their building consents and don’t meet the fire standards. So we have grave concerns about the state of our larger buildings with respect to their ability to control fire and allow escape.”

As far back as 2016, Gray made a submission on the long-term maintenance regime under the Unit Titles Act about the concerns he had about the state of New Zealand buildings.

“One of the gravest concerns we had was the lack of proper passive fire protections in these buildings,” says Gray,

“We basically asked the Government and relevant department to actually step up and exercise their powers under the Unit Titles Act to do an audit of all these properties to ensure these safety risks were found and remedied, but nothing has been done.”

Gray says that while there are amendments coming to the Unit Titles Act, he says the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is not sufficiently exercising its powers under the Act to actually inspect these buildings. He elaborates further on this point, saying that the Building Code in New Zealand works well, but only if “everyone plays the game”.

“We looked at a building here in Auckland, which was built in the last five years by arguably one of the best builders in the country, and it wasn’t compliant with the fire rules and it had other issues as well. That’s quite disturbing, and it shows that the Building Code is fine, but only if the designers and contractors abide by it.”

While this fire is being investigated as suspicious, early news reports suggested the building allegedly didn’t have any sprinkler systems installed. Asked about this omission, Gray says it’s disappointing, but not entirely unexpected.

“It’s understandable because in older buildings it’s a big job - and in some cases, nigh on impossible - to be installing sprinkler systems throughout the entire building.”

Gray says building owners should pay careful attention to the outcome of the investigation into the Loafers Lodge fire because it could offer a guide to what they should be focusing on in their own buildings.

“Building owners will become acutely aware of the potential liability that they may face,” says Gray.

“In this particular case, because we don’t yet know what the source of the fire was and we do not know the standard of the building in terms of its passive fire protection. That will all be revealed in the investigation and, hopefully, there’ll be some findings that put owners on alert.”

For more on the state of New Zealand’s buildings, listen to the full episode of The Front Page podcast.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am.

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