PM Chris Hipkins on the Loafers Lodge fire, the building codes and his uni mate who is missing after the blaze. Video / Mark Mitchell
Opinion by Georgina Campbell
Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.
One of the mostshocking things is that the lack of sprinklers was legal. The Building Code does not require them to be retrofitted, despite the property housing 112 people at maximum occupancy.
“Don’t worry about the illegal stuff,” he said referring to a phrase from the Washington press corps.
“Look at what’s legal, look at the things that we allow to happen within the law.”
In the aftermath of the fire, questions immediately rained down on the company that owns the building as to why there weren’t any sprinklers and whether it was compliant.
He said they employed the relevant people to make sure the building’s standards were robust.
The moral obligation to have sprinklers in a hostel where so many people are living is a different story.
The horrific deaths of those who perished in the fire have sparked calls to change the Building Act and strengthen regulations around fire protection for properties.
The thing is, this issue is nothing new. It has been hiding in plain sight and it has sadly taken a tragedy such as the Loafers Lodge fire to bring people’s attention to it.
The rules around sprinklers aren’t the only area of our building legislation I’m worried about.
Fire investigators have been assessing the charred roof at the Loafers Lodge building. Photo / George Heard
When the Kaikōura earthquake struck in 2016, two floors of Statistics House partially collapsed.
The earthquake happened at midnight but had it landed at midday, the Statistics House damage could have been fatal.
There is no regulatory requirement for building owners who have already undertaken earthquake-prone building assessments to carry out a retrospective or additional assessment against the new guidelines.
This is despite these guidelines representing the latest engineering knowledge and as Engineering New Zealand has stated “it’s now clear that precast concrete flooring can perform poorly during an earthquake”.
It’s now 2023 and MBIE is “still considering the options for the Yellow Chapter”.
This is purely speculation, but sometimes I wonder whether this process would still be up in the air had the Kaikōura earthquake struck during the day when people were working in Statistics House.
But there are even recent examples outside of the building sector, too.
In January, the nation was reminded of the horror of the Wāhine disaster when Interisalander’s Kaitaki ferry lost power in Cook Strait, started drifting towards Wellington’s coast in a howling southerly, and issued a mayday call with 864 people on board.
The ferry narrowly avoided disaster when power was able to be restored.
But imagine if it hadn’t and people had to abandon ship and the vessel hit the rocks.
Now we are having a discussion about whether it’s acceptable that no ocean-going tugs are available in Wellington to help vessels if they get into trouble in open water - particularly Cook Strait, which is renowned for being treacherous.
